Go to previous chapter, the
Sun-Ray origin of the Pyramids
Next, with respect to
the Cuneiform Character. When I first went to reside in London,
in 1829, I often visited the British Museum. It was the most
instructive and interesting of all the public institutions which
I haft yet seen. I eagerly seized every opportunity I could spare
to spend as many hours as possible in wandering through its
extensive galleries, especially those which contained the
Assyrian, Egyptian, and Greek antiquities. By careful and
repeated examination of the objects arranged in them, I acquired
many ideas that afforded me subjects for thought and reflection.
Amongst these
objects, I was specially impressed and interested with the
so-called "Arrow-head" or "Cuneiform
Inscriptions" in the Assyrian Department. These remarkable
inscriptions were on large tablets of burnt clay. They formed the
chief portion of the then comparatively limited collection of
Assyrian antiquities in the British Museum. 
Fig 1. I was particularly impressed with
the precision and simple beauty of these cuneiform inscriptions,
-- especially with the strikingly distinctive nature of what I
may term the fundamental or elementary wedge-like form, of which
the vast variety of letters or words of these inscriptions were
composed. The triangular or three-sided indentation will be
observed in the above engraving (Fig. 1). This elementary form,
placed in various positions with respect to each other, appeared
to be capable of yielding an infinite variety of letters and
words, as seen in Fig. 2. 
Fig 2. I may here mention that I entered upon this
interesting subject with no pretensions as a linguist, nor with
any idea of investigating the meaning of these remarkable
inscriptions; but only as a Mechanic, to ascertain the manner in
which the striking characters were produced, so as to convey
words and ideas through their variety of combinations. I soon
perceived that the simple but distinctive characters shown in the
above representations were essentially connected with the
employment of plastic clay; this being the material most suitable
for their impression, by means of a three-sided instrument or
stylus. The angular extremity of this instrument, when depressed
into the surface of a tablet of plastic clay in different
positions and directions, would leave these cuneiform impressions
in all their beautifully distinct and characteristic forms. And
thus, after the tablets had been subjected to fire and made into
hard brick, the impressions have come down to us, after the lapse
of thousands of years, as fresh and distinct as if they had been
produced but yesterday!
I was so fortunate as
to have my conjectures confirmed with respect to the exact form
of the instrument by which these remarkable characters are
produced, observing, in what appeared to be a hastily-formed
inscription on the edge of a large brick, that the inscriber had
apparently used rather more pressure on his stylus than was
requisite. In consequence of which, the end of it had been so
deeply depressed into the soft clay as to leave an exact
counterpart of its size and form. I secured a cast of this
over-deep impression of the stylus, from which Fig. 3 is taken,
after a photograph.
Fig 3. In order further to
illustrate the simple mode of producing inscriptions on
tablets of clay, I give in Fig. 4 a tablet inscription
produced by means of the stylus which is seen laid over
the tablet.
Fig 4. The next
illustration(Fig.5) is intended to convey an idea of the
manner in which the stylus was held and applied to the
surface of the clay when a cuneiform inscription was
being produced. The upper, flat, or third side of the
stylus enabled the inscriber to keep it in correct
relative position in respect to the tablet, yielding at
the same time a convenient flat surface upon which to
rest the end of his finger when indenting the angular end
into the clay.
Fig 5.
Refer back to Fig.
2, and it will be found that any variety in the size of
the cuneiform inscriptions may be produced by the same
stylus, by simply depressing the angular end of it to a
greater or less depth into the surface of the clay. In
many of the most elaborate inscriptions, a certain
lob-sidedness of the cuneiform character may be observed.
This is due to the inscriber having held his stylus
somewhat askew, as we do a pen in ordinary writing.
Referring to my remark that the distinctive shape of the
cuneiform character was essentially due to the use of
plastic clay as the most suitable material for its
production, I think it highly probable that the origin of
these inscriptions took its rise not only from the
facility with which the characters could be indented on
the material, but from the abundance of plastic mud which
forms the natural soil of the lands adjoining the great
Assyrian rivers. This when made into bricks, became the
chief building material of the energetic people of
Babylon and the other great cities of the Tigris and
Euphrates valleys. The laborious work of brickmaking was
generally assigned to captives as taskwork, and it
appears to me highly probable that "the tale"
of the brickmaker or his taskmaster might be most readily
marked by simply indenting the side of the soft tale
brick with the corner angle of a dry one; and that thus
the strikingly peculiar character of the cuneiform
character was produced (see Fig. 6).
Fig 6.
