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Show 470 TilE MONOGENISTS AND since this mode of writing :first came into use, when tho characters were used for tl10 objects only." 209 Mr. Uirclt, living dispassionately in the midst of temptations, augmented hourly by ih increasing copiousness of his materials, adheres, wW1 admit·able fortiLudo, to tho non-recognition of any arithmetical system of chronology. His last and invaluable precis of Egyptian hieroglyphs 210 couLai ns no all nsion to this "vexata qurostio ;" but wo may look forward to a history of Egypt, reconstructed by himself exclusively from archrological monuments, that, according to my view, will ground Nilotic history upon a more stable basis than everfluctuating ciphers. Iu the meanwhile, a tborMgh revision of tho astronomical data contained in hicroglyphical inscriptions,- data that, utterly mise nsLrued in object as well as import, for the last half~ ce_ntury, have provoked endless disputations-has at length enabled M. Biot211 to fix three lifetimes of Pharaohs by three several instances wherein "the ie~::~tival of Sothis (Syrius, tho dog-star)," is recorded on monuments of the XVIIth and X.Xth dynn.sties. 'l.'hc :first occurred about n. c. 1440, duriPg the reign ofTIIOTMES ill; the second about B. c. 1300, under RAMSES ill; and the third under RAMSES VII about B. c. 1240. ' Precious to science as are these new facts, I doubt whether tho destruction of false hypotheses is not more so; and the removal of further hallucinations about pharaonic observation of the "Sothic Period" is one of countless reasons for gratitude to Biot.212 After t·cadillg his criticism of Grroco-Roman postulates, one recognizes how "It becomes easy to sec that tho idea of an hcliacal Thoth, as if it hacl been 1·eally observed at Mempl1is, under conditions that would make i.t correspond, clay by day, with that of Antoninus, after the revolution of 14G1 vague yearA, is a pure fiction:" at the same time that, to imagi no MENOPmms, which is but a Greek translation of tho nome ~province) of Memphis, to have been a King, becomes, likewise, " a chimera." ! More popular, thouO'h not Jess interesting, is the beautiful "Determination o~ tho Vernal ~~ uinox of 1852, effected in Egypt, accorcli ng to observations of the r1smg and setting of tho sun in the alignernent of the southern and northern faces of the great Pyramid of Memphis, 2011 !Iiatory of Egypt, Lond011, 2d t>d., 1852; i. p. 18. 21° Crystal Pala~e Libr~ry, London, 12mo, Bradbury and Evans, 1856. Possessing only tho proof-al!eeta, kmdly !;1VOU to roo by my friend Mr. Dirch, in advance of publication I cannot supply its definitive title. ' 211 M6moiru de l' Acadt!mie de# Sciencet, Torno XXIV, 185ll. 212 Recllcrclua de quelquta Datta Absoluea qui peuvent ee conclure dee date• vague• aur lu Monumens .£'gyptiena, Paris, 4to, 1858; pp. 16-17. TilE POLYGENIS'l'S. 471 by M. Marictte." 213 It explains how naturally this vaunted "wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts vii, 22) r duces itself to simple "rules of thumb," sLill practised daily by tho unlettered Fellaheen along the Nile; and proves also "q uc los pr6j og6s uu sa voir uno foi1::1 6tablis sont clurs a d6truire. C'cst uno sortc d'iguoran.cc petri.Li6c." This aphorism of M. Biot applies with singular force to chronologet ·s of tho old school, among whom, however, must not be t·ankcd Prof. Orcurti,214 one of the EgyptologisLs attached to tho Museum of Turin, where the liberal principles of Sardinia allow free utterance to opinion. llo likewise advocates tho longest chronology :-"Denco [tho Champollionists] establish that Egyptian chronology mnst be studied at its direct fountains, indcpcn<leuLly of the chronological data of the Bible (I mean for tho epoch anterior to tho XVllitl1 dynasty); inasmuch as, there not being a .fixcu and established chronology of Hebrew annals, reason insists that we should avail oursclv s of thaL liberty which the [Catholic] Church concedes to us for using an.ysocvct· chronological system." * * * "Beyond this period [the Xilth Jynasty which, with De Roug6, he fixes about 2900 n. o.J, we do not care to pl'Osccute the tedious task of adding ciphers that are only conjectural;" and, like mysolf/15 Orcurti rejects tho contemporaneousness of any Egyptian dynasties; holding that,-" all th ingenuity of Bunsen availed naught in ansing a system to be accepted which is in contradiction with the historians and the monu-ments." It is partly for this reason, and partly for another to be given anon, that I will not weary readers with an analysis of the 2d vol. (1853) of Chcv. Bunsen's anglicised "Egypt's Placo in the World's History," in which the author's enormous erndition rivals his vvonclcrfnl dexterity in making his own ciphers harmonize with each other rather than with tho monuments. Neither is it worth ihc labot· to point out the whimsicalities of the "Monumcntalliil:ltory of Egypt" (1854), by Mr. Osburn a scholar that, apart from his unquestionable skill in deciphering inscriptions,couplcd wiLh a good knowledge of Coptology, seems to hanker after tho character of Homer's M:.wgites, who knew a g,·eat many things, but all of them w1·ong.216 m 1310'1', Journal de& Savants, May, Juno, J·uly, 1855; p. 29, &o.: and Idem. "Sur le~ reates do I' Aucionno Ur1\nogmpltio <!gyptionno quo !'on ponrrn.it r6trouver nujourd'hui ehelJes Arnbos qui habitcnt l'int61"ieur do l'Egypto "-op. cit. Aug. 1855. Sec especially Dw ltouo~, "Noms 6gyptions do~ Plo.ubtos,"-/Jut. A•·cMot., .At!lm. Prarlfaia, 1\'lnrs-Avril, 1856. 21' C<tl<tlogo iUustrato dei ,lfomm&enli .Egizii del R . .Muuo di 'l'ori11o, 'l'urin, 8vo, 1852 ; pp. 4.7, 51, ()1. 21b 1:vpea of Jf<mkituJ, pp. 6i7, 688. 210 l.IEN'I'L!:Y's Phalaria, Dyco's cd., London, 8vo, 188(l; II, p. 14; from Alcib. II of Plato, Op. lii, 116, od. 1826. |