corresponding to the Latin Hystaspis. Thus did Grotefend proceed step by step, his ingenuity and perseverance being beyond all praise. Meantime Sir Henry Rawlinson, although stationed in Persia and cut off in a great degree from the results of European scholarship, was devoting himself with ardour to the study of the Behistun inscription, and making independent progress. It turned out that of the three forms of arrow-headed character in this class of inscriptions the Persian was the easiest to decipher, being an alphabetic language, and that the other two were not purely alphabetic. Still, a sure clue was obtained, and the key being applied by an increasing number of investigators, the Median and the Assyrian in the course of time yielded up their secrets. At length, in 1857, to put the method of decipherment to a test, the inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I. was submitted to four eminent Assyriologists, namely, Sir H. Rawlinson, Dr Oppert, Mr Fox Talbot, and Dr Hincks, who made translations of it independently, and sent them, under seal, to the secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society. When they were opened and compared it was found that they exhibited a remarkable resemblance to one another, much greater, in fact, than could have been the case if the method of decipherment had not been sound. Since 1857 immense advances have been made, until now, as Dr Sayce confidently declares, it is possible to translate an ordinary Assyrian text with as much ease and certainty as a page of the Old Testament. [_Authorities and Sources_:--“Assyrian Discoveries.” By George Smith. “The Chaldean Genesis.” By George Smith. “Ancient History from the Monuments: Assyria.” By George Smith. “Ancient History from the Monuments: Babylonia.” By Rev. Dr A. H. Sayce. “Nineveh and its Remains.” H. A. Layard. “Nineveh and Persepolis.” W. S. W. Vaux. “Guide to the Kouyunjik Gallery.” British Museum. “The Story of the Nations: Assyria.” By Zénaïde A. Ragozin. “The Story of the Nations: Babylonia.” Zénaïde A. Ragozin. “Hibbert Lectures.” Dr A. H. Sayce. “Records of the Past.” “Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology.” Smith’s “Dictionary of the Bible.” “From Under the Dust of Ages.” St Chad Boscawen.] THE VANDALISM OF THE ORIENTALS.