THEORY OF THE EARTH. 227 



adds this great astronomer, " lead us to this con- 

 clusion, that the sculptures are posterior to the 

 epoch of Alexander." 



In reality, the circular planisphere having been 

 brought to Paris by the care of MM. Saunier 

 and Lelorrain, M. Biot, in a work founded upon 

 precise measurements and calculations full of in- 

 genuity, has determined that it represents, ac- 

 cording to an exact geometrical projection, the 

 state of the heavens, such as it was 700 years be- 

 fore Christ ; but he by no means concludes that 

 it had been sculptured at that period . 



In fact, all these efforts of intellect and science, 

 in so far as they concern the epoch of the monu- 

 ments, have become superfluous, since finishing 

 where they should naturally have begun, if the 

 first observers had not been blinded by prejudice, 

 people have taken the trouble of copying and re- 

 storing the Greek inscriptions engraved upon 

 these monuments, and especially since M. Cham- 

 pollion has discovered the method of decyphering 

 those which are expressed in hieroglyphics. 



Memoir of M. de Paravey. This report is printed in the 

 Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, vol. viii. 



* See the work of M. Biot, entitled, Recherches sur 

 plusieurs points de 1'Astronomie Egyptienne, appliquees aux 

 monumens astronomkjues trouves en Egypte ; Paris, 1823, 

 8vo. 



