New-York tribune., 1841-12-20

SKILL OF TIE ANCIENT t"A P4iA " i'Da
ARTS The subject suggest few recaPruieiorr
remarks respecting the qN0eSfio re.rat0 oil = lost
arts fthe lhebans, 1900 years before Christ
knew less nsone departments Of useful SHowied9e
than ourselves they also in others knew more
One great proof Of the genius Of that splendid line
OF potentates, entitled the 18Th Toeban dynasty,
and the extent of civilization under their rule, was
that the practical, chemical, astronomical, and me-
chancal knowledge which they shared with the
priestly (scenii;ir) col eyes In some respects
equal IN some respect, greater than. our own.
They made glass in great prolusion (Dlodorts 81
culls) and burning glasses and lenses tor gEsse'
They must have cut their delicate canoes by the
aid of microscopes. Ptolemy describes m astro!a
be they calculated ecliPses; they >ad that tie
moon was diversified by sea and land (Plutarch DE-
facis i4nc that one lunar day was equal 10 ID
of the earth; that the earlhs diameter was
II third Of the moons and that the moon mass
was to that OF the earth as | to - All these
things show good instruments. They made gold po-
liable Cnferentially; Moses did 50; who was u
scribe brought up by the Sovereign Fonuil, and
nurscd IN the wisdom OF the Esyptans.) an art
lost till recently recovered by French chymis;
Their workmanship in gold, as recorded by Ho-
mer, and their golden clock work, by which thrones
moved. must have been exqusitely ingenious.
lIeE pOsStsstu ait VI 'pPIN
50 as to cut The hardest granite with the most nj
mute and brill ant precision. This art have lost.
We see the sculptors in the act Of cutting the in
scorpions on the granite obelisks and tablets. We
pictorial copy of the chises and tools with
which the operation performed. We see the
tools themselves. There are sculptors tools nj
the Museum, the cutting end Of which preserves
its edge unimpaired, while the blunt extremity Is
iattened by the blows of the malIet) But our
tools would such stone with the precision OF
outline which the in,cr pnons retain 10 the preient
day. Again, what mechanical means had they 10
rn-e and fix the enormous imposts the lintels of
their temples at karnac7 Architects now confess
that they could not raise Them by the usual me
chancal powers Those must, therefore,
be put TO the account OF the lost arts. That they
we're familiar with the principle OF Artesan wells.
has been lately proved by engineering nyestiga-
lions carried on while boring for water in the great
Oasis That they were acquainted with the prln-
cipe of the Railroad is obvious, that Is 10 say, they
had artificial causeways. levc!ed, direct, and
grooved, (,he grooves being anoned with OIL for
the conveyance from great distances of enormous
blocks of stone, enire stone temples and colossal
statues Of half the hight of the monument. Rem
nants of ron ii is SAID have lately been found IN
these grooves Finally, NJ. Arngo has argued, that
they not only possessed knowledge OF steam
power which they employed in the mys-
teries of their Pagan freemasonry, (the Oldest in
The world, of whichthe Pyramids were the lodges
but that the modern steam engine IL derived,
through Solomon de- Caus, the predecessor OF " or
cesler, from the invention Of Hero the Egyptian
engineer. The contest. of the Egyplisn soPhos
with Moses before Pharaoh, pays singular nihute
TO their union OF knowledge and power No SUI
pernatural aid is minated. Three of the miracles
of their natural magic (see Sir David Brews'cr)
the iugglers of the Eas, can and do now perform.
In the fourth an attempt to produce the lowest
form of life, they fail. From the whole statement
one inference is safe that the daring ambition OF
the priesrly chyris,> and anatomist> had been led
from the triunphs of embalming and chicken-hatch-
ing (imitating and assisting the production Of i.e)
10 Frankcnstcin experiment The vital fluid,
and the principle of HE itself perhaps to expert
mens like those Correctly incorrectly ascrbed
10 Mr.. Crosse, in the hope OF creating, not revi-
wing, the lowest form of animal existence
Westminster Review.