EGYPT, GREECE, AND TURKEY- 1888 -1889 433 



of this rather sedentary life in the London fog, I con 

 sulted two eminent physicians, Sir Andrew Clarke and 

 Sir Morell Mackenzie, and each advised and even urged 

 me to pass the winter in Egypt. Shortly came a letter 

 from my friend Professor Willard Fiske, at Florence, 

 saying that he would be glad to go with me. This was 

 indeed a piece of good fortune, for he had visited Egypt 

 again and again, and was not only the best of guides, but 

 the most charming of companions. My decision was 

 instantly taken, and, having finished one or two chapters 

 of my book, I left London and, by the way of the St. 

 Gotthard, soon reached Florence. Thence to Eome, Na 

 ples, and, after a charming drive, to Castellammare, Sor 

 rento, Amalfi, and Salerno, whence we went by rail to 

 Brindisi, and thence to Alexandria, where we arrived on 

 the 1st of January, 1889. 



Now came a new chapter in my life. This journey in 

 the East, especially in Egypt and Greece, marked a new 

 epoch in my thinking. I became more and more im 

 pressed with the continuity of historical causes, and real 

 ized more and more how easily and naturally have grown 

 the myths and legends which have delayed the unbiased 

 observation of human events and the scientific investi 

 gation of natural laws. On a Nile boat for many weeks, 

 with scholars of high character, and with an excellent 

 library about me, I found not only a refuge from trouble 

 and sorrow, but a portal to new and most fascinating 

 studies. 



Nor was it only the life of old Egypt which interested 

 me : the scenes in modern Eastern life also gave a needed 

 change in my environment. At Cairo, in the bazaar, 

 in contact with the daily life, which seemed like a chapter 

 out of the &quot;Arabian Nights, &quot; and also in the modern 

 part of the city, in contact with the newer life of Egypt, 

 among English and Egyptian functionaries, there was 

 constant stimulus to fruitful trains of thought. 



For our journey of five weeks upon the Nile we had 

 what was called a &quot;special steamer, &quot; the Sethi; and 



II. -28 



