OF THE ORIGIN OF CHEMISTRY. a> 



of Hippocrates. Thefc and other examples, 

 though they do not indicate a very profound 

 knowledge of pharmacy, yet they arc by no 

 means contemptible. 



That fculpture in all its branches flouriflied a- 

 mong the Egyptians, is evident from thofc won- 

 derful edifices of hewn ftone, the Pyramids, which 

 have fo long withftood the ravages of time ; and 

 from the marbles, ftatucs, obclifks, and tem- 

 ples, which we every where meet in Herodotus^ 

 Diodorus, Strabo, Pliny, and Marcellinus; and 

 are to be feen in Rome at this day. It fccms 

 highly probable, that Panopolis was the chief 

 and moil ant ient/Wr/?r# x^o^,. Strabo* makes 

 mention of it; and it was hither without doubt, 

 that the moft famous Grecian flatuarics refortcd. 

 In the earlicfl periods they were acquainted with 

 the method of burning bricks |-, of forming va- 

 ies for ointments out of alabaflcrj, and of mak- 

 ing mortars for medical purpofcs from granite, 

 the Pyrrhopoecilus of the anticntsj. They hud 

 ibmc mortars al fo of black marble ||. 



Pliny mentions, that common fait was obtain- 

 ed from a lake in the neighbourhood of Mem- 

 phis*]", and nitre at Naucratis and Memphis. 



Strabo 



* Geogr. xvii. 



f l'I>;od. v. . 



$ Pliuius, I. xxxvi. c. 8. 



Diofcoridc% 1. v. c. 102. 



U PlJn. xxxvi 17. Strabn, 1. xvii. 



5| Flin. 1. xxxi. c. 17* Wlu; he relates iu tliu chapter vf 



tl.c 



