12 NATURAL HISTORY 



ing generations, has not been left undisturbed. 

 From their resting-places have been brought up the 

 slabs that in a measure reveal the thought of this 

 ancient people. The king 'has engraven his name 

 on the back of the slabs that form a part of his pal- 

 ace, while upon their fronts his mighty acts are 

 chiseled in the cuneiform characters of his nation. 

 Even the clay tile has stamped upon it some name 

 or story. "Why is it that those huge blocks of stone 

 are sawn asunder, floated down the Tigris or trans- 

 ported on camels' backs, and then borne across the 

 ocean to take their places in our museums ? Do we 

 expect, like their makers, that these old divinities 

 will give fruits to the field, and victory in war? 

 We do not believe they have power to save or to 

 destroy. "Why do scholars bend with wearied eye 

 and throbbing brain over these old mutilated in- 

 scriptions ? Do they expect to find in them lessons 

 of wisdom which they have never read in other lan- 

 guages? or to make, by such labor, discoveries in 

 art and science, which shall lengthen human life, 

 alleviate its ills, or add to its comforts ? None of 

 these things are expected. The old deities are to us 



