ADDRESS. Ixxix 



course on the tracks of their trading-vessels; and thus, more than any other 

 people, they helped to spread Eastern knowledge along the shores of the 

 Mediterranean and throughout the south of Europe. 



The early constructive works of Greece, till about the seventh century B.C., 

 form a strong contrast to those of its moro prosperous days. Commonly 

 called Pelasgiau, they are more remarkable as engineering works than ad- 

 mirable as those which followed them were for architectural beauty. "WaUs 

 of huge unshapely stones (admirably fitted together, however), tunnels, and 

 bridges characterize this period. In Greece, during the few and glorious 

 centuries which followed, the one aim in all construction was to please the 

 eye, to gratify the sense of beauty ; and in no age was that aim more tho- 

 roughly and satisfactorily attained. 



In these days, when sanitary questions attract each year more attention, 

 we may call to mind that twenty-three centuries ago the city of Agrigcntum 

 possessed a system of sewers, which, on account of their large size, were 

 thought worthy of mention by Diodorus*. This is not, however, the first 

 record of towns being drained ; the well-known Cloaca Maxima, which 

 formed part of the drainage system of Eome, was built some two centuries 

 earlier, and great vaulted drains passed beneath the palace mounds of unburnt 

 brick at Nimroud and Babylon; and possibly wo owe the preservation of 

 many of the interesting remains found in the brick mounds of Chaldsea to 

 the very elaborate system of pipe drainage discovered in them and described 

 by Loftusf. 



Whilst Pelasgian art was being superseded in Greece, the city of Eomo 

 was founded in the eighth century before our era ; and Etrnscan art in Italy, 

 like the Pelasgian art in Greece, was slowly merged in that of an Aryan race. 

 The Etruscans, like the Pelasgians and the old Egyptians, were Turanians, 

 and remarkable for their purely constructive or engineering works. Their 

 city waUs far surpass those of any other ancient race, and their drainage 

 works and tunnels are most remarkable. 



The only age which can compare with the present one in the rapid oxten-i 

 sion of utilitarian works over the face of the civilized world is that durinff 

 which the Eomans, an Aryan race, as we are, were in power. As Fergusson 

 has said, the mission of the Aryan races appears to be to pervade the world 

 with useful and industrial arts. That the Eomans adorned their bridges, 

 their aqueducts, and their roads, that with a sound knowledge of construc- 

 tion they frequently made it subservient to decoration, was partly owing to 

 the mixture of Etruscan or Turanian blood in their veins, and partly to their 

 great wealth, which made them disregard cost in their construction, and to 

 their lovo of display. 



* Agrigeutum was a celebrated Greek city, foimded B.C. 582, population 200,000 

 (Diodorus, 406 B.C.), draiuccl by Plioeax, who lived B.C. 480. 

 t Eawlinson's 'Five Ancient Monarchies,' vol. i. pp. 89, 90, 2nd. edit. 



