250 Ex'ptanatiori of the Inscription On d Srick 



from the blue colour of the water which I examined : it 

 onlv shows that the proportion of the oxygen combined 

 with the colouring matter was less. For when that quantity 

 of oxygen, which converted the original green colour of the 

 water of the lake of Lubotin into blue, was extracted by 

 rneans of bodies which had a greater affinity for oxygen, 

 the green colour returned ; as was the case when the water 

 was decompo>cd with sulphuric acid, or with a solution of 

 tin in muriatic acid. 



A similar return of blue to green is observed in indigo 

 ■\?-htn employed in the art of dyeing. To prepare it for 

 that purpose it must be decomposed wuh such substances 

 as deprive it of a part of its oxygen. The prepared indigd 

 liquor appears then green, and the cloth dipped in it is 

 taken out green. But while the cloth is spread out in the 

 air the pigment has an opportunity of acquiring that oxy- 

 gen which it lost in the bath, by which means the blue co- 

 Jour is produced and fixed. 



This coincidence in regard to the phjenomena observed 

 in the water of the lake of Lubotin with those of indigo, 

 affords a further proof that the colouring matter of that 

 water was of a nature analogous to indio-o. 



XLTI. Explanathn of the Inscription on a Brick from the 

 ISite of aniieni Babi/lon. B>j the Rev. S,\muel Men- 

 ley, M.A. F.A.S> 



On the face of Dr. Hulme's brick, over two rude figures 

 of a lar^e dog, Larking, and I he head of a water-bird y is 

 the following inscription : 



which, expressed in Hebrew characters, distinctly exhibits 

 the words I^* nj)?, and literally signifies, A BRICK BAKED 

 BY THE SUN. 



That "I ^ |[^ ^^i'. in its primary sense, placenta cocta 

 (Simonis Lexicon, by Eichhorn) is a baked brick, it is pre- 

 sumed no one will question j any more than that ^ ^ ]», 

 signities the sun ; when the ground for so rendering it is 

 given. 



That jH was the name of an antient city in Egypt, styled 



''^ From Aicbaologin, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiqoity, 

 ky tlic Society of Autiquarics,— juit published, 



1 i»i 



