Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/737

* INSANITY. 651 INSCKIPTIONS. requirement are a retentive memory and the capacity lo form a rational conclusion. A per- son's mind may lie greatly deranged or somewhat enfeebled, and yet be sulliciently strong to meet this I'eiiuiivnienl. Insanity of a testator is also of importance in investigating the question of undue intluence which under certain circum- stances may invalidate a will. See Will. An insane person is a competent witness to testify to all matters about which he is not insane or mentally unbalanced. In dealing with questions of insanity courts concern themselves very little with the theories and speculations of psychologists and physicians, and no attempt is made to classify the various forms of insanity, e.ce])t in the manner already indicated. The im- portant question in every case is the mental com- petency and legal liability, according to the well-settled rules of law, of the person upon W'hose acts judgment is to be raised regardless of the precise cause or nature of his disorder. The fact of insanity must be established by direct evidence, and is usually established by experts, who are allowed great latitude in giving testi- mony as to the mental capacitj- of the alleged insane person. See Evide>ce; Lunacy. Consult the authorities referred to under Lu- nacy ; JIedical Jukisprudexce. INSATIATE COUNTESS, The. A tragedy by .Jdhn ilarston ( 1G03), sometimes attributed to liarkstead. INSCRIPTIONS (Lat. inscriptio, from in- Ecrihcrc, to write upon, from in, in, upon -- scri- here, to write). The name applied to writings upon durable material, such as stone or bronze. Ordinarily such writings are engraved, but they may also be painted. The number and variety of the inscriptions of the past is very great, and the term is of course applied with equal correct- ness to the records on gravestones or other mon- uments of the present. The far greater use of inscriptions in ancient times, and the large va- riety of suljjects upon which they furnish in- formation, have made epigraphy, or the study of tliis class of monuments, an important branch of tlie science of antiquity. For many peoples the inscriptions are almost the only source of our knowledge of their history, language, and customs. This is the case with Babylonia, Assyria, ancient IVrsia, and to a very great extent with Egj'pt; the Lycian, Phrygian, and Etruscan languages are known onlv through the records on the monu- ments, and these are only a few examples of peoples revealed to us by inscriptions. Even where an extensive literature has been preserved in other forms, as in the case of Greece and Rome, the monumental records throw new light on the classic texts, and add numberless details, which enable us to fill out the picture of ancient life, of which the literature so often pre- serves only the outline. Inscriptions in the widest sense include the picture-writings of the North American Indians, the hieroglyphics of Central America and Mexico, and all the other forms in which man has endeavored to preserve his records u])on indestructible materials. In many of these cases, however, the content of the record is cither unintelligible or unimportant, and the interest centres in the form. Tliese sys- tems are therefore more appropriately described under Writin'G. In cases where the inscriptions are the chief or only source for the life and Vol.. X. — 12. history of their makers, or are noteworthy for the kind of writing employed, they are naturally dis- cussed in connection with the lands from which they come or the characters used. Consult, there- lore, the articles Assykia; Babylonia; Cune- IFOBXL Inscriptions; Egypt; Etruuia; Hiebo- GLYPllICS; HlTTITES; MlN^EANS; SaBA:ANS. The most ancient inscriptions are those found in Jlesopotamia and in Egypt, and these coun- tries have furnished by far the largest immber of these records of OrienUil history and civiliza- tion ; but in their form and contents they e.xtend beyond the domain of epigraphy, and are more properly treated under the special titles just mentioned. Under Semitic inscrijitions should strictly be included any inscription composed in a Semitic language. Eor practical purpo.ses, however, the term is usually limited to such inscriptions as are written in the systems of alphabetic writing developed by Semites, and these systems furnish a convenient basis of classitication. Two great groups may thus be distinguished: The North- Semitic, employing an alphabet of which the Phoenician is the type, and the South-Semitic, whose alphabet is represented by the modern Abyssinian character (Amharic, Tigrina). The North-Semitic group is divided into two principal sections: (1) The Phoenicio-Palestinian, including Phoe- nician, to which the Carthaginian, or Punic, both .old and new, belongs, Hebrew, Moabitic, and Sa- maritan. {2) The Aramaic, which begins about the second century B.C. and later can be separated into Xabat;can or Sinaitic, Palmyrene, Syriac, and Manda'an. Xot all of these groups are of equal importance, for in some ca.ses tlie scanty epigraphic material adds but little to what is known from the literature, while in general it may be said that only the early documents are of special interest either in language, contents or form. Though the published Semitic inscriptions are numerous, the great mass are brief records from gravestones, or isolated names, or gralliti. such as cover the rocks of the Sinaitic peninsula. The immense variety that characterizes Greek and Latin epigraphy is lacking here, partly perhaps because so few sites have been systematically ex- plored. Two of the most important North-Semi- tic inscriptions, the Jloabite Stone and the Si- loam Inscription, are treated in separate articles. (See JIoauite Stone; Siloam.) The most im- portant Phamician inscription is that on the sarcophagus of Eshmunazar, King of Sidon. now in the Louvre, which is probably from the end of the fourth century B.C. Earlier but shorter are the inscriptions of Eshmunazar's father, Tabnith. and of King Jechaumelcch of Byblos, which may be as early as the fifth century B.C. The earliest writing of this group is probably on the frag- ments of metal cups from Cyprus, which seem to be even earlier than the Jloabite stone, and may perhaps belong in the tenth century B.C. An important Carthaginian document is the long in- scription in Marseilles, containing regulations regarding sacrifices, including the fees to be paid by the worshiper and the division of the victim with the priest. . important group is formed by the Aramaic inscriptions, now in Berlin, of Senjirli. in Northern Syria, some of which he- long to the first half of the eighth century B.C., and throw an interesting light on the relations