Writing

is usually divided into ‘ideographic writing,’ and ‘phonetic writing,’ the. former being an attempt to convey ideas by copying objects direct from nature, the latter being signs representing sounds, otherwise picture-writing and syllabic or alphabetic writing (according to whether the signs represent a whole syllable or only a single sound). The Chinese signs are read in columns from top to bottom, the Mexican from bottom to top, Hebrew writing from right to left. Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and all European languages from left to right. In the Chinese system there is no alphabet, the characters being ideographic. Writing was introduced to the western nations by the Phoenicians, who based their system on the Egyptian one. The ‘ cuneiform ’ writing was invented by the inhabitants of Chaldea, and adapted to several languages and the Chinese system is of independent origin.; The Egyptians had the hieroglyphic, hieratic (which the Phoenicians copied), and the enchorial or demotic kind of writing. Writing was introduced into Greece between the 10th and 7th century B.C., and it spread as Christianity spread westward. The Saxon style prevailed in England in the early Middle Saxon—then Ages, then a combination of Roman, Lombardic, and the Norman style, ancl English court hand. Systems of shorthand are generally phonetic.