the world has been able to develop a true alphabetic 
     writing. The more or less civilized peoples of Egypt, 
     Mesopotamia, Crete, Asia Minor, Indus Valley, China, 
     Central America, reached an advanced stage in the 
     history of writing, but could not get beyond the 
     transitional stage. A few peoples (the ancient Cypriotes, 
     the Japanese and others), developed a syllabary. But only 
     the Syro-Palestinian Semites produced a genius who 
     created the alphabetic writing, from which have 
     descended all past and present alphabets.
          Each important civilization modifies its script and 
     time may make its relation to some of its near relatives 
     quite unrecognizable. Thus, the Brahmi, the great mother-
     script of India, the Korean alphabet, the Mongolian scripts 
     are derived from the same source as the Greek, the Latin, 
     the Runic, the Hebrew, the Arabic, the Russian alphabet,