336 Baron Cuvicr's Lectures on the Natural Sciences. 



ledge of the form and position of the organs. It was undoubt- 

 edly in Egypt that anatomy originated ; it was to that country 

 that the Greeks resorted to study it ; and thither Galen made 

 a journey expressly for the purpose of seeing the representation 

 in bronze of a human skeleton. 



This much in respect to the observations on animals ; as to 

 minerals, they in some measure presented themselves to ob.ser- 

 vation, being in Egypt not deeply buried, as in most other 

 countries. They were known not only by their external cha- 

 racters, but also by what we at the present day call their chemi- 

 cal characters ; and we may here remark, that the name Che- 

 mistry itself comes from the word f/«w, which was the ancient 

 name of Egypt. As to what was afterwards called the Egyp- 

 tian science, the Hermetic art, the art of transmuting metals, it 

 was a mere reverie of the middle ages, utterly unknown to an- 

 tiquity. The pretended books of Hermes are evidently suppositi- 

 tious, and were written by the Greeks of the lower Empire. 



All the books of the Egyptians are lost ; and thus, in pur- 

 mxwy the history of the sciences among them, we have perhaps 

 fewer resources than in tracing it among the Indians. There 

 remains a catalogue of the sacred books of Hermes, which Cle- 

 ment of Alexandria has preserved in the sixth book of his Stro- 

 mata. The books of Hermes were held in great veneration in 

 Egypt. They were carried in procession in the religious so- 

 lemnities, and every priest was obliged to have by heart at least 

 the part which related to the attributes of his order. These 

 books treated of rehgion, the arts, medicine, and several other 

 sciences ; but it is remarkable that they did not speak of his- 

 tory, whence it would appear, that the Egyptian priests had the 

 same repugnance as the Brahmins to preserve by writing the re- 

 membrance of the events of which their country had been the 

 theatre. We have therefore no annals of Egypt ; but we have se- 

 veral lists of their kings preserved by Eusebius and other writers. 

 These lists do not agree well together. They may, however, 

 be useful for being consulted, provided the cause be not for- 

 gotten which probably introduced into them the confusion 

 they exhibit ; for it would appear, that in ancient times Egypt 

 was divided into independent states. The names of the sove- 

 reio'ns of all these small kingdoms have been handed down to 

 3 



