OCR Text |
Show ~8 EGYPTIAN MUMMIES IDENTICAL L Ch. II. 1 • particularly 11 the structure of a part of the intestinal canal*." It is well known that the horse, the ox, the boat· and other domesti.c ann• na1 s , w 11ich have been introduced int.o South Amen.c a, an d 11 ave n 111 wild in many parts, have ent1rely. .l ost all mark s o f d om esticity ' ca nd have reverted to the ortg• ma• l 1 t f t11el.c 1arac ers o 1• species · But the dog has also become wild m . C u b a, H ay tl. , and in all the Caribbean isla. nds. In the course of the seventeenth century, they hunted m packs from twelve to fifty, or more in number, and. fea~·lessly attacked herds of WI'l d - b oar.s a nd otl1er· ca nimals • It Is natural, therefore, to enquire to what form they reverted? Now they are said by many travellers to have resembled very nearly the. shepherd's dog; but it is certain that they were never turned mto wolves. They were extremely savage, and their ravages appear to have been as much dreaded as those of wolves, but when any of their whelps were caught, and brought from the woods to the towns, they grew up in the most perfect submis~ion to man. As the advocates of the theory of transmutatiOn trust much to the slow and insensible changes which time may work, they are accustomed to lament the absence of accurate descriptions, and figmes of particular animals and plants, handed down from the earliest periods of history, such as might have afforded data for comparing the condition of species, at two periods considerably remote. But fortunately, we are in some measure independent of such evidence, for by a singular accident, the priests of Egypt have bequeathed to us, in their cemeteries, that information, which the museums and works of the Greek philosophers have failed to transmit. !?or the careful investigation of these documents, we are greatly indebted to the skill and diligence of those naturalists who accompanied the French armies during their brief occu· pation of Egypt: that conquest of four years, from which we may date the improvement of the modern Egyptians in the arts * Prichard, Phys. Ilist. of Manl•ind, vol i. F· !)6, who cites Professor Giildenstllut. Ch. II.] WITH SPECIES STILL LIVING. ~9 and sciences, and the rapid progress which has been 'made of late in our knowledge of the arts and sciences of their remote predecessors. Instead of wasting their whole time as so many preceding travellers had ~one., in exclusively collecting human mummies, M. Geoffroy and his associates examined diligently, and sent home great numbers of embalmed bodies of consecrated animals, such as the bull, the dog, the cat, the ape, the ichneumon, the crocodile, and the ibis. 'To those who have never been accustomed to connect the facts of Natural History with philosophical speculations, who have never raised their conceptions of the end and import of such studies beyond the mere admiration of isolated and beautiful objects, or the exertion of skill in detecting specific differences, it will seem incredible that amidst the din of arms, and the stirring excitement of political movements, so much enthusiasm could have been felt in regard to these precious remains. In the official report drawn up by the Professors of the Museum at Paris, on the value of these objects, tlJCre are some eloquent passages which may appear extravagant, unless we reflect how fully these naturalists could appreciate the bearing of the facts thus brought to light on the past history of the globe. . "It seems," say they, " as if the superstition of the ancient Egyptians had been inspired by Nature, with a view of transmitting to after ages a monument of her history. That extraordinary and whimsical people, by embalming with so much care the brutes which were the objects of their stupid adoration, have left us, in their sacred grottoes, cabinets of zoology almost complete. 'I'he climate has conspired with the art of embalming to preserve the bodies from corruption, and we can now assure ourselves by our own eyes what was the state of a great number of species tlH'ee thousand years ago. We can scarcely restrain the transports of our imagination, on beholding thus preserved with their minutest bones, with the smallest portions of their skin, and in every particular most perfectly recognizable, many |