i 5 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the very first period of Egyptian history, but we have ranges of 

 sphinxes, heroic statues, and bas-reliefs, showing that even in the 

 early ages this branch of art had reached an amazing develop- 

 ment. 



As regards the perfection of these, Lubke, the most eminent 

 German authority on plastic art, referring to the early works in 

 the tombs about Memphis, declares that, " as monuments of the 

 period of the fourth dynasty, they are an evidence of the high 

 perfection to which the sculpture of the Egyptians had attained." 

 Brugsch declares that " every artistic production of those early 

 days, whether picture, writing, or sculpture, bears the stamp of 

 the highest perfection in art." Maspero, the most eminent French 

 authority in this field, while expressing his belief that the Sphinx 

 was sculptured even before the time of Mena, declares that " the 

 art which conceived and carved this prodigious statue was a 

 finished art, an art which had attained self-mastery and was sure 

 of its effects " ; and Sir James Fergusson, the highest English au- 

 thority, declares, " We are startled to find Egyptian art nearly as 

 perfect in the oldest periods as in any of the later." 



The evidence as to the high development of Egyptian sculpture 

 in the earlier dynasties becomes every day more overwhelming. 

 What exquisite genius the early Egyptian sculptors showed in 

 their lesser statues is known to those who have seen those most 

 precious specimens in the Boulak Museum at Cairo, which were 

 wrought before the conventional type was adopted in obedience 

 to religious considerations. 



Take, next, decorative and especially ceramic art : as early as 

 the fourth and fifth dynasties we have vases, cups, and other ves- 

 sels showing exquisite beauty of outline and a general sense of 

 form equal to Etruscan and Grecian work of the best periods. 



Take, next, astronomy : to say nothing of the other evidences of 

 a long development of thought in this field, we may go back to 

 the very earliest period of Egyptian civilization, and we find that 

 the four sides of the Great Pyramid are adjusted to the cardinal 

 points with the utmost precision. " The day of the equinox can be 

 taken by observing the sun set across the face of the pyramid, 

 and the neighboring Arabs adjust their astronomical dates by its 

 shadow." 



The same view is confirmed by philologists. To use words of 

 Max Diincker : " The oldest monuments of Egypt, and they are the 

 oldest, monuments in the world, exhibit the Egyptian in possession 

 of the art of writing." It is found also by the inscriptions of the 

 early dynasties that the Egyptian language had even at. that early 

 time been developed in all essential particulars to the highest 

 point it ever attained. What long periods it must have required 

 for such a development every scholar in philology can imagine. 



