Ja.v. 11', 1883.] 



• KNOWLEDGE • 



17 



V^' AN lUyjL&XRATED 



MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE 



PLA[NUf;Vf ORDED -£XACTI>^ "^'^'-' RIBED, 



LONDON: FRIDAY, JANlAui I., 1883 



Contents of No. 63. 



FIGB 



Science* And Art Gossip 17 



The Birth and Growth of Myth. By 



Kdwurd Clodd 19 



A Xaluralisl^ Year — IV. Winter 



Heliotrope. Bv Grant Allen 20 



Wui Ramesea II.' the Pharaoh of the 



Oppri-ssion?— XV. By Miss Amelia 



B. Edwards 21 



Slavs and Statues 23 



Sun Views of the Earth: or the 



Seajions Dlustrated. Bt Richard A. 



Proctor. (lUuitratcd) 24 



FAGS 



I.ecturine Notes 25 



Li.fical Puzzh- 20 



COBBBSPOXnESCK : Singular Pheno- 

 menon—Ships in a Calm — The 

 lUinband— A New Zealand Gum — 

 Earthquake in Westmoreland — 



Longevity of the Dove 26 



Answers to Correspondents 27 



Our Pamdoi Column 2.S 



Our Mathematical Coltunn 28 



Our Whist Column 29 



Our Chess Column 29 



^tirnce anli art (Sossfip. 



Readers have roniinded us tliat the opinion of a 

 Darwin on the questions of a future existence ought to be 

 balanced here " by that of men who have devoted a whole 

 lifetime to theological iiupiry." We do not know how 

 much of a lifetime would sutlice to deal with the doctrine 

 of a future existence, or to determine the conditions under 

 which it would be passed ; but we accept the suggestion ; 

 and although the study of Bishop Wiiberforce's "Life" 

 rather conveys the idea that a considerable part of his 

 time was given to matters a little outside theology, we 

 assume that he was the sort of man to set science (and Know- 

 ledge) right W'e quote, then, from him the statement 

 that " the scholar, the man of refined and elegant mind, 

 who nauseates everything coarse, mean, and vulgar, must " 

 (if he die in disbelief of the Bishop's doctrines) "for 

 ever dwell with beings on whose horrible passions no check 

 or restraint can ever be placed ; " while women of gentle 

 breeding, of refined and modest tastes, but similarly incre- 

 dulous, must "dwell for ever among the worst of men, 

 witli every spark of human feeling extinguished, with- 

 out any law to moderate the fury of their desperate 

 rage." (See " Eternal Punishment," by Presbyter Angli- 

 canus, in ilr. Thomas Scott's series, published in 1864.) 

 It would seem that only " the worst of uieu " will be able 

 to indulge their tastes hereafter. 



How severely, then, ought Darwin, and men like him, to 

 be reprehended for saying aught that might tend to deprive 

 mankind of these blissful expectations. And how wrong 

 of them to speak of doubt in a matter on which such clear 

 and precise information was obtained by one of the most 

 eminent of those who "have given the best part of a life- 

 time to such studies." 



VTe have now balanced the dogmatic doubtings of a 

 student of science with the humble utterances of one 

 having authority. This done we close the subject, as one 

 on which only the strong-worded references of certain 

 papers to the views of the Newton' of Biology had led us — 

 almost forced us — to touch. 



Tiie question of a future existence only belongs to 

 science in such sort as Tylor and others have dealt with it, 

 showing how widespread the belief is among all races of 

 men, even (perhaps especially) the most uncivilised, and 

 in how interesting a manner it is associated with the sig- 

 nificance attached to dream-visions. In this aspect Mr. 

 Clodd is likely enough, we imagine, to touch on the sub- 

 ject here, as he has already done in some of his most 

 interesting chapters. But the theological question will 

 not l>e again referred to in these columns, unless another 

 Darwin should express his views — or his want of views — 

 upon it. " In such a Ihi-ii we write a never." 



In the Aradr)ii)/ for Dec. 23, the eminent Egyptologist, 

 Miss Amelia B. Edwards, reviews the Editor's work on 

 the Great Pyramid (a large portion of which appeared in 

 these pages), accepting so much of what he has en- 

 deavoured to establish, that he would be hard to satisfy 

 indeed if the review were not most pleasing to him. In 

 certain points about which an Egyptologist can form a 

 much more satisfactory opinion than the student of astro- 

 nomy, she notes objections to matters of detail, which, how- 

 ever, do not in any sense aftect the general theory. 



But there is one point about which tho se uninitiated in 

 Egyptian lore would like some information. Nearly all 

 Egyptologists — perhaps all — consider that the Pyramids 

 were tombs primarily, whatever other purpose they may 

 have subserved. This is practically the same as saying that 

 the care taken by the Egyptians about the dead body was 

 independent of any circumstances belonging to life in this 

 world. Now, the natural idea, -when one hears of a people 

 ■who paid great attention to burial, is that the body was 

 carefully attended to in reference to a future life, in which 

 case, burial arrangements, however elaborate, would relate 

 to the body only as the living man had earned certain 

 rights hereafter. If an Egyptian did not intend during 

 his whole life to do certain things and to avoid others, to 

 attend carefully to certain religious ceremonies (including 

 certain astronomical observances), and so forth, he would 

 be well assured that carefull}' hiding away his mummy 

 under a mass of stonework would be altogether useless. 

 On this view (and despite the authoritative statements of 

 Lepsius, Bunsen, !Mariette, and others, one can scarcely 

 conceive any other), the tomlj would only be of value in 

 relation to this life, and the theory that a pyramid is only 

 a tomb, instead of ha\ing the meaning Egj'ptologists 

 assign to it, would imply that the building of the structure, 

 and the observances connected therewith, were most inti- 

 mately associated with the life-work of the future tenant. 



We give this week the first half of the summing-up of 

 the singularly clear and complete evidence adduced by 

 Miss Edwards with regard to the Oppressor of the 

 Hebrews ; the remainder will appear in our next number. 

 There is a deeper and wider interest in her subject than 

 those imagine who regard it as simply the discussion of a 

 Bible question. To the historian and to the archaeologist, 

 to the sociologist and to the theologian, the subject of 

 Egyptian relations with the people from whom a large 

 portion of the prevalent religion has been derived, is alike 

 interesting and important. Speaking of religious ideas, it 

 may be said, with little exaggeration, that while a large 

 part of the Christian religion is of Hebrew origin, a much 

 larger portion is derived from Egypt. The teachings of 

 the founder of the religion are much more nearly akin to 

 those of Egyptian than to those of -lewish preceptors. 



