is, in the rectilinear writing [—­] , in the archaic cuneiform [—­] , in the later cuneiform [—­] .  The five lines (afterwards reduced to four) clearly represent the thumb and the four fingers.  So the character ordinarily representing “a house” is evidently formed from the original —­, the ground-plan of a house; and that denoting “the sun” [—­] , comes from [—­] , through [—­] , and [—­] , the original [—­] being the best representation that straight lines could give of the sun.  In the case of ka, “a gate,” we have not the original design; but we may see posts, bars, and hinges in [—­] , the ordinary character.

Another curious example of the pictorial origin of the letters is furnished by the character [—­] , which is the French une, the feminine of “one.”  This character may be traced up through several known forms to an original picture, which is thus given on a Koyunjik tablet [—­] .  It has been conjectured that the object here represented is “a sarcophagus.”  But the true account seems to be that it is a double-toothed comb, a toilet article peculiar to women, and therefore one which might well be taken to express “a woman,” or more generally the feminine gender.  It is worth notice that the emblem is the very one still in use among the Lurs, in the mountains overhanging Babylonia.  And it is further remarkable that the phonetic power of the character here spoken of is it (or yat)the ordinary Semitic feminine ending.

The original writing, it would therefore seem, was a picture-writing as rude as that of the Mexicans.  Objects were themselves represented, but coarsely and grotesquely—­and, which is especially remarkable, without any curved lines.  This would seem to indicate that the system grew up where a hard material, probably stone, was alone used.  The cuneiform writing arose when clay took the place of stone as a material.  A small tool with a square or triangular point, impressed, by a series of distinct touches, the outline of the old pictured objects on the soft clay of tablets and bricks.  In course of time simplifications took place.  The less important wedges were omitted.  One stroke took the place of two, or sometimes of three.  In this way the old form of objects became, in all but a few cases, very indistinct; while generally it was lost altogether.

Originally each character had, it would seem, the phonetic power of the name borne by the object which it represented.  But, as this namee was different in the languages of the different tribes inhabiting the country, the same character came often to have several distinct phonetic values.  For instance, the character [—­] representing “a house,” had the phonetic values of e, bit, and mal, because those were the words expressive of “a house,” among the Hamitic, Semitic, and Arian populations respectively.  Again, characters did not always retain their original phonetic powers, but abbreviated them.  Thus the character which