The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1892-03-08
ANCIENT EGYPT.
NORMAN VAN PELT LEWIS.
Continued from las. aoeek.)

/ cAdRSOidtCu.
The monuments clearly show that they
were of brown color, with tinge ofred
The women were much lighter, owinl
to the fact that they we're less often ex
posed to the rays of the burning sun.
The men and women were alike tai
and thin, With the head well set upon the
shoulders, on which grew profusion o
coarse, black hair
This the men usually shaved off entire
ly, and wore wigs. while on the contrar,
the women plated the hair, and wen
about with it hanging to the waist. Th'
forehead was high, the lips large. the nos
long, while the eye was nothing more thai
slit like that of the Chinese of to-day
except that it was horizontal and not OBJ
lique.
Children are represented on the monu
ments as being plump and robust.
The aneient Egyptians we're exceeding
ly intellectual, but cannot compare ethel
to the Greeks or Romans in finished per
lection. They possessed an extensive lit
erature, and made rapid progress in re
ligion, morals, law, rhetoric, arithmetic
mensuration. geometry, astronomy, medi
cine, travels. and also wrote novels.
In morals they were exceedingly lax
and imperfect, but many of their law
were precisely like those mentioned IL
the early scriptures, and some have ever
said, that Moses, having been brought NJ
/ in their midst, did but copy his code 0
laws. from their Book of the Dead"
This we cannot believe, for the light Of
Christianity bids us put away all such sur
misses, and proves that the Ten Command
ments came directly from God Himself
Men boosted OF being impure. and they
were moreover treacherous to the utmost
and in everything.
They could not be depended upon, an
der any circumstances, and the lowe
classes everywhere, performed their worl
under the rod.
They were passionate. yet timid al
ways ready TO make engagements, the.
we're alike ready to break them.
Their army was we'll disciplined, ant
for years they were masters of the world
but when they attacked other traine'
men, tney were invariably defeated. A
mercenaries they were not to be depend
ed on, and we read that it always took
strong hand to prevent riot and disturb
ance.
What is most to be regretted in tn
history of this promising people, is tina
they were more than all else inclined t
luxury and Incidence, and drunkenness
was common vice.
Life was almost entirely spent in pleas
ure and indulgence. Dress was magnifi
cent games and sports were common.
1t was this that made Egypt decline
until to-day, the grand and imposing rel
les of hundreds of years are but ruins
and broken fragments.
Of all the advancements the Egyptian
made, doubt if there is one more inter
esting than that of physical science.
Particularly did they excel in mathe
mates and astronomy, while in engineer
ing we are disposed to give them undu
praise.
The principles of arithmetic and geom
etry which are studied to-day, were found
ed by these people, and we frequentl.
read on the monuments and elsewhere
that they counted into the millions by tn,
decimal system, and we cannot doubt
that should circumstances have required
it, they would have gone even deeper int
the science of numbers.
Plane geometry was in common use, a
was also surveying but little was known
of trigonometry.
They were able to ascertain any angle
and not only the laying out oftheir fields
but their architecture, bears ample testi
mony of their having followed mathemat
| ical rules.
1t was the Egyptians who discoveries
one of the most important facts in demon
strative geometry, namely, that tn
square ofthe hypothenuse of right-angleC
triangle, is equal to the sum OF the square
of the other two sides.
1t is moi to be wondered at, that tn,
priests made important astronomical dis
coveries, for they were more secluded il
their manner of living, and as clas
reached the greatest advancement at tina
time, known in education.
They discovered that the sun was tn
centre of the universe, and that all tn
planets revolved around it; they divided
the year into 1855 days, with thirty go
days to a month, and noted eclipses, ant
movements of the heavenly bodies. Thes
great facts could not have been marke'
out by mathematics, but we're put dow
after having been noted in days of tn
long ago, by observation only.
When we think that this peopl
thought nothing of moving solid blocks 0
stone 80 or 40 feet long, or an obelisl
weighing on low average some 400 tons
we naturally suppose that they had won
derfuI apparatus for moving heav,
weights.
If there were any such machines, W
know nothing about them and the mos
plausible theory concerning them, and in
deed the one that must be true, is tina
all the huge stones used in the construc
ton of the pyramids and other massiv
buildings, were dragged along the groun'
all the way from the quarries, by immens
gangs of men.
Rollers were not even used, and vas
amount of power was undoubtedly los
through want of ingenuity.
How these blocks of marble were hois
ed to their position, sometimes to an alt
tude of several hundred feet, u.s. an vi
solved problem which is puzzling tn
brightest men of to-day.
In connection with the science Of th
Egyptians, ii is we'll to state, that the
connected the Nile river with the Red Sc
by means of canal, and also constructe
large water way across the Isthmus {
Suez.
So that the Suez canal of to-day is but
second one, the first having filed up b
sand blown from the desert.
Mr.. Ferguson in his History of Arch
lecture" says 1.-THE noblest effect OF arch
Etectural magniicence ever produced b
the head Of man is the Great Temple I
Karnak"
1t is quite impossible to say much abo'