The One Primeval Language traced experimentally through Ancient Inscriptions in Alphabetic Characters, of Lost Powers, from the four Continents. By the Rev. Charles Forster, B. D. London: 1851. Part I. The Voice of Israel from the Rocks of Sinai, or the Sinaitic Inscriptions Contemporary Records of the Miracles and Wanderings of the Exode. 8vo, pp. 182. Sinai Photographed, or Contemporary Records of Israel in the Wilderness. By the Rev. Charles Forster, B. D. London: 1862. 4to, pp. 552. [pp. 533-565]

Si,~~t~17c iTh8C~{p~iOfl8. [OCTOBER,
M~r~}~e n~a~ have been nscd in tJ~~s qnartcr for tlie executioll
~)f criminals, and fliQy lienee have bceu adopted wlici~ tlie
C~ospcl fii'st pc~ctratcd into these paits, as the syinhol of tlie
C}~i';stian fuitli. If so, lio~~cvcr, this unusual form of tlie
eross eculd not have been continued long after tlie tin~e of
Constaiitine, upon whose imperial standards and public cdi flees arid coins tlie cross was eiiiblazoncd iii its ordinary shape,
wh~eh thus became fixed througI~ont Christendou~. This lie
accepts, therefore, as an indication that tlie inscriptioiis in
4 c1nestion cannot be later than the fourth century after Christ.
This, too, was a period noted for pi}gi4mages to sacred places.
Christians in vast uniubers floelied to the lloly Land to see the
spots rendered n~cn~orablc by the Scriptures. And llelena,
mother of Constantine, it is well kuown, visited ~Iount Sinai
and erected a sanctuary there. The iu~uiediate authors of the
inscriptions in tlie old and strange character ~ccr supposed to
be X~bateuns-eitizeus of that wealthy, flourishing, and eulti vuted kingdoni, ~4iieh in the early centuries of tlie Ciiristian
cia h('~d its capital at Petra, and has left its imperishable
niounnient in the magnificent ruins of that totally desolated
elty. Their language would naturally be, as that of these in seriptions was, Arain~au, with a large infusion of Arabic words
and forn~s. And Peer ventured the prediction, which lias
since been verified, that if ever any inscriptions were found at
Petra, they would be iu tlie sanie character as tliat of tlie in scriptions at ~Iount Siiiai.
The ingenuity displayed in deciphering these strange char aeters, notwithstanding the sceu~ingly insurn~ountable difficul ties which beset the task, is scarcely surpassed by any of tlie
surprising aehieven~ents of pal~ography iu u~oderu ti in es.
The ulterior results flowing fron~ tlie unriddling of tlie
Egyptian liieroglypliics or tlie Persian and Assyrian cnn ci tbrin
character, are in ore iniportant. They bring to light tiie
history of buried empires arid open attractive fields of inquiry,
tlie end of which cannot yet be eoi~eeturcd. Put tlie bald
inscriptions oii the rocks of Sinai, with tedious nniforn~ity
yield u~ere names of persons utterly unknown, and about wliou~
no one cares, ~4io, in an idle hour ~4iile resting on their jour uQy through tlie desert, scribbled on tlic rocks, as modern