JgZ Antiquities, 



ANTIGUITIES. 



The conquefl; of Egypt has enriched this country with a 

 number ot antient and rare monuments j fome of ihem 

 very entire, and of the highcll and moft undoubted anti- 

 tjuity. We fome time ago announced * that the French, 

 in digging up the earth at Fort Elleve, near the Bogar of 

 llofetta, had difcovercd a black granite containing inicrip- 

 tions in Greek, in the vulgar language of the lime in which 

 it was executed, and in hieroglvphical eharaiters; and which 

 infcripl'ons, on an examinn.lion of the Greek one, appeared 

 all to contain one decree oi the Egyptian Priells in honour 

 ot Ptolemy Epiphanes. \\'e are happy to announce that 

 colonel Turner lately brought this valuable monument fafe 

 to England in his majefiv's fliip Egsptienne. It may be 

 confidered as a treafure to the learned of Europe; for, though 

 the French had brought home imprcffions taken from it by 

 dilferent procelfes, it is not pofiible that with thefe fo much 

 could be eHeoted lowards a complete tranflation as by a view 

 of the ftone ilfelf. The decree being the fame in all the 

 three chara6U^rs, it is not an unreafonable hope that the 

 Greek copy will lead to a thorough underllanding of the ' 

 Coptic, and both to fome knowledge of the hierogHphieal 

 manner of writing. Should this be accompliflicd, what a 

 field for refearch is opened ! Upper Egypt prefents to the 

 aftonithed traveller the fuperb remains of immenfe palaces- 

 and temples filled with thefe charat-lers ; even the rocks 

 in fome places are covered with them, and they are found 

 throughout the country from the mouths of the Nile to the 

 borders of Ethiopia. Let us funpofe for a moment we could 

 decypher and explain them, what an interelling volume 

 would Egypt unfold to the hiftorian, the antir|uarian, and 

 philofophcr ! VVe tliould become acquainted with the hi (lory 

 of the Crit ages, now involved in impenetrable darknefs; we 

 fhould view the facred writings and thele venerable monu- 

 ments explaining away the myftical defcriptions and cx'pref- 

 fions of each other, and fee the laboured bvpotheiis of many 

 a learned man giving way on all fides and tumbling into ruin. 



OIKM ISTRY. 



By fome recent experiments of C. Thenard it appears, that 

 wliat has been for ibnie time confidered as a peculiar acid, 

 under the name of the z-oonic, is nothing but a pecidiar com- 

 bination of acetous acid with animal matter. 



Some of the foreicu cliemilts have announced that the fup- 

 pofcd new metal, made known fome time ago by Klaproth 

 under the name of teiiurium, turns out to be only n-gulus of 

 antimoiij. 



'•' rJ;iljroi>lsical Mai^^v/ine, vol. viii. p. (54 and vol. ix. p. 141, 