In course of time
the elementary form was expanded into this most
beautifully simple mode of communicating ideas through
the agency of conventional signs or letters; being also
especially suited for making historical or other records
on tablets of moist clay, which, when "fired",
became absolutely indestructible, so far as time is
concerned. This is abundantly proved by those
marvellously perfect burnt clay tablets, covered with
exquisitely minute and perfect inscriptions, which, after
having remained hid in mounds of rubbish for thousands of
years, among the ruins of the Assyrian cities, are
brought to light as fresh and perfect as on the day on
which they were executed. These tablets now excite the
wonder and admiration of all who are able to appreciate
the beauty of the inscriptions, as well as of those who
are speculatively curious as to the origin of written
language. This attempt to explain the probable origin of
the cuneiform character may to some appear fanciful. But
whether or not, it is certain that this simple and
impressive character can be readily produced by the
primitive means which I have ventured to suggest. I give
a cuneiform inscription (Fig. 7), which I have produced
by simply employing the corner angle of an ordinary brick
as the stylus for indenting the inscription on the tablet
of soft clay. This might have been extended to any
length, in longer as well as minuter impressions.
Fig 7.
As soon as the
capability of the cuneiform impression was adopted as the
Assyrian character, it was in due time employed for
inscriptions on stone or other materials, such as marble
or alabaster. The chisel was then substituted for the
stylus; but the characters remained in a great measure
the same. In some cases a slight modification was
observable, being naturally due to the change of material
and the method of carving it; but in most respects the
departure from the clay prototype is very slight, and the
original is adhered to with remarkable integrity. When examining some
early Greek inscriptions in marble, in the British
Museum, in the year 1837, I was much interested to
observe the appearance of a cuneiform element in the
limbs of several Greek letters, especially in the
terminals, as illustrated in Fig. 8, each limb of the
letter being in itself a perfect cuneiform; and as such
the terminal of each limb is at right angles to the axis,
and not as now (in our modern capital letters) parallel
to the line of inscription.
Fig 8.
This apparent
presence of the cuneiform element in these early Greek
inscriptions suggests some very interesting historic
causes which led to their introduction, and so passed
from the Greek into the Roman, and eventually into the
capital letters of our own alphabet. To give one
instance,-- though many might be cited, -- take the
capital letter T, and it will be found that it went from
the Cuneiform into the Greek, then into the Roman, and
lastly into our own letter, thus presenting a remarkable
instance of the survival of a form from remote antiquity
down to the present day.
Fig 9.
The letters A K H
I K M N Y X have the distinct remains of their Babylonian
origin in the top and bottom stroke, which is nothing
more nor less than a corruption of the original or
primitive arrow-headed impression of the stylus in the
moist clay, begun thousands of years ago. In a lecture which I
gave at the Royal Institution in London, in 1839, and in
another at the British Association at Cheltenham, in
1856, I referred to this presence of the cuneiform
element in the Greek letters, illustrating the subject by
actual casts from the inscriptions themselves. At
Cheltenham the question gave rise to a most animated and
interesting discussion, in which Dr. Whewell and Sir
Thomas Phillips (the great antiquarian) took a prominent
part. I understood that Sir Thomas Phillips assigned that
the intermixture of cuneiform with the Greek alphabet
proceeded from the Samaritans, who were originally an
Assyrian colony. I find that many Greek inscriptions
exhibit the cuneiform element in nearly all the letters
composing them. This is a subject well worthy of the
attention of our antiquarian Greek scholars, as pointing
to an intimate intercourse with the Assyrians at some
remote age. The distinctive character of the cuneiform in
the Greek inscriptional letters could not have arisen
from chance. Some intercommunication with the Assyrians
must have taken place.
This subject is
all the more interesting, as the cuneiform element
appears to have passed from the Greek inscriptional
letters into those of the Romans, and from thence into
our own capital letters. This affords a very remarkable
instance of the "survival" of a form, which,
however naturally due to the plastic material in
connection with which it originated, nevertheless led to
its use for ages after the circumstances which led to its
adoption had passed away. This tendency in mankind to
cling to shapes and forms through mere traditional
influences is widely observable, especially in connection
with architectural forms, arrangements, and decorative
details. It offers a subject of great interest to those
who have a natural aptitude to investigate what I may
term the etymology of form, a subject of the most
attractive nature, especially to those who enjoy thinking
and reflecting upon what they have specially observed.
Assyrian
roller-seal. Before concluding this subject I may mention
that the Assyrians employed a cylindrical roller-seal in
order to produce impressions in a wholesale way. This is
exemplified in the above engraving. The mechanical
principles inherent in this beautifully simple form of
roller-seal, indicate a high order of ingenuity, well
worthy of the originators of the arrow-headed character.
In fact it is the prototype not only of the modern system
of calico-printing but of the Waiter Printing Press, by
which the Times and many other newspapers are now printed
-- a remarkable instance of the survival or restoration
of a very old method of impression.
This is the end
of James Nasmyth's autobiography.