542 COSMOS. 



epoch of the Ptolemies, both by the combined action of external 

 relations, the foundation and proper endowment of several 

 large institutions (the Alexandrian Museum and two libraries at 

 Bruchiuin and Khakotis),* and by the collegiate association of 

 so many learned men actuated by practical views. This ency- 

 clopaedic species of knowledge facilitated the comparison of 

 observations and the generalisation of natural views. f The 

 great scientific institution which owes its origin to the first of 

 the Ptolemies long enjoyed, amongst other advantages, that 

 of being able to give a free scope to the differently directed 

 pursuits of its members, and thus, although founded in a foreign 

 country, and surrounded by nations of different races, it could 

 still preserve the characteristics of the Greek acuteness of 

 mind and a Greek mode of thought. 



A few examples must suffice, in accordance with the spirit 

 and form of the present work, to show how experiments and 

 observations, under the protecting influence of the Ptolemies, 

 acquired their appropriate recognition as the true sources of 

 knowledge regarding celestial and terrestrial phenomena, and 

 how, in the Alexandrian period, a felicitous generalisation of 

 views manifested itself conjointly with a laborious accumula- 

 tion of knowledge. Although the different Greek schools of 

 philosophy, when transplanted to Lower Egypt, gave occasion, 

 by their Oriental degeneration to many mythical hypotheses 

 regarding nature and natural phenomena, mathematics still 

 constituted the firmest foundation of the Platonic doctrines 



* The library in the Bruchium, which was destroyed in the burning 

 of the fleet under Julius Csesar, was the more ancient. The library at 

 Khakotis formed a part of the " Serapeum," where it was connected with 

 the museum. By the liberality of Antoninus, the collection of books at 

 Pergamus, was joined to the library of Rhakotis. 



j* Vacherot, Histoire critique de I'Ecole d'Alexandrie, 1846, t. i. pp. 

 v. and 103. The institute of Alexandria, like all academical corpora- 

 tions, together with the good arising from the concurrence of many 

 labourers, and from the acquisition of material aids, exercised also some 

 narrowing and restraining influence, as we find from numerous facts 

 furnished by antiquity. Adrian appointed his tutor, Vestinus, High 

 Priest of Alexandria (a sort of minister presiding over the management 

 of public worship), and at the same time Head of the Museum (or Pre- 

 sident of the Academy). (Letronne, Pechcrches pour servir d I' His- 

 toire de I'Egypte pendant la domination des Grecs et des Remains, 

 1823, p. 251.) 



