Notices respecting Ne'do Books. 59 



sive knowledge of natural objects, their forms and their intimate qua- 

 lities, significantly termed in Holy Writ " the wisdom of Egypt." 

 And this knowledge appears to have been the remains in one branch, 

 as the mythology was the entire perversion in another, of the higher 

 wisdom enjoyed by the progenitors of the Egyptians, who had united 

 their knowledge of nature to the perception " that things in nature 

 were symbols of things above nature, and of the attributes and glory 

 of the Godhead *." 



In this train of circumstances, possibly, may appear one of the 

 reasons why the secret of deciphering the Sacred Characters era- 

 ployed by the Egyptian priests, which the learned in all ages, from 

 a period even long anterior to the revival of letters, had in vain 

 sought to discover; and all successful research into Egyptian an- 

 tiquities, should have been reserved for the present century, when 

 the knowledge of nature, in every department, has become so ex- 

 tensive and so exact ; and why also, after mere philologists of the 

 highest reputation had failed in their efforts, a natural philosopher 

 of profound attainments should have been the first to interpret the 

 Hieroglyphics. 



The investigation of Egyptian antiquities has already furnished 

 materials for some important contributions to Natural History, and 

 to the physical history of man. Examples of this fact may be found 

 in the researches of Cuvier on the sacred Ibis; in those of Geoffrey 

 de St. Hilaire on the Suchus, or sacred Crocodile, from which has 

 resulted the knowledge that a small species of crocodile exists, or 

 has existed, in the Nile, distinct from Crocodilus vidgaris ; and 

 in the examination by the former naturalist of the heads of many 

 Mummies, on which he founded his opinion respecting the Cau- 

 casian origin of the Egyptians, — an opinion strongly confirmed 

 by the form of the head, and the exquisite proportions of the body, 

 in the female mummy described by Dr. Granville. The study of 

 these antiquities, however, has not assumed its appropriate rank as 

 a branch of general knowledge ; and they are best known, as yet, 

 through the interest attached to them in the enterprises of Belzoni 

 and his associates. On this account, as well as for reasons which 

 will be evident in the sequel, we shall be more particular in noticing 

 the archaeological contents of the work before us, than might other- 

 wise have been expedient in a Journal devoted to the objects of na- 

 tural science. 



It is stated by the Council of the Leeds Philosophical Society, 

 in the " Advertisement" preceding Mr. Osburn's memoir, that so 

 many new, and in their opinion important facts presented themselves 

 during the process of unwrapping tiie mummy, that they conceived 

 they should have been wanting to the interests of the Society had 

 they forborne to make them public. Coinciding altogether in tiie 

 propriety of this measure, we shall now proceed to give an analy- 

 tical account of the memoir ; and afterwards to substantiate, by a 



• Sec Klrby and Sncnce's Introduction to Entomology, vol. iv. p. 403, 

 andp. 3G0-410. 



1 2 few 



