3i6 



NATURE 



[August 4, 1898 



It is quite easy to recognise certain evident proofs of this 

 fact, such as the drawing along of a model of the boat of 

 the sun in a procession to typify the sun's course in 

 heaven, or the drawing of the boat of the god Seker 

 round the sanctuary at dawn in imitation of the sun's 

 motion, but many other equally evident proofs are not so 

 easily explained. We know tolerably well what cere- 

 monies were performed, but we know not the why and 

 the wherefore. In making inquiries into such difficult 

 matters it is important to remember that the knowledge 

 of astronomy possessed by the Egyptians has been 

 greatly overrated, just as their knowledge of mathematics 

 has been, from time immemorial, over-estimated ; they 

 probably knew more of both subjects than the rest of 

 the world iii the early period of their history, but the 

 limits of their exact knowledge were reached tolerably 

 soon. 



No better proof of this statement can be found than in 

 the excellent essay of Sir Norman Lockyer, entitled the 

 " Dawn of Astronomy," a work which has not received the 

 attention which it deserves from certain Egyptologists. 

 It is, however, unnecessary to repeat here the de- 

 ductions which he has carefully drawn from carefully 

 ascertained facts. Two of the most important results of 

 his work are the certainty with which we may now accept 

 the conclusions that astronomical religion in Egypt dates 

 from a period which may be measured by thousands of 

 years, and the discovery of the principles which guided 

 the Egyptians in planning the sites of their temples from 

 Memphis to the Sudin. 



Passing from general considerations such as these we 

 come to Mr. St. Clair's book on " Creation Records 

 discovered in Egypt," wherein we have the first fruits of 

 fifteen years' systematic study of mythology, and an 

 attempt to construct methodically the mythology of the 

 Egyptians. Mr. St. Clair claims, and claims rightly, 

 that it was impossible to understand Egypt's religion and 

 mythology until the various documents which the 

 Egyptians themselves wrote on these subjects had been 

 studied and translated ; but the question which natur- 

 ally arises is, Have enough of these documents been 

 studied, and have they been correctly interpreted ? Mr. 

 St. Clair does not pretend that his work is final, and 

 therein is much to be commended ; but beyond doubt 

 it shows great industry, and a catholic use of autho- 

 rities and writers which is not commonly to be found 

 in the book of a man who is attempting to promulgate 

 a theory, however sound or however learned. He has 

 read, apparently, everything which he thought would 

 bear upon his subject, and has fitted a number of facts 

 together with considerable ingenuity ; more than this, 

 he states his conclusions and deductions with modesty. 

 Of course many of his conclusions will be combated 

 with vigour, and many will be rejected off-hand : still the 

 whole book is suggestive, and much of it will be ac- 

 cepted by students of astro-theology. The great store- 

 house from which Mr. St. Clair has drawn is the " Book 

 of the Dead," and it will astonish many to see what an 

 extraordinary collection of facts he has deduced from it ; it 

 is, however, a pity that he did not make more use of the 

 early version of the work such as we find on the coffins 

 of Amamu and the Mentu-heteps. 

 After a table of the Egyptian dynasties, and chapters 

 NO. 1 50 1, VOL. 58] 



on the Calendar and its relation to Egyptian Myths, we 

 have a series of essays on the gods, the Nile, the reign 

 of Ra, celestial cities, &c. ; these are followed by another 

 series of short chapters on the Creation, Deluge, Con- 

 fusion of Tongues, and the doctrine of a future life, 

 which many readers will think the most interesting part 

 of the book. , 



Certain omissions are in places noticeable. Thus in 

 the section on the Creation (p. 420 f.) we notice no 

 account of the story of the Creation as told in the papyrus 

 of Nesi-Amsu ; the belief in the necessity of eating the 

 scarabaeus in order to obtain children, which exists to 

 this day in the Sudan, ought to have been discussed. It 

 is interesting to point out also that as Thoth was held to 

 be a healer of diseases, so also was the ape, which repre- 

 sented him and was sacred to him, and that this idea of 

 the ape's powers is extant in Egypt to the present day. 

 Barren women have been seen to pass their bodies over 

 Egyptian statues of apes, and to pray at the same time 

 that the disease of barrenness from which they were 

 suffering might be done away by these means ; Mr. St. 

 Clair might have instanced several survivals of this 

 nature. On p. 96, for tet read khat j and to the five con- 

 stituent parts of the body and soul there enumerated 

 add ren, " name " ; khii^ " intelligence " ; sekhem, " form " ; 

 and db, " heart." 



PS YCHOL GICAL SCIENCE. 

 Psychologic ah Erfahrungswissenschajt. By H. Cornelius. 



Pp. V -f- 445. (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1897.) 

 Primer of Psychology. By E. B. Titchener. Pp. ix 



-F 314. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd. New York : 



The Macmillan Company, 1898.) 

 Outlines of Descriptive Psychology. By G. T. Ladd. 



Pp. xi -f- 428. (London : Longmans, Green, and Co., 



1898.) 

 Versuch einer Darstellung der Empfindungen. By W. 



Przibram. Pp. 28, with five plates. (Vienna : Alfred 



Holder, 1898.) 



THE marked difference in contents and tone of the 

 four works before us is a striking proof of the 

 extent and variety of the topics embraced in the modern 

 science of psychology. By far the most original and im- 

 portant of the four is the work of H. Cornelius, which 

 treats the problems of psychology, in the main, from the 

 epistemological point of view, with unusual carefulness of 

 statement, and still more unusual lucidity of style. The 

 author is clearly familiar with the recent literature of the 

 subject, English and French as well as German ; but 

 the writers whose influence is most clearly traceable in 

 his treatment of his material are both Germans, Avenarius 

 and Mach. The author's attitude towards the main 

 problems of psychological science may be briefly sum- 

 marised as follows : — Psychology, as the science of 

 "psychical facts," is the only possible basis of a sound 

 general philosophy. Its special task is, by describing 

 those psychical facts in the simplest possible terms, 

 to explain the growth and meanilig of the more or 

 less artificial and complicated hypotheses which we 

 frame to ourselves in every-day life, and in scien- 

 tific reflection, about the nature of the world. In 



