The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1896-09-03
A second Babylon Unearthed.

knowledge could be more profit
ably expended than in antiqua-
rian research. The Washinton
Post says that that kind of in
vestigation is a very small con-
tributor to the intellectual
growth or the moral or material
progress of mankind. There is
not one Of the great inventions
of modern times that has not
helped the human family more
than all the discoveries made by
those scientists whose work is
10 the dead, buried, and forgot
ten past. The pick and shovel
of the toal miner are a factor
in life Of fer weightier import
than the tools of the digger
into the sites of ancient cities
But while less useful than
other work, that Of the anti.
quarian is more attractive to
many gifted minds, and its re :
suits posses universal inter-
est, continues the Post. The
desires to know more than his
tory tells us Of the long ago is
almost as strong as the wish to
lift the veil that hides the fu-
ture. So 1t comes to pass that
institutions Of learning and
scientifi: organizations send
expeditions TO all habitable
parts Of the globle to minister
to this craving for information.
Prof. Hilphecht, Of the Penn
sylyania University, is at the
head of a scientific expedition
sent out to the sites of ancient
places to bring together such
relics as intelligent scrutiny
can unearth, and he has sent a
wonderous tale from the site of
ancient Babylon. A dispatch
from London shows that the
professors re earches atNlpp.r,
where Babylon stood. have
brought to light the most re-
markable data ever found by
such investigators. IL appears
that the professor suspected the
existence of q deeper city far
down below the foundations Of
the ancient city, where previous
searchers had Abandoned the
quest. The frst excavations
had ended thIrty.six feet from
the surface; thirty feet under
meath this the Hiiprecht party
struck the traces Of still another
city. Ii this layer, which, il is
said, must have been a Babylon
so far back that even the oldest
races we have any record Of
never heard Of il, we're found
inscriptions and relics dating
| 1000 years, 1000 before Christ.
The earliest known specimen
of the keystone arch rewards
the labors Of this party from the
keystone State. To find 1t the
diggers worked through 1000
years Of accumulated debris.
To this mass they found broken
pottery, the implements of
household industry, which were
in use, according TO the inscrip.
tons, thousands Of years before
the Mosaic account. The key.
stone arch, Prof. Hilprecht de.
clares, cannot be less than 5000
wears before Christ. The walls
in which this arch rests are built
oi brick twenty inches square;
they are seventeen feet high
and forfy.five feet wide at the
top. II is stated that most oi
the vases and tablets are Gov.
cred with inscriptions which the
scholars Of the party assert will
enable them to reconstitute the
history Of the city for 4.OOt
years at least
II all this proves TO be true
Prof. HilprecLt's name will fint
and hold a place Of honor in th,
annals Of sience. But will hi
fellow -citizens pause in th'
heaying midst Of q Presidential
campaign TO do justice to hi
great work ? viii they let an
ciont Babylon be a successful
competitor with free coinage 70
a share Of their attention 2
aa444aasa~=-@a
THE 165,OOO,000 ounces Of sil
var and The 100000 ounces q