LITERARY NOTICES. 



705 



inspect the foundations on which our present 

 atomic theory rests, and have an opinion of 

 his own as to its stability." Another fea- 

 ture of the book is that chemical symbols 

 are not used until the need of them has been 

 made apparent. Full and practical direc- 

 tions for manipulating apparatus, taking 

 notes, etc., are given. The author is in- 

 structor in chemistry at Phillips Exeter 

 Academy, and the book is adapted to the 

 needs of academy students. 



A Manual of Microchemical Analysis. 

 By Prof. H. Behrexs, of the Polvtechnic 

 School in Delft, Holland. With 84 illus- 

 trations. London and New York: Mac- 

 millan & Co. Pp. 246. Price, $1.50. 



Seventeen years ago the Bohemian chem- 

 ist Boricky published a memoir which gave 

 rise to a new branch of chemistry. This is 

 microchemical analysis. Other investigators 

 have contributed to its advance, and now one 

 of them gives us a view of its present condi- 

 tion. Devised for the examination of minute 

 quantities of minerals, it has been applied 

 also to alloys, and Prof. Behrens expects it 

 to, rival blowpipe analysis in convenience and 

 value. The method consists in dissolving a 

 particle of the substance to be examined, 

 adding a minute drop of reagent to a drop of 

 the solution, and observing the result through 

 the microscope. Often the drop of solution 

 is evaporated and the form and color of the 

 crystals it deposits are observed microscop- 

 ically. Something may be learned of the 

 composition of alloys by heating polished 

 surfaces or etching them with acid. The 

 practical applications of all these and many 

 other devices are described in the manual 

 before us, and the forms of the crystals of 

 many substances are shown in engravings. 



The Egyptian Book op the Dead. The 

 Most Ancient and the Most Important of 

 the Extant Religious Texts of Ancient 

 Egypt. Edited, etc., by Charles H. 

 Davis. New York: G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons. Pp. 186, followed by Ninety-nine 

 Hieratic and Hieroglyphic Plates. Price, 

 $5. 



The Egyptian Book of the Dead is one 

 of the most remarkable books in existence. 

 Parts of it are among the oldest texts extant, 

 some of its chapters having been inscribed in 

 the tomb of the Queen of Mentuhotep, of the 

 eleventh dynasty, and one of them being as- 

 VOL. XLVI. 53 



cribed to the pen of tlie god Thoth. Very 

 few of the Egyptian manuscripts are of earlier 

 date. It is, further, most obscure as to its 

 meaning. In a literal translation it is pure 

 nonsense, and its real meaning has to be in- 

 corporated into it from the knowledge of the 

 ancient mysteries possessed by the reader. 

 Some of the old priests probably compre- 

 hended it ; and the more advanced of the 

 Egyptological students of the present are 

 gradually getting glimpses of its significance. 

 It is essentially mythological, Mr. Davis says, 

 " and assumes the reader's thorough knowl- 

 edge of the myths and legends. No one is 

 capable of translating a single chapter of 

 the Book of the Dead who has wrong ideas 

 about the religion and mythology of Egypt, 

 and is unable to understand the numerous 

 technical and mystical expressions which 

 everywhere occur. It is not always easy to 

 discover what was the primitive concept at- 

 tached to a particular word. The difficulty 

 is not in literally translating the text, but in 

 understanding the meaning which lies con- 

 cealed beneath familiar words. However, 

 the mystical nature of the text is gradually 

 being unraveled, and, no doubt, will be ulti- 

 mately understood. But we will have to 

 make further researches into unwritten his- 

 tory, or perhaps have a fuller knowledge of 

 Egyptian symbols or allegories." The text 

 is further obscured by errors of copyists, and 

 muddled by comments and attempts to ex- 

 plain the meaning which have been inter- 

 polated into it and made by subsequent copy- 

 ists to run on as if they were part of the 

 original. The purpose of the book which 

 is often called the Funereal Ritual was to 

 instruct the soul in that which would befall 

 it after death, and to furnish prayers to pro- 

 tect it against dangers and assure it desired 

 blessings. " It was given to the departed to 

 carry with him to the grave as a passport 

 and aid to the memory." Accordingly, more 

 or less of it, according to the means of the 

 deceased, was wrapped up with the mummy 

 or inscribed on its coffin or on the walls of 

 its tomb. About a thousand copies of it 

 exist among the papyri of European muse- 

 ums, and some hundreds in Egyptian home 

 collections. The longest copy known is the 

 Turin hieroglyphic papyrus, containing one 

 hundred and sixty-five chapters, which is re- 

 produced in this volume. Yet it is not com- 



