belisk were Cleopatra, a
comparison of the two names should confirm this. The first letter in the
name Ptolemaios being a "p" it should occur as fifth letter in
Cleopatra. And this was actually the case. The third letter in
Ptolemaios, the "o," was found again as the fourth one in Cleopatra. The
fourth sign in Ptolemaios, "l," a lion, occurred correctly as the second
one in Cleopatra. By further comparison every sign was correctly found,
and when Champollion had deciphered a group of signs which he took to be
Alexander, and again found every letter in its right place, he could
assure himself that hieroglyphics also were based on the phonetic
system.

He soon, with the aid of the letters discovered in the above-mentioned
groups, deciphered other well-known names of kings, and in this way
acquired a knowledge of the whole hieroglyphic alphabet. But the many
hundred forms and signs, of which the holy scriptures of the Egyptians
are composed, could not well be of an altogether alphabetic nature, and
a further study of the subject brought the explorer to the conclusion
that ideographs were interspersed among the alphabetical signs in order
to make the alphabetic words more comprehensive. For instance, after a
masculine proper name the picture of a man was drawn, and after every
word connected with the motion of walking, the picture of two pacing
legs. Besides this, he found that some sounds could be represented by
different hieroglyphics. With this the most important elements of
hieroglyphics were disclosed, and it was all accomplished in one year,
from 1821-22. When Francois, after a period of extraordinary mental
exertion, appeared before his brother one morning with all the proofs in
his hands, calling to him, "_Je tiens l'affaire; vois!_" (I have found
it; look here!) he fell to the floor fainting, worn out by the immense
exertions of the last few months.

It required some time for him to recover his health; but Figeac read, on
September 17, 1822, his brother's pamphlet at the Academy in Paris. It
appeared under the name of "Lettre a M. Dacier," and contained the
details of his discovery.

That day decided Champollion's future career. As early as the year
following he published his new work, "Precis du systeme hieroglyphique,"
after which Louis Philippe of Orleans had the discovery officially
announced before the Oriental Association, and Louis XVIII. made it his
royal duty to lighten Champollion's future work.

The