public records, statements of private negotiations, and memoranda of astronomical observations. The life in which they played a part has passed into history; the once proud and mighty cities lie prostrate, and upon their ruins other cities have risen, only to fall as they fell. The terra-cotta to which they committed their records is all that is left, and the tablets that were fashioned and inscribed so long ago give to us the best histories of Chaldea, Babylonia, and Assyria. ♦Assyrian, Babylonian and Chaldean records♦ One of the largest collections of these clay-writings is now in the British Museum and was taken from a great edifice in Assyria, which was probably the residence of Sennacherib. Several series of narratives are comprehended in the collection; one referring to the language, legends, and mythology of the Assyrians; another recording the story of creation, in which “Water-deep” is said to be the creator of all forms of life then in existence, while a third relates to the deluge and the story of the Assyrian Moses. But however interesting these facts may be in themselves, we refer to them only by way of illustration, since we are dealing not so much with the writing itself as with the material on which writing was done. ♦Inscriptions on prisms♦ Another form of tablet, a somewhat singular variation it may seem, was in use among the Assyrians at a very early date. This was a prism, having either six or eight sides, and made of exceedingly fine terra-cotta. Such prisms were frequently deposited by the Assyrian kings at the corners of temples, after having been inscribed with accounts of the notable events in their lives, interspersed with numerous invocations. Apparently the custom was similar to that followed at the present day, and the ancient Assyrian tablets no doubt served the same purpose as the records, newspapers, and documents that are now deposited in the corner-stones of public or other important buildings. The prisms used as tablets varied in length from a foot and a half to three feet, and were covered very closely with small writing. That the writers’ endeavor was to make the most of the space at their disposal is suggested by the fact that upon a prism found in the ruins of the ancient city of Ashur the inscriptions are so crowded that there are thirty lines in the space of six inches, or five lines to the inch. The prism recites the valiant deeds of Tiglath-Pileser I., who reigned from 1120 to 1100 B. C., and undertook campaigns against forty-two other nations and their kings. He was a monarch whose very name inspired terror among the surrounding peoples, and his reign was filled with stirring events and brilliant achievements. ♦Economy of space♦ Small wonder that it was necessary to crowd the inscriptions upon the prism! Rawlinson’s “Ancient Monarchies,” in an account of the writings that have come down to us from the earliest days of the world’s