December 25, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



359 



hitherto almost neglected by archasologistsj, and presenting much 

 that is interesting, especially to students of the GrEeco-Roman 

 period. 



At four to six feet below the surface the diggers found three 

 statues in rose granite, ten feet high, lying face downwards, among 

 the ruins of a temple, of which part of the outer wall with lower 

 portions of columns and several square yards of flooring have 

 been laid bare. The statues had been originally erected at or 

 within the temple, and one of them is lying in front of its pedes- 

 tal, which is about three feet high. They represent in a group, 

 according to the hieroglyphic inscription, Rame?es II. (the Greek 

 Sesostrif^) and his Queen Hentmara seated. The third statue is of 

 Eameses II. in an upright posture, wearing a pleated tunic, brace- 

 lets, military crown, and a girdle bearing the inscription, "Beloved 

 of Seth." At his left side he holds a sceptre, surmounted by the 

 head of his son Menephtah (the Pharaoh of the Exodus), whose 

 cartoucn is inscribed on the sceptre. On the plinth at his back, 

 which is of equal height with the statue, is chiselled a has relief 

 of Queen Hentmara in profile, wearing a pleated tunic and the 

 royal ti'e.=s. The inscription above her head is " Daughter of the 

 King — beloved of her father — Royal spouse — great favorite 

 Hentmara." On the back of the plinth is carved the royal banner 

 ofRamesesII, with all his known titles and appellations. The 

 execution of the three statues is in the plain, vigorous style of the 

 Twelfth Dynasty. 



'l"he feet of Rameses, which had been broken off in one piece 

 with a clean fracture, were found at a few yards' distance. The 

 two heads of the group have also been broken off, and are being 

 searched for. 



It is surmisf d that the temple and statues were overthrown after 

 the edict of Theodosius, A D. 3S0, abolishing the Egyptian re- 

 ligion, but nothing has yet been discovered to identify the temple 

 with any of those known to have existed during the Egyptian or 

 GraecoRoman jjeriods. 



Dr. Nerutsos Bey's interpretation of the inscription is — Hent- 

 mara, daughter of the King, beloved of her father (i.e., the pre- 

 ceding King. Osiris Menephtah, who was father of both Rameses 

 and Hentmaia). royal spouse (of Rameses II.), the (referring also 

 to Rameses) great favorite of Seth. 



The Pharaohs, following the example of Osiris, King of the 

 Gods, and his sister Isis, had the prerogative of espousing their 

 own sisters, and this custom, consecrated by both the civil 

 and religious law, was followed in several instances by the 

 Ptolemies 



Dr. Nerutsos, who is a well-known Egyptologist, has lately pub- 

 lished a work entitled '-L'Ancienne Alexandrie," embodying his 

 researches, made during a Ion? residence, and he is perhaps the 

 greatest living authority upon the topography of the ancient city 

 and neighborhood of Alexandria. Referring to the locality in 

 which the above-mentioned antiquities were found, and which 

 abounds with remains of old buildin^zs, he recommends that ex- 

 plorers should seek to identify — 



(1) The small Egyptian town Menuth, with its temple to Isis, 

 and subterranean burial-places. Such a place has just been dis- 

 co vei-ed by Daninos Pasha, in the solid rock, entered by a vertical 

 shaft forty feet deep, and a sloping staircase of forty-five steps, 

 terminating at the bottom of the shaft, where a series of galleries 

 commence, extending in length to 170 feet. 



(3) The Grajco-Roman village Zephyrion, where stood a temple 

 to Artemis Sotera, and numerous country villas. 



(3) The headland Zephyrion, on the highest point of which was 

 a temple to Venus Arsinoe, Pi'otectress of Mariners. 



(4) The Byzantine monastery of St. Cyr, corrupted to Abba Kyr, 

 whence the name of the present town of Abukir. 



The monastery and neighboring buildings were destroyed by an 

 earthquake, followed by a tidal wave, soon after the capture of 

 Alexandria by the Arabs. More than a dozen sphinxes and ruins 

 of massive buildings, submerged by that catastrophe and subse- 

 quently, are now plainly visible in the shallow waters of the bay. 



