The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-02-22
PKEHIsToRIC DISCOVERY.

a lew months ago the MeSStS. nhIFel VI
New York published in book form Amelia
B. Edwards lectures on Egypt, with addi-
tions by the author. and copiOus illustra-
tons, and now the Appletons have brought
ont an English version of NJ Maspero's
work on ancient Egypt and the Assyrans.
The Psychological Society continues to pro-
duce year by year the reports OF the eX-
plorations of Mr.. Flinders-Petrie and his
associates. and from time to time contribn-
tions to Egyptian archaeology appear from
the press of the Boulak Museum. Mr..
MaspeTo's book is probably the most valu-
able addition to archaeology that has been
made since Wilkinson. For twenty years
he has devoted the whole resources of
remarkably alert mind 10 the subject. lie
succeeded Mariette Bey as keeper Of the B0u-
lax Museum and has been regarded by tray-
elers as a living encyclopedia on matters
pertaining to ancient Egypt.
Through the researches Of these great
scholars we know more about the Egypt
Of Rameses the Second than we know about
this country at the time OF the Pequot war.
The wars in which the Egyptians engaged,
their sciences and mechanical undertakings,
the policy of the Pharaolis, and the private
life, food, clothing, habits, practices, hopes
who surrounded the throne TO the pfosent-
tors Of the fellahs, are all revealed to US IN
the minutest detail by the sculptures and
inscriptions which it was the delight OF the
Egyptian to carve and the effect Of the dry
atmosphere to preserve. George Ebers was
able TO write novels Of Egyptian life with
more semblance Of truth than is contained
IN Iyanhoe; he traced the lives of the
la n
from their cradle to their grave, and pre-
served the local color with fidelity which
Padding did not surpass in westward
Hou' and was quite unable to attain IN
/ "Hypaua."
And vet such is the vitality Of the an
/ Gent Egyptian ruins that the discoveries
of the future are likely TO excel in number
! and importance those Of tie past The
/ country which intervenes between the
/ Libyan desert and the Nile is known to be
/ full Of pyramids-among them, possibly,
/ some as large as those which are seen from
/ Cairo; ana the whole delta teens with
/ buried cities. The difficulty with which
| explorers have TO contend is that no one
/ can set date to the birth Of the Egyptian
/ nation. 1t is customary in our time to hold
! thatthe trustworthy history OF Egypt begins
]
! Mariette's chronology goes back to 5000
! 3. c.. or $500 years ago, and il is not only
/ impossible 10 say that the Egyptians had not
/ existed as a nation for 5000 years or longer
/ before that, but it is fairly probable that
! they had. Savages DO not erect moGu-
meuts If which We find tie traces in mod
ern Egypt to-day and the date of whose
origin no archeoloEist can presume TO con-
! jrctUre. Miss Edwards. who is no mean
authority Oh Egyp,Ology seems TO think
that for thousands Of years before the
pyramids were built Egyptian corpses were
embalmeJ, and that millions CT them viii
! yet be found in holes in the rocks.
! For reasons which need not be explained
/ arcle5logists not only in Egypt but on this
/ continent likewise have shrunk, until with
/ in few years, from assigning TO ancient
/ ruins an antiquity which ap, cared TO chal-
/ lenge the accuracy Of Bishop Usher's
/ chronological table Even among travellers
who have not been suspected OF orthodoxy
an endeayor has been perceptible to crowd
/ the events of the ante-Christisn era into
! period not exceeding 1000 years. Ia this
/ country science has grudged the mound
| builders an antiquity of ten centuries, and
so sound a writer as Major Powell regards
them as more modern still The old His
! pauo-M Mexican writer's, who were stout
| churchmeu, would not admit that the wars
OF the Az;ecs aud Toltecs would have been
| prior to the crusades. But these at
! tempts 10 crowd prehistoric events into a
narrow period in order that they shall fl
with chronological tables based on conjec-
ture involve a serious difficulty. They re-
| Quire the cbronologer to explain how it hap
/ pened that the world, after it became tit for
| human habitation, remained uninhabited
for enormous periods of time, until at some
moment, apparently designated by accident
+ or caprice, mankind suddenly appeared and
took POSSESSION Of the land. Why did they
not make their appearance as soon as the
cond tons were favorable for their exist
/ enCe?
That is problem witch is puzzling
students of archaeology. 1t imDarts actual
value to the discoveries Of such men as
Maspero in the yestiges Of the world that
has passed away.