42 Estimate of the Scientific Knowledge 



He had been brought up by the Egyptian priests, and knew not 

 only their arts, but also their philosophical doctrines." 



In attempting to discuss the merits of the opinion here im- 

 plied, we would speak in terms of high respect of the illustrious 

 individual who has promulgated it ; for such respect is due to 

 one who, without question, has, in the field of natural science, 

 erected a nobler monument to his own fame than any other 

 who has appeared since the days of Newton. 



The premises from which it is inferred that the Egyptian 

 priests may have possessed such a knowledge of geology as 

 would furnish a foundation for the cosmogony of Moses, are by 

 much too meagre to warrant such a conclusion. The chief of 

 them is indeed found in what Herodotus states regarding the 

 land of the Delta, by depositions from the waters of the Nile. 

 It is said in page 340, " The Egyptians had very correct ideas 

 on several points in geology ; they had well observed the laws 

 of alluvial deposition, and at the present day we account for the 

 formation of the Delta in no other manner than that in which it 

 was accounted for in the days of Herodotus." 



In turning to Herodotus, respecting whom many modern dis- 

 coveries have proved that he was a faithful chronicler of what 

 he saw, although often absurdly credulous of the reports of 

 others, we find no proof in his relation, that the Egyptians had 

 well observed the laws of alluvial deposition. With respect to 

 the priests, he states, in the passage referred to by the Baron, 

 only that they informed him of two facts ; one, that the greater 

 part of a country, of which he describes the limits, was an addi- 

 tion of land to the Egyptians by the depositions of the Nile ; 

 the other, that in the reign of Myris, about nine hundred years 

 before the time of the historian, the land was so low, that if the 

 river rose to the height of eight cubits, it was sufficiently wa- 

 tered ; whereas at the time he visited Egypt, unless the river 

 rose fifteen or sixteen cubits the land was not sufficiently wa- 

 tered. This is not science, but history. No reasoning of the 

 priests is added with regard to these simple facts ; and the evi- 

 dence appears conclusive, that he had heard no reasoning of 

 theirs, in this circumstance, that he himself proceeds to reason 

 regarding them with considerable ingenuity, and to prove their 

 high probability from a variety of considerations, and could 



