It is no wonder that the number of let ters in most languages should be so small, anti that of words so great, since it ap pears, that, allowing only 24 letters to an alphabet, the different words or combina tions that may be made out of them, ta king them lirst one by one, then two by two, &c. &c. would amount to the follow ing number :-1391, 724288, 887252, 999425, 128493, 4022000. See Comm NATI I/ N. It must be admitted, neverthe less, that the condition, that every sylla ble must contain, at least, one vowel, would modify this niunber in the way of denomination ; but on the other hand, the combinations in pollysyllabic words would operate the contrary v.-ay.
Many learned authors have composed inquiries into the origin of alphabetic writing., and not a few have referred the invention to the immediate inspiration of God. Nevertheless, it appears to be a very simple and direct improvement of the hieroglyphic art. Sensible objects are depicted in outlines by children, and most rude nations ; and, as in the con struction of languages, so in this writing by figures, substantives will come to be used adjectively, to denote relations or qualities. As words become more com plex and less perfect by the use of ab stractions, so likewise must the hiero glypic picturesbecomc combined and im perfect, and at length must have denoted things very different from any object ca pahle of being delineated; and, among other consequences, there is one very striking.; namely, that the picture, after degenerating into a sign or character, will be associated by memory with the oral character, or name, or correspondent word. An immediate step after this must
be, that characters associated with mono syllabic words will be frequently put to gether to form pollysyllabic words, in which the picture is left out of the consi deration, and the sound alone forms the subject uf the record, ras if the charac ters for man and eye were united to form the word many, or multitudinous.) And lastly. habit must in fact have riven a preference, in the composition of tilts° polysyllabic words, to such simple sounds and their characters as were found to be most extensively useful. That is to say, an unintentional proct ss of analysis must have thus given rise to the alphabet.
'The sounds of language are modified by articulation, which depends on certain gross, and in general obvious, changes in the figure of the organs ; anti by. accent or mere intensity ; and by intonation or music. The first of' these, as used in discourse; is much more capable of having its variations marked by characters than the others ; and from this circum.stance, it is found that the alphabet can deliver with correctness the words of such lan guages as communicate chiefly by. articu lation ; but in languages where the same articulated monosyllable denotes a great variety of things, according to the accent or intonation, there will be coniparatively few instances of depicted sound, and the system of writing will continue to be hieroglyphic, or rather symbolic, in all its improvements. This system is, for the reason here mentioned, in use in China, and does not seern inferior to the a/pha bet, but in some respects more advan geous.