and tombs is so short, that it might be represented by a comparison of
our own date with those of Queen Elizabeth and Henry the Third.

Jackson in his “Antiquities” tells us that, Sanchoniatho states that the
most ancient Phœnician records show that letters were invented soon
after the dispersion of mankind, by Tsaut, the son of Mizor or Misraim,
who was the first Egyptian Hermes or Thoth. He went out of Phœnicia, and
first, with a colony of Mizrites, settled and reigned in Egypt, and,
according to Cicero, gave both laws and letters to the Egyptians.

This Hermes was born in the second generation after the flood, and was
not only the inventor of letters and writing, but he is also said to
have delineated the sacred characters or symbols of the elements and
planets, viz.,--sun, moon, earth, air, fire, water, &c.

These symbols are without doubt of very ancient origin, and Boerhæve in
his Theory of Chemistry explains them hieroglyphically as follows:--

[Transcriber’s Note:
The listed symbols are included in the “images” directory
accompanying the html version of this file.]

＋ Denotes anything sharp, gnawing, or corrosive; as vinegar or fire:
being supposed to be stuck around with barbed spikes.

☉ Denotes a perfect immutable simple body, such as gold, which has
nothing acrimonious or heterogeneous adhering to it.

☽ Denotes half gold, whose inside, if turned outward, would make it
entire gold, as having nothing foreign or corrosive in it; which the