Blair Collection > History of the Celtic language

play, is induced at this early stage of the work to
combat a few of the prevaiUng prejudices against
the claims of the Celtic to be the primordial lan-
guage. In the first place, therefore, he would
submit that he by no means contends for this
honour under the appellation Celtic, or Keltic,
alone. It will appear by-and-by that " Cufic"
" Coptic,'' " Aramic,'' " Punic,'" together with a
few more, are equivalent appellations, and, there-
fore, one language under varied symbolic names.
In order to the due apprehension of this argu-
ment, the mind requires to be sent back to the
infancy of the human family, when the seeds of
Science were sown, and again follow the fruit of
these seeds in the track of Time.
With a view to illustrate this proposition, the
author has given in a Frontispiece a Celestial
Globe, with the figures upon it representing the
constellations in the true ancient manner, as marked
on a statue of Atlas in the Farnese Palace at
Rome. The two bears and southern fish are sup-
posed to have been obhterated by the damages it
has sustained. This globe is the heavens which
Atlas is said to support by his shoulders, which,
when examined into, is Uterally true.