SHEMITIC CIVILIZATION. 119 



creation. There was there, it seems to me, 

 a first type of civilization analogous to that 

 of Egypt. It may be said even, generally, 

 that before the entrance of the Indo-Euro- 

 pean and Shemitic nations on the field of 

 history, the world had already very ancient 

 civilizations, to which we arc indebted, if 

 not for moral, at any rate for the elements 

 of industry, and a long experience of mate- 

 rial life. But all this is yet but dimly 

 shadowed by history ; all this fades before 

 such facts as the mission of Moses, the 

 invention of alphabetical writing, and the 

 conquests of Cyrus and Alexander ; the rule 

 of the world by the genius of the Greeks, 

 Christianity, and the Eoman Empire ; Islam- 

 ism, the Germanic conquest, Charlemagne, 

 and the Eevival of letters ; the Eeformation, 

 Philosophy, the French Eevolution, and the 

 conquest of the world by modern Europe. 

 Here, then, is the great current of history ; 

 this great current is formed by the mingling 

 of two streams, in comparison with which 

 all its other confluents are but rivulets. 



