386 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



got the clue by which I ascertained that there was no 

 chance of recovering Fresnel's papers. Of the mention 

 of current Eeviews not one in a thousand names the 

 editor.' It will be noticed that there was a double coin- 

 cidence in this case. It was sufficiently remarkable 

 that the first mention of a review, after the difficulty 

 had been recognised, should relate to the European, 

 and give the name of the editor ; but it was even more 

 remarkable that the occurrence should be timed so 

 strangely as was actually the case. 



But the circumstance I am now to relate, seems to 

 me to surpass in strangeness all the coincidences I 

 have ever heard of. It relates to a matter of consider- 

 able interest apart from the coincidence. 



When Dr. Thomas Young was endeavouring to 

 interpret the inscription of the famous Eosetta Stone, 

 Mr. Grrey (afterwards Sir Greorge Francis Grey) was led 

 on his return from Egypt to place in Young's hands 

 some of the most valuable fruits of his researches 

 among the relics of Egyptian art, including several 

 fine specimens of writing on papyrus, which he had 

 purchased from an Arab at Thebes, in 1820. Before 

 these had reached Young, a man named Casaci had 

 arrived in Paris, bringing with him from Egypt a 

 parcel of Egyptian manuscripts, among which Cham- 

 pollion observed one which bore in its preamble some 

 resemblance to the text of the Rosetta Stone. This 

 discovery attracted much attention ; and Dr. Young 

 having procured a copy of the papyrus, attempted to 

 decipher and translate it. He had made some pro- 



