ON USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL STONES OP ANCIENT EGYPT. 285 



some hard powder such as emery or corundum ; in regard to this 

 apparent connection between Babylonia and Egypt, I may mention 

 that two accounts of discoveries at Tell-Loh have been published 

 recently, one by a French geologist ; both speak of diorite being 

 found at Tell-Loh and porphyry as of Egyptian production ; that 

 it came from that district, and was brought into Babylonia by sea, 

 there can be no doubt. There is an ai'tistic point that I would 

 notice in regard to the statues — that from the 4th to the 12th 

 dynasty Egyptian work was at its highest. It had not reached 

 that conventional stereotyped style of work which afterwards 

 appeared in the 18th and 19th dynasties ; but the statues were 

 then in every case, as much as possible, portraits. 



Mr. William Moeeton Middleton. — With regard to the flint 

 implements, I should like to ask Professor Hull if he has any 

 further evidence as to the date when the flint implements ceased 

 to be worked. Sir William Dawson says at the time of the 12th 

 dynasty flint flakes were abundant, but at the time of the 19th 

 dynasty they were apparently rare. It may be that there is further 

 evidence on that point ; if so, it would be of great interest as 

 enabling us to tell, to some extent, when the use of flint implements 

 was at its zenith, so to speak, and of flint arrow-heads from the 

 banks of the Suez Canal. I should also like to ask Professor Hull 

 if he happens to know how the agate was worked. I see that 

 apatite is mentioned in one or two places. If apatite in anything 

 like its pure form were found in any quantity it would be 

 very valuable to the agriculturists of Egypt. It is, of course, 

 well known that apatite is used as a phosphatic fertiliser in 

 Canada and elsewhere. In regard to early Egyptian and Roman 

 art, the Roman cornices, for instance, bear excellent portraits for 

 the first century or so, and afterwards degenerated very much, and 

 at the time of the third or fourth century became intentionally 

 conventional. 



Mr. J. D. Crace. — It may be worth mentioning in reference to 

 implements for which flints were used, for instance the sickle ; 

 the identical sickle referred to in the paper was exhibited in London 

 by Dr. Petrie, it was a wooden sickle with a flint edge. The bow- 

 drill is represented pretty frequently in Egyptian sculpture and 

 is in use at the present day in Egypt. The sandstone described 

 as miocene sandstone, containing strata of agate and cornelian, 

 occurs also at Wady Haifa and in another place in its neighbour- 



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