16 OF THE ORIGIN OF CHEMISTRY. 



nicd by people /killed in agriculture and other 

 nrts, travelled into foreign regions, in order to 

 inftmft the inhabitants, and fubdue their na- 

 tive ferocity. During his abfcnce he committed 

 the reins of government to his confort Ifjs, and 

 appointed Hermes as her counsellor*. Of thi<; 

 Hermes it is reported, that he engraved upon 

 pillars, or, according to feme, upon the walls of 

 the Syr'mgmn cavern?, an account of 'all thefci- 

 fcnces that had flourifhed before the deluge. Di- 

 odorus fpeaks befides of two columns in the city 

 of Nyfa, one of \vhicfi is dedicated to Oiiris, who 

 was the fon of Crecm, the youngcil of the gods; 

 and \vlro had over- run many Countries with his 

 notorious arms, and rendered general benefit to 

 mankind. The other column bears the follou- 

 ing infcription: u Ifis am I, the queen, filler, 

 " and wife of Ofiris, by Thoyth /killed in fci- 

 ** cncc, who taught agriculture to men, \vho 

 ** bore king Horns, who fliines iri the dog-days, 

 ** and who ordered Bubnflus to be built: Fare-.. 

 44 well Egypt, where I was educated," 



Some monuments fpcak of another Hermes, 

 who, (if A'-lian is to be credited f), lived in the 

 reign of Sefollris, was higlily extolled for \vif- 

 dorn, and called Trifmigiftus. Manethuf, the 

 chief priefl of the Gentiles at Hcliopolis, relates,* 

 to his king Ptolemy Philadclphus, That all 

 thofe things which the firft Hermes had writ- 

 ten 



BiU. lift. 1. i. * 



f Var. hlil. 1. xii. c. 4- 



