POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



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inches square, and containing usually two 

 or three grotesque figures of men and ani- 

 mals. The design of these picture-writings 

 shows considerable variety and freedom of 

 treatment as compared with the large-sized 

 human figures, in the execution of which 

 the artist seems to have been bound by 

 conventional rules. The largest of the 

 stone animals is perhaps the most remarka- 

 ble of all the monuments ; its measurement 

 is roughly a cube of eight feet, it must weigh 

 nearly twenty tons, and it rests on three large 

 slabs of stone. It is shaped like a turtle, 

 and is covered with the most elaborate and 

 curious ornament, and with tables of hiero- 

 glyphics and cartouches of picture-writing. 

 The greater part of the ornament through- 

 out these carvings is formed from the gro- 

 tesque representations of the human face 

 or the faces of animals, the features fre- 

 quently so greatly exaggerated that it is 

 most difficult to recognize them ; but a care- 

 ful examination enables one almost invaria- 

 bly to trace back to this facial origin what, 

 at first sight, appears to be merely conven- 

 tional scroll-work. Forms derived from 

 leaves or flowers are altogether absent ; oc- 

 casional use is made of a plaited ribbon, 

 and a very free use of plumes of feathers, 

 which are often most gracefully arranged 

 and beautifully carved. The fifteen monu- 

 ments are divided into two groups ; in one 

 the human figures are all of men ; in the 

 other, of women. It might be rash to argue 

 from this that women had attained a high 

 place in the social arrangement of the peo- 

 ple who raised these monuments ; but there 

 is one other feature that certainly may be 

 admitted as showing an advanced and peace- 

 ful condition of existence, and that is the 

 entire absence of any representation of 

 weapons of war." Casts of the largest of 

 the monoliths, of the turtle, and of all the 

 tablets of hieroglyphics, are on exhibition 

 in the Archaeological Museum at Cambridge, 

 England. 



Petroleum in Egypt. — Oil has been 



" struck " in Egypt by boring in the Jebel 

 Zeit (Oil Mountain), on the shore of the 

 Red Sea, one hundred and eighty miles 

 from Suez. Petroleum has long been sup- 

 posed to exist in the country, for the an- 

 cient mummy-cloths were soaked in it, and 



the exudations from the fissures of this 

 very mountain have been used by the na- 

 tives, from time immemorial, as a specific 

 for rheumatism and skin - diseases. Oil 

 was definitely mentioned as a production 

 of the Red Sea country, and an analysis 

 of a sample of it was given in a book 

 published by Mr. Norman Tate, in 1864, 

 but nothing more precise is known con- 

 cerning the statements he makes. Some 

 two years ago, M. Debay, a Belgian engi- 

 neer, proposed to exploit for petroleum, 

 and finally obtained a concession to do so, 

 which was to expire on the first day of 

 March, 1S86. He started his borings after 

 a long delay, and at last, on the last day 

 of the life of his privilege, got at the depth 

 of thirty-five metres signs of oil sufficient 

 to satisfy the conditions of his contract. 

 With continued borings an outflow of five 

 hundred tons of mixed water and petro- 

 leum has been obtained, of which the pure 

 petroleum constituent was estimated at at 

 least one hundred and fifty tons. The 

 Egyptian Government is looking out for 

 companies to work its oil. It intends to 

 avoid a monopoly, and will divide the land 

 into portions, which will be ceded for a 

 sum in cash and a royalty on all produc- 

 tion. 



The Theory of Earthquakes. — Profess- 

 or J. S. Newberry defines an earthquake, 

 so far as present knowledge permits it to 

 be defined, as a movement caused by a 

 shrinking, from the loss of heat, of the 

 heated interior of the earth, and the crush- 

 ing together and displacement of the rigid 

 exterior as it accommodates itself to the 

 contracting nucleus. As the nucleus con- 

 tracts, the solid crust can not accommodate 

 itself, moment by moment, to the loss of 

 volume, for it resists by its rigidity and is 

 brought into a state of strain. This is re- 

 lieved from time to time, whenever it passes 

 the resistance of the materials composing 

 the crust, by a crushing together and dis- 

 placement of the surface rocks. These are 

 faulted or folded ; that is, are either thrown 

 into great waves by lateral pressure, or the 

 arches are broken and fissures are produced 

 at right angles to the line of thrust. The 

 rocks forming the sides of these fissures 

 slide on each other, forming what geologists 



