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Thus he was in personal touch with ancient records which were not even seen by the Han Masters. So he made the best use of the opportunity and rendered the most timely service not only by continually collecting and publishing the original sources, but also by placing the result of his study before the public.

Liu's publication was followed by that of Sun-I-jang's Ch'i-wên Chü-li(契文舉例) in the year following. The work is essentially an epigraphical study and the first of its kind that appeared in print. When this discovery came to his knowledge, Sun was already advanced in age and recognized as a master on many branches of classical learning; among his many eminent achievements, he was also considered as a palaegraphist of high standing. Thus he says:

"I have studied the 'ancient scripts'(古文) and the 'great seal'(大篆) for forty years; the inscriptions on ceremonial vessels, that I have examined, are more than two thousand kinds; but, in general, they are later than the Chou Dynasty. What the connousseurs consider as Shang are usually guess work, and by no means, of a convincing nature. It has always been my regret that I have had no opportunity to come across scripts that are definitely Shang. Unexpectedly, in my declining year, I should now get hold of this volume(indicating Tieh-yün T'sang-kuei) and examine these wonderful remains with my own eye. For me it is a labor of love to read and study them; so I have spent two months in an attempt to decipher these words. By comparing the like that are scattered in different places, it has been possible to interpret some of the contents. The characters in general are nearest to the bronze inscriptions...." (Ch'i-wen Chü-li, p.2.)

I have quoted the above quite at length in order to show that these newly discovered Chinese scripts were by no means totally unknown writings. The forms are just a little more archaic than most bronze inscriptions. For an expert of the latter, he is well prepared to take up this problem; and required no Rosetta stone to serve as an extra key. So the method employed in deciphering these scripts is an obvious one: namely by comparing them with their parallel in bronze forms. Such comparative method had already been developed and employed fruitfully in texture criticism for a century