Technical Chronology, as forming the basis of Historical, requires that its several Measures of Time should be previously explained. And a critical explanation of these will contribute much to the right understanding and illustration of sacred and profane classic authors. Before we consider these measures, it will be necessary to explain the various modes of NUMERATION used in different nations. 66 Originally, Numbers were expressed by their names at full length. Thus, the venerable Registry of the Antediluvian Patriarchs, Gen. v. 18, " And Jared lived two and sixty years, and a hundred years, and begat Enoch: and Jared lived after he begat Enoch, eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters and all the days of Jared were two and sixty years, and nine hundred years, and he died." Here, according to the original, the order of Notation is in an ascending series, Units, Tens, Hundreds, &c. contrary to the modern European mode. The same prevailed also among the ancient Greeks; the expedition against Troy was undertaken, τρεις και δεκατου έτους, “ the three and tenth year of the reign of Menestheus," according to the primitive notation of the Parian Chronicle; which was also adopted in our language," the thirteenth," fourteenth, &c. The first numeral characters, or symbols, were the letters of the alphabet, in the order of succession. Thus, the several stanzas of the 119th Psalm, were marked by the Hebrew letters, Aleph 1, Beth 2, Gimel 3, &c. This was probably the most ancient mode. The first improvement in alphabetical notation, was the Decimal division, or arrangement: the first nine letters expressing the digits, 1, 2, 3, &c., the tenth, 10, the eleventh, 20, the twelfth, 30, &c. The next was raising the value of the numeral letters in a decuple proportion, by accents, or marks, attached to the letters; thus, & denoted 1000; and sometimes the word at length, ; the plural, denoted 2000, □ 2, 3000, &c. This was followed by arbitrary marks, or symbols, for particular numbers, as among the Greeks, 7, for 900, &c. The last and grandest improvement, was the rejection of nu |