PROFESSOR CAMERON S PAPER. XXV 



inches for each century; bj- a simple cah'ulation one can 

 ascertain that the maximum period during; which Egypt 

 could reall}' have existed as a habitable country is about 

 ten thousand years, that is to say, from about 8000 B. C- 

 As the written records of the country only begin with the 

 commencement of the Dynastic Period — about 5000 B. C, 

 very little is known about the Predynastic or Prehistoric 

 Period, though one is furnished with proofs of its remarkable 

 handcraft in the shape of beautiful alabaster jars of elegant 

 design and workmanship. The burials of this period were also 

 very characteristic, the body of the deceased being usually 

 placed in its tomb in the attitude adopted by the unborn 

 child in the womb, a fact which suggests that this early 

 race believed in the existence of an after lif€; for the body 

 was probabl}' placed in this characteristic position so as to 

 be read\^ for the rebirth, or in other words, the Resurrection. (^) 

 The culture, the art, and the learning of Ancient Egypt 

 undoubtedly constituted the foundation of our modern 

 civilization, and this fact alone affords sufficient justification 

 for the study of this w^onderful people. Indeed it was, in its 

 way, of a higher order than the culture (spelt with a K) 

 which a certain outlawed nation is in this year of Grace, 1916, 

 trying to thrust upon the world by brute force. During 

 the earlier dynastic periods, extending over 3800 years, 

 from B. C. 5000 to B. C. 1200, the Israelites were slaves 

 in Egypt. During the building of the great pyramids in the 

 fourth Dynasty they were utilized, under the lash of their 

 oppressors, to drag the vast blocks of stone up the long 

 inclined planes which were erected, as the simplest means 

 then known to the Egyptian engineers, to facilitate the plac- 

 ing of the blocks in position. There is some disagreement 

 amongst authorities as to the exact date of the Exodus of 

 the Israelites from Egypt. Some regard Merenptah, a pow- 



1 This fact has been referred to by the writer in a recent paper. See the Cana'linn Mpdical 

 .lournal for May, 19 IG. 



