OBJ EC TIONS AGA INS T EVOLU TION. 1 79 

 Paleontology Compared with Egyptology and Assyriology. 



The work of the paleontologist resembles in great 

 measure the work of those who, from fragmentary 

 and unpromising materials, have revived for us the 

 histories, so long buried in oblivion, of those great 

 nations of the Orient which erstwhile flourished 

 amid such splendor on the banks of the Nile, the 

 Tigris and the Euphrates. In the beginning of the 

 present century the history of Egypt was almost a 

 sealed book, and as to Chaldea, Assyria and Baby- 

 lonia, it could be affirmed, and with truth, scarcely 

 yet a generation ago, that many of the most impor- 

 tant features of their respective histories had little 

 more for a basis than myth and conjecture. But 

 thanks to the labors and discoveries of Champollion, 

 Lassen, Burnouf, Rawlinson, Layard, George Smith, 

 Mariette, Maspero, and their compeers, the myste- 

 rious hieroglyphics and curious cuneiform characters 

 have been deciphered, and the treasures of knowledge 

 so long concealed by them have been opened up to 

 the world. In Egypt, temples and tombs have been 

 searched for records bearing on the past. Pyramids 

 and obelisks, sphinxes and cartouches, have been 

 carefully scrutinized and compelled to give up their 

 secrets to the persistent and determined votaries of 

 history and science. And so, too, it has been in 

 Mesopotamia and in the territory adjacent. From 

 the Persian Gulf to the site of ancient Nineveh, 

 from Tyre and Sidon to glorious Palmyra, the pick 

 and the spade of the archaeologist have been busy, 

 especially during the past four decades, and the 

 result has been that we now have more complete and 



