SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[May 1, 1865. 



times, and the student knows no better than before 

 what are the features whereby one species may be 

 truly known from its neighbour. An earnest stu- 

 dent is no foe to work, and this kind of work will 

 give him self-reliance. Whilst trusting to a friend 

 or the Editor of Science Gossip to name his speci- 

 mens "by the batch/' he not only will fail hi 

 acquiring knowledge, but also reliance ou his own 

 work, whenever he attempts to name for himself. 



" Take nothing for granted" is a good maxim foi 

 beginners. Take nothing for granted which you 

 can verify for yourself. It may be so, or it may not. 

 Investigate, examine, dissect, analyse, and do not 

 rest uutU you have proved the point. It may con- 

 sume time in the present, but will save time in the 

 future. Study nature rather than books, and things 

 rather than words. Observe trifles, for nothing is 

 so trifhng as to be without importance. Cultivate 

 a habit of making notes of your observations. Keep 

 up a good resolution, have faith in ihe future, and 

 work earnestly in the present, and already you will 

 have learnt " How to begin !" 



LOUD SCARAB^US: 



A STORY OP BEETLED03I. 



EGYPT is full of monuments of its grandeur and 

 its weakness, and the astonished traveller who 

 can spend days and weeks exploring its " chambers 

 of imagery " still left amidst the stupendous ruins, 

 is overwhelmed with the eloquence of the sermons 



Fig-. 62. — ScuLPTUKED ScARABffius, ficm Egypl: 



in tliose mighty stones. The solitary column in the 

 grand temple of Carnac, erect amidst a heap of 

 ruins, is a touching emblem of the land "over- 

 shadowing with wuigs beyond the river of Ethiopia." 

 In the beginning, probably a deeper and a holier 

 meaning was attached to the mysteries of the wor- 

 ship of the Egyptians than in later times : the virtues 

 :;nd passions of the soul, and the actions and attri- 

 butes of the Deity, were expressed by the ligures of 



animals, plants, and other symbolical characters; 

 but, ultimately, the meaning of these mysteries 

 became obscure, and w^s lost. As an example 

 of these symbols we may refer to that of the 

 hawk, which, having the most piercing of eyes and 

 the most rapid flight, served to express the divine 

 intelligence and activity ; and, placed on the highest 

 branches of a pictured tree, signified that God was 

 infinitely exalted above all matter. The winged 

 globe, found by the modern traveller over nearly 

 every temple door, encompassed with a serpent, 

 signified the invisible unity of the Deity, without 

 beginning or end ; the serpent, the suprem.e wisdom ; 

 and the wings, that active spirit which animates and 

 gives light to all ; and these three qualities or attri- 

 butes, united, still further indicated the Trinity, 

 whom they worshipped as Osiris, Isis, and Orus. 

 Amongst the symbols of the Deity v/hich subse- 

 quently received divine honours, was the Scarabseus, 

 or dung beetle, and a brief examination of a fine 

 specimen recently brought over may not be unin- 

 teresting. It connects the present with the past 

 history of these interesting people, and its portrait 

 is precisely that which 3,000 years ago ornamented 

 the walls of Egypt's palaces. It encloses its eggs 



Fig. 63. — Winged Scakab.'eus, from an Egyptian ornament. 



in a ball of excrement formed by a protracted roUing 

 of the substance by means of its long hind legs ; and 

 although the insect measures U to 2 inches in 

 length, the dung pellet in most instances exceeds 

 the size of the beetle. The head is flattened and 

 truncated, and gave to the earUer Egyptians an idea 

 of rays, as of the sun, vv'hilst inability to distinguish 

 between the sexes led to a conclusion that all were 

 males ; and this symbolised the exclusively mascu- 

 line character of the Deity, whilst ahnost every part 

 and action of the animal served to describe some 

 property in nature or some attribute of the Creator. 

 Prom a very old work upon natural history, written 

 upwards of a hundred and fifty years ago, before 

 the Entomological Society was born, or the modem 

 microscope thought of, we make the following 

 curious and fanciful extract respecting the object 

 under consideration :— " The principal of all those 

 animals, or that for which the Egyptians had most vene- 

 ration, was the beetle, as well because of its wonderful 

 birth or production, as from the analogy or resem- 

 blance this animal has with the sun, and the strange 

 instinct in this creature to continue its own specie's j 

 for when the male would produce, he seeks out the 

 dung of an ox or bull, and having found it, he forms 

 a round ball of the figure of the world, which, with 



