boasted culture, science spelled superstition.



IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ALPHABET

Before we turn specifically to the new world of the west, it
remains to take note of what may perhaps be regarded as the very
greatest achievement of ancient science. This was the analysis of
speech sounds, and the resulting development of a system of
alphabetical writing. To comprehend the series of scientific
inductions which led to this result, we must go back in
imagination and trace briefly the development of the methods of
recording thought by means of graphic symbols. In other words, we
must trace the evolution of the art of writing. In doing so we
cannot hold to national lines as we have done in the preceding
two chapters, though the efforts of the two great scientific
nations just considered will enter prominently into the story.

The familiar Greek legend assures us that a Phoenician named
Kadmus was the first to bring a knowledge of letters into Europe.
An elaboration of the story, current throughout classical times,
offered the further explanation that the Phoenicians had in turn
acquired the art of writing from the Egyptians or Babylonians.
Knowledge as to the true origin and development of the art of
writing did not extend in antiquity beyond such vagaries as
these. Nineteenth-century studies gave the first real clews to an
understanding of the subject. These studies tended to
authenticate the essential fact on which the legend of Kadmus was
founded; to the extent, at least, of making it probable that the