!•() 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[FEUKUAny ], ISOG. 



'' Two hnnclrecl and four and two-thirds ka of oil, property 

 of tho Siin-god, value one-third of a niana, and two-thirds 

 of a shekel of silver, as price of the fair (skinned) slaves of 

 the land of (!uti, Arad Marduk son of Ibni-Marduk has 

 received, by the authority of Amel-Mirra son of Jliusati, 

 from I'bala abi-umr. He will bring the fair (skinned) 

 slaves of (luti in a month's time. If he do not bring theui 

 in a month, then Arad-Mirra shall pay, according to his 

 contract, one-third of a mana and two-thirds of a shekel of 

 silver."* 



One might go on, however, indefinitely quoting interest- 

 ing and important texts referring to this primitive and yet 

 elaborated civilization of those early times. Enough has 

 been given, however, to show what was the nature of the 

 society and the civilization of the time ; and it has this 

 great advantage, that it all comes to us at first hand, from 

 the people themselves. The texts are the same now (when 

 they are complete) as on the day when the scribe wrote 

 them, and impressed the cylinder-seals of the witnesses. 



There is a noteworthy point in the life of the patriarch 

 Abram that may here be touched upon, and it is a 

 point that must have struck many in former days. 

 Abrani, a simple shepherd owning his own flocks, sets 

 out from Ur of the C'haldees, and not only traverses 

 Western Asia, but even visits lilgypt ; and in all the 

 narrative there is not a word referring to any difliculty 

 that he may have had in making himself understood. t 



In Babylonia in ancient times it would seem that many 

 languages or dialects were spoken, and these tongues the 

 tradesman or farmer probably knew from his youth up. 

 One of them, Babylonian (generally called Assyrian), he 

 would speak as his mother-tongue, and of Sumerian and 

 its dialect (Akkadian) he would know at least a smattering. 

 "From the Aramaic tribes in the country he would naturally 

 be able to get a knowledge of Aramaic, and from the 

 Amorites who were in Babylonia (there was an Amorite 

 district in or near Sippara, now Abu-habbah, in about 2080 

 B.C.) he could obtain a knowledge of the language spoken 

 in Southern Palestine and elsewhere — a tongue, in all 

 probability, closely akin to Hebrew. For a journey to 

 Egypt the above would be most likely all that was needed 

 by him to communicate with the natives, for the Egyptian 

 Pharaoh was, it is supposed, of Semitic origin, and he and 

 many of his people must have understood the language of 

 Western Asia. Any further aid that the traveller might 

 require, however, he would find ready to his hand in the 

 language now known as Assyrian (really Babylonian), 

 which, as it was the lini/ua franca of 1500 b.c, must have 

 held the same position in Abram's time ; and the 

 traveller could, in ail probability, have traversed the whole 

 distance from r>abylonia to Egypt (over a thousand miles 

 as the patriarch must have gone), communicating with 

 the inhabitants of the countries he passed through by this 

 means alone. A traveller's linguistic equipment in those 

 days was complete if he possessed some knowledge of 

 Aramaic and Amorite as well. 



Recent researches have, indeed, removed not a few 

 hindrances to our perfect knowledge and understanding 

 of the early history of that East which is so full of poetry 

 and romance, and so important for the history of civiliza- 

 tion. A\'hat may we not find when more of the many 

 buried cities of the East shall have been explored by the 

 excavator ? Among the many thousand tablets that still 

 lie buried there, who can say what may not come to light ? 



* Meissuer, Beitrdge, No. 4. 



■f- Apparently, also, lie was never molested by lawleES tribes — a con- 

 dition of security which could not be claimed for this part of the 

 world now. 



Science Notes. 



Experiments have been made upon the bending of small 

 bars of ice, supported at the ends in a horizontal position 

 and loaded at the middle ; and it is found that if such a 

 bar is so cut that the optical axis is perpendicular to the 

 length the load causes considerable bending, but a rod 

 having the optical axis horizontal shows no appreciable 

 bending under these conditions. This agrees with the 

 supposition that ice crystals consist of thin lamina;, formed 

 of a ilexible but almost inextensible substance, the inter- 

 spaces being filled with a separating medium which is 

 sufficiently viscous to retard the mutual gliding of the 

 plates. 



We learn that both Messrs. Cook k Son and Messrs. 

 Gaze & Sons are making special arrangements to convey 

 astronomers and others to Vadsii, for the purpose of 

 viewing the eclipse of the sun which is to take place on 

 August 9th next. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR FEBRUARY. 



By Herbert Sadler, F.R.A.S. 



SUNSPOTS and faculro are evidently decreasing in 

 number. There will be an annular eclipse of the 

 Sun on the 13th, but it will only be visible in the 

 southern hemisphere. Conveniently observable 

 minima of Algol occur at 9h. 43m. p.m. on the 

 6th, at 6h. 82m. p.m. on the 9th, at llh. 25m. p.m. on 

 the 26th, and at 8h. 14m. p.m. on the 29th. 



Mercury is not very favourably situated for observation 

 this month. On the 1st he sets at 6h. 10m. p.m., or 

 Ih. 24m. after the Sim, with a southern declination of 

 10° 50', and an apparent diameter of 8|", {'^iha of the 

 disc being illuminated. He is in inferior conjunction with 

 the Sun on the 8th. After this he becomes a morning 

 star, but is badly situated for observation owing to his 

 great southern declination. On the 15th he rises at 

 6h. 26m. A.M., or 52m. before the Sun, with a southern 

 declination of 14° 13', and an apparent diameter of 10", 

 y^jths of the disc being illuminated. On the 20th he 

 rises at 6h. 7m. a.m., or one hour before the Sun, with a 

 southern declination of 15° 84', and an apparent diameter 

 of 9", To'^oths of the disc being illuminated. On the 29th 

 he rises at 5h. 52m. a.m., or one hour before the Sun, with 

 a southern declination of 16° 16', and an apparent diameter 

 of 7^", about one half of the disc being illuminated. He 

 is in Capricoruus during the month. 



Venus is a morning star, but is rapidly fading in 

 brightness, and her southern declination is very great. 

 On the 1st she rises at 5h. 26m. a.m., or two hours and a 

 quarter before the Sun, with a southern declination of 

 22° 0', and an apparent diameter of 14^", about three- 

 quarters of the disc being illuminated. On the 10th she 

 rises at 5h. 86m. a.m., or Ih. 60m. before the Sun, with a 

 southern declination of 21° 42', and an apparent diameter 

 of 14", •/o^l's of the disc being illuminated. On the 20th 

 she rises at 5h. 41m. a.m., or about one and a half hours 

 before the Sun, with a southern dechnation of 20° 23', 

 and an apparent diameter of 13i". On the 27th she 

 rises at 5h. 8Hm. a.m., or Ih. 12m. before the Sun, 

 with a southern declination of 18° 21', and an apparent 

 diameter of 13 ", -r'\j'jths of the disc being illuminated. 

 During the month she passes from Sagittarius into 

 Capricomus. 



