HAMILTON SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION. 7i 



was discovered vvhi ^li had bj^n built of. bricks made out of Nile 

 mud. Upon the bricks were found the stamp of Rameses II., 

 generally supposed to be the Pharaoh of the oppression. The 

 following is part of the description given by Miss A. B. Edwards : 

 "It is a very curious and interesting fact that the Pitliom bricks 

 are of three qualities. In the lower courses of these ma.ssive cellar 

 walls they are mixed with chopped straw ; higher up, where the 

 straw may be supposed to have run short, the clay is found to be 

 mixed with reeds— the same kind of reeds which grow to this day 

 in the bed of the old Pharaonic canal and which are translated 

 stubble in the Bible. Finally, when the last reeds were used up 

 the bricks of the uppermost courses consist of mere Nile mud, with 

 no binding substance whatever. So here we have the whole pa- 

 thetic Bible narrative surviving in solid evidence to the present 

 time. We see the good bricks for which the straw was pro- 

 vided. Some few feet higher we see those for which the 

 wretched Hebrews had to seek reeds or stubble. We hear them 

 cry aloud, ' Can we make bricks without straw ?' Lastly we see 

 the bricks which they had to make and did make without straw, 

 while their hands were bleeding and their hearts were breaking." 



If anything, Egyptian civilization is older than Babylonian. 

 Sayce makes 5000 B. C. the latest possible date for Menes, the 

 first king of United Egypt. Moreover the civilization seems to 

 have been perfect even at this remote time. There was not only 

 comfort, but luxury. According to Prof. Flinders Petrie some of 

 the blocks used in the construction of the pyramids were cut by 

 means of tubular drills fitted, if not with diamond points, at all 

 events with a similar material. 



Only one direct mention of Israel has been discovered. The 

 discovery was made by Prof. Flinders Petrie in 18^6. It belongs 

 to the reign of Merenptah, son of Rameses II. It reads as follows : 



" Wasted is Eibya. Hittiteland is brought to rest. Canaan 

 is captured with all his tribes. Ted forth is Askelon. Gezer 

 taken. Jenoam is brought to naught. Israel is laid waste and his 

 seed destroyed. Everyone that prowled around has been chas- 