The twenty-third annual meeting of the Ohio College Asso- 

 ciiiti.'.n wi'.l be held in t'olumbus, Deo. 28-30. 



THE FAIRBANKS MUSEUM. 



Tuesday evening, Dec. 1.5, was a holiday occasion for St. Johns- 

 bury, Vt., for she was at that time the glad recipient of such a 

 Christmas gift as rarely falls to the lot of a community — such a 

 gift as will make her a leader among New England villages in the 

 possession of peculiar educational advantages. Col. Franklin 

 Fairbanks, in fulfilment of his long cherished desire, presented the 

 Fairbanks Museum of Natural Science to the people of St. Johns- 

 bury. 



In his address Col. Fairbanks said : " This day, one of the hap- 

 piest of my life, marks the completion of a plan long cherished; 

 that of erecting a building suitable for the objects in natural sci- 

 ence which I have been collecting from my boyhood. 



"There is implanted in the breast of every intelligent being a 

 desire for knowledge. Schools are established to develop that de- 

 sire and expand it into larger fialds, fitting us for usefulness in 

 the world, and giving us pleasure and profit. Who has looked 

 through a telescope at the star.-i, without wishing to know what 

 there is in, or upon them, and desires to look again, hoping to 

 discover something that is be3'ond ? Who has used the microscope 

 to examine the flower or the insect, which is invisible to the naked 

 eve, without longing to know more of what this wonderful in- 

 strument alone can reveal? In so far as is possible, this thirst for 

 knowledge should be gratified. 



" Those of us who have not had the privilege of a liberal educa- 

 tion (so-called) must; make up for our loss by the study of objects 

 and beings directly around us, using our eyes and our ears, which 

 may become the windows of our minds, letting in a flood of light 

 and knowledge. 



" Life is so short and its limitations are so great, no person can 

 know everything, but each may leai'u one thing, and learn it well. 

 The child may not be able to calculate echpses, or understand 

 conic sections, or Greek roots, but he may begin early to learn of 

 the life about him. For this, I have erected this building, and 

 made accessible to yon this fruitage of my own ob,=ervations. 



•'The collection comprises illustrations in ethnology, ornithol- 

 ogy, oology, entomology, zoology, conchology, botany, mineralogy, 

 geology, and palseontology. 



' ' At the laying of the corner-stone of the Museum on the 4th 

 of July, 1890, I told the children that I commenced my collection 

 when a small boy, gathering stones and minerals, because of their 

 beauty. To illustrate, I hold in my hand a grouping of crystals, 

 which I found on the Willey Slide in the White Mountain Notch, 

 when I was about twelve years old. My father was taking me 

 with him on a journey, and we stopped to see the slide which a 

 few years before had buried the Willey family, and this stone at- 

 tracted my attention, and to-day brings that visit vividly to mind. 



"I have been a careful observer, going about with my eyes and 

 ears open. Not a bird comes within my vision but I try to learn 

 its name, its habits, and its uses, and its song if it has any. In 

 the summer time this is a never-ending source of delight, and so 

 I might mention butterflies, beetles, and all insect life; the flowers 

 and ferns and many other objects of study which live and move 

 in great profusion about us all the summer long. 



'•Now if this collection will create in you a desire to know the 

 facts regarding the life which is around you, and which your eyes 

 see and your fingers totich ; in short, if you are thereby induced 

 to study and investigate the things that are nearest you. my aim 

 will be accomplished, and I trust through the aid you may receive 

 in yonder building, you may make far greater progress than I 

 can comprehend. 



" A long time since, I asked our architect, Mr. Packard (by 

 whose skill and taste our town has been greatly enriched), to de- 

 vise some plan by which the collection could be opened for the 

 public benefit, while remaining in my house, but that seemed im- 

 practicable, so I abandoned it. 



'• The building is now complete. It consists of a main hall, 

 with a gallery, for cases and tables. On the first floor of the ell 

 is a curator's office and a class-room. On the second floor and 

 over the class-room and office is a well-ventilated lecture-room. 

 All the rooms are thoroughly equipped for use. In the basement 

 are the furnace for heating, an:l a large, well-lighted laboratory 

 and taxidermist's roam. The whole building is lighted with both 



