The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-04-09
Remarkable History Of
The Rosetta Stone.
Unlocked Mystery of Egyptian
Hier0glyphicS.
Authorship OF Familiar Axiom.
Big Engineering Project.

The history Of the Rosetta Stone
abont which correspondent asks for
information, is very interesting. Students
OF Egyptian history had long been aware
that literature lay locked up In tho
hicroglyphics which aboundcd I'm every
part Of Egypt but they were unable TO
find KEY that would open the mystery.
Many shrowd attempts had been made,
and the conjecture of scholars as TO the
probable meaning of certain characters,
proved TO be very near the truth; but the
fact that the conjectures were only proba-
bilities rendered all attempts at transla-
rion vague and unreliable. The first def
mite clew that was given To tho signlh-
canoe OF the Egyptian hieroglyphics was
by the discovery of the rosetta stone, so
called because il was found at the Rosetta
mouth of the Nile. After Napoleon oc-
cupicd Egypt "A strong English fleet was
sent 10 the East for the purpose of cut
ting off the French army and when the
approach Of the English force was known
active preparations were made by the
French for defense, earthworks being
thrown up at the mouths of the Nile in
order TO defend that stream against the
English, while the French feet at Aboukir
made vigorous preparations 10 rcpel the
English ships.
II was during the construction of one
of these forts that the Rosetta Stone was
uncovered by "a French officer, who laid
it to one side until it could be examined,
the savants who had gone with Napoleon
instantly perceiving its value. A few
days later the French fleet was defeated
and almost annihiiated at Abouklr, tho
mouths of the Nile were occupied by the
English and the stone fell into the pos
session of Sir William Hamilton, who
later turned il over TO tho British Mu
scum. Its value, as an archaeological
treasure, consists in the fact that IL has
three inscriptions containing tho same
NATTER one in hieroglyphics, one in
demotic, or Middle Egyptian, characters,
and the third i'm Greek The matter is
unimportant being an inscription in
honor of Ptolemy Epiphanes B. 9. 1856.
The trilingual inscription has rendered
1T priceless treasure.
To many persons at various times has
been attributed the authorship Of the
axiom History is Philosophy teaching
by examples. y Henry st. John, Viscount
Bolingbroke (born in 1881 in letter 2,
'.On the Study aud Use of History,
writes: Il have read somewhere or
other in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, L
think, that history is philosophy teach
ing by examples. /" This carries us
back to Rome 30 b. c.. at which date il
was pcnned by that Greek writer then
residing in that imperial city. It is To
page 3gS. But it was not original even
with Dionysius. He quotes it from
Thucydides / 80, SO that the sentence was
first uttered by the greatest of all Greek |
historians more than 2300 years agu. tt |
was first put in its present form by Boil |
ingbroke.
Engineering achievements and posi- |
bilitics, from the modern point of view, |
have received an additional illustration |
in the cnsc of the projected tunnel be-
tween the mainland Of Italy and the |
Island Of Sicily, plans and details of |
which. In model, as executed by the /
Italian civil engineer, de Johannis, have
attracted much attention at the Univer
sity OF padua The principle employed |
IN this project Is described as that of |
boring in parabolic spiral lines. After
thorough and careful studies of the Strait
Of Messina, its varying depths the nature
Of the ground, and of all other conditions
which might assist or interfere with such
mn undertaking, dc .Iohannis decided that
the beginning OF the tunnel should bc
near san Giovanni di Sanitello, at the
foot of the Aspromonte mountain range,
tho mouth on the other side To be located
on the degli lnglesi plain. The entire
tunnel will be nearly two miles long,
and will consist in the main of two
shafts Of about 10 600 feet each. descend
ing at grade not exceeding 30 feet i'm
each l0O0 Such "a tunnel is thought
preferable TO bridge. that would involve
such great span and wind exposure.
The history of science says we'll
known physician, shows that, however
simple newly discovered fact or law
appears at first, closer study proves il |
complex and intricate. This holds true in
the germ theory OF disease. Ii seems such |
am easy explanation. Each disease is
due 70 specific microbc. Eliminate the
sInicrobe, cure the disease" But exccp-
lions kccp obtruding themselves. Often
the microbe is found but not the disease;
hence bacteriologists have come TO rccog-
nize TINT not tho prcsonce of the germ,
Int some virulent condition Of it, causes
the malady. 1t is said that the current
of thought was first turned in this dircc-
tion by the discovery by Roux and Yersin
of diphthcria bacillus IN large number
of normal throats, and in localities where
the disease had not been epidemic for
years. Leaders seem TO be deciding that |
IL is a family of bacilli one has To deal
with In diagnosing and treating certain
disease. Some members of the family are
especially pathogenic and some are not
Tho last may become yirulent under
conditions not we'll understood but the
main one seems 10 be the passage OF the
bacillus through one or more individuals
whose lowered rcsistivc vitality makes
them subject 10 the originally attcnuatod
virulcncc of the bacilli.' DIR. Roux Of
Hnt-tDAlut ltllit bcittNfN IDt~c tnunENN |
In yirulence Of microbes Is the rule rather
*han the exception. Metzchnilxoff found
that cholera bacillus was widely spread
In water, practically all over the world
Duclaux, Pastcur's SUCCESSOR as director
n the Institut Pasteur, Is also convinced
thnt the family of bacilli' in 10Th ty-
rhoid and cholera IL sometimes patho-
genie and sometimes not, and Is widely
spread In nature