The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-11-09
SKILL OF THE ANCIENT EGYP-
TIANS.-LOST ARTS.

1.-THE Thebans, 1900 years before Christ, knew
less in some departments of useful knowledge,
than ours, they Also in others, knew more. One
great proof of the genius Of that splendid line
Of potentates, entitled the 18th The ban dynas-
ty, and the extent Of civilization under their rule
was, that the practical, chemical, astronomical
and mechanical knowledge, which they shared
with the priestly (scientifc) colleges, was in
some respects equal to, in some respects greater
than, our own. They made glass in great profu-
sion, (Diodorus Sculus,) and burning glasses
and lenses for glasses. They must have cut
their delicate canoes by the aid of microscopes.
Ptoemy describes an astrolabe-they calculated
ecliipses-they said that the moon was diversi-
fed by sea and land, (Plutarch de tacie lunR j
that lone lunar day was equal to fifteen of the
earth"-that .the earth's diameter was third
of the moon's"-and the "moon's mass was 10
that of the earth as / TO H."
All these things show good instruments they
made gold potable (inferentally) did So
who was scribe brought up by the Sovereign
Pontiff, and nurscd in the wisdom of the
Egyptians"-an cart lost" till recently discov-
cred by French chemist. Their workmanship
in gold, as recorded by Homer, and their golden
clockwork, by which thrones moved must have
been exquisitely ingenious. They possessed the
art Of tempering copper tools as 10 cut the hard
est granite with the most minute and brilliant
precision. This art we have lost. We see the
scuptors in the art Of cutting the inscriptions on
the granite obelisks and tablets. We see pic
torial copy Of the chissels and tools with which
the operation was performed-we see the tools
themselves. (There are sculrtors' cl'isels at
the museum, the cutting end Of which preserves
its edge unimpaired, while the blunt extremity
is fatlened BY the blows Of the mallet.) But
our tools would not cut such stone with
the precision of outline which the insciip-
tons retain to the present day. Again, what
mechanical means had they to raise and fix the
enormous imposts on the lntels Of their temples
al Karnac? Architects now confess that they
could not raise them by the usual mechanical
powers. Those means must, therefore, be put
TO the account of the "lost arts" That they
were familiar with the principle Of Artesian
wells, has been lately proved by engineering in
vestigations carried on while boring for waller
in the Great Oasis. That they were acquainted
with the principle Of the railroad is obvious,
that is to say, they had artificial causeways, le-
yelled, direct, and grooved, (the grooves being
anonted with oil } for the conveyance from great
distances of enormous blocks Of stone, entire
stone temples, and colossal statues Of half the
height of the monument. Remnants OF iron, II
is said have lately been found in these grooves.
Finally, M. Arago has argued, that they not
only possessed knowledge Of steam power,
which they employed in the cavern mysteries of
their pagan treemasonry, 1.-THE oldest in the
world, Of which the pyramids were the lodges,)
but that the modern steam engine is derived,
through Solomon de Cos, the predecessor of
| Worcester, from the invention of Hero, the
Egyptian engineer. The contest Of the Egyp-
tan sophos with Moses before Pharaoh, pays
singular tribute to their union of (" knowledge
and power" No supernatural aid is intmated.
Three Of the miracle, Of their natural magic
(see Sir D. Brewster) the jugglers of The east
can and do now perform. In the fourth an at
tempt TO produce the lowest form Of lice, they
fail From the whole statement, one inference
is SAFE that the daring ambition Of the priesy
chemists and ANTAGONISTS had been led from the
triumphs of embalming and understanding
(imitating and assisting the production Of life,)
! 10 Frankensein experiment on the vital fluid
and on the principle of life itself, perhaps the
experiments, like those Correctly or Incorrectly
ascribed TO Mr.. Crosse, in the hope of creating,
not reviving, the lowest form of animal exist