And
yet I have shown that the closest resemblances exist between the Maya
alphabet and the Egyptian signs--in the c, h, t, i, k, m, n, o, q, and
s--eleven letters in all; in some cases, as in the n and k, the signs
are identical; the k, in both alphabets, is not only a serpent, but a
serpent with a protuberance or convolution in the middle! If we add to
the above the b and u, referred to in the "Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society," we have thirteen letters out of sixteen in the
Maya and Egyptian related to each other. Can any theory of accidental
coincidences account for all this? And it must be remembered that these
resemblances are found between the only two phonetic systems of alphabet
in the world.
Let us suppose that two men agree that each shall construct apart from
the other a phonetic alphabet of sixteen letters; that they shall employ
only simple forms--combinations of straight or curved lines--and that
their signs shall not in anywise resemble the letters now in use. They
go to work apart; they have a multitudinous array of forms to draw from
the thousand possible combinations of lines, angles, circles, and
curves; when they have finished, they bring their alphabets together for
comparison.
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