174 COSMOS. 



noblest type, in the efforts made by Alexander in his campaign 

 to fuse together the eastern and western worlds. Its exten- 

 sion under the Lagides characterizes the epoch which I would 

 here portray, and must be regarded as an important advance 

 toward the attainment of a knowledge of the universe in its 

 character of unity. 



As far as abundance and variety in the objects presented to 

 the contemplation are conducive to an increased amount of 

 knowledge, we might certainly regard the intercourse existing 

 between Egypt and distant countries ; the scientific exploring 

 expeditions into Ethiopia at the expense of the government ;* 

 distant ostricht and elephant hunts ; and the establishment of 

 menageries of wild and rare animals in the " king's houses of 

 Bruchium" as means of incitement toward the study of nat- 

 ural history,^ and as amply sufficient to furnish empirical 

 science with the materials requisite for its further develop- 

 ment ; but the peculiar character of the Ptolemaic period, as 

 well as of the whole Alexandrian school, which retained the 

 same individuality of type until the third and fourth centuries, 

 manifested itself in a different direction, inclining less to an 

 immediate observation of particulars than to a laborious accu- 

 mulation of the results of that which had already been noted 

 by others, and to a careful classification, comparison, and men- 



* Meteorological speculations on the remote causes of the swelling 

 of the Nile gave occasion to some of these journeys, since, as Strabo 

 expi-esses it (lib. xvii., p. 789 and 790), " Philadelphus was constantly 

 seeking new diversions and new objects of interest from a desire for 

 knowledge and from bodily weakness." 



t Two hunting inscriptions, " one of which principally records the 

 elephant hunts of Ptolemy Philadelphus," were discovered and copied 

 from the colossi of Abusimbel (Ibsambul) by Lepsius during his 

 Egyptian journey (compare, on this subject, Strabo, lib. xvi., p. 769 

 and 770; ^Elian, De Nat. Anim., iii., 34, and xvii., 3 ; Athenseus, v., p. 

 196). Although Indian ivory was an article of export from Barygaza, 

 according to the Periplus Maris Erythrai, yet, from the statement of 

 Cosmas, ivory would also appear to have been exported from Ethiopia 

 to the western peninsula of India. Elephants have withdrawn more 

 to the south in Eastern Africa, also, since ancient times. According to 

 the testimony of Polybius Cv., 84), when African and Indian elephants 

 were opposed to each other on fields of battle, the sight, smell, and 

 cries of the larger and stronger Indian elephants drove the African ones 

 to flight. The latter were probably never employed as war elephants 

 m such large numbers as in Asiatic expeditions, where Kandragupta 

 had assembled 9000, the powerful King of the Prasii 6000, and Akbar 

 an equally large number. (Lassen, Ind. Alterthumskunde, bd. i., 8. 

 305-307.) 



t Athen., xiv., p. 654. Compare Parthey, Das Alexandrinische Mu- 

 teum, eine Preisschrift, s. 55 und 171. 



