1 87 1. J The Theory of Irrigation. 35 



man are not false gods and animal idols, nor trophies of 

 bloody wars, nor gew-gaw adornments of tyrant kings ; but 

 were, on the contrary, works of pure science and unalloyed 

 knowledge, under a peaceful reign where the soldier class 

 does not seem yet to have been invented or required, and the 

 accompaniments are such as neither a modern Christian nor 

 an ancient Job, fleeing from idolatry even in momentary 

 thought, could find any fault with. 



Yet in place of that , see what our custodiers have done ! Not, 

 however, that the officers of the British Museum, so far as 

 I know, are more idolatrously inclined than other men ; but 

 that, being amazingly wise in their own generation, they know 

 perfectly well both what pleases the modern British public, 

 and what also they do not care to be troubled to look at. 



We have, however, fortunately, to deal here only with that 

 awakened and enlightened section of Britons which reads 

 the Quarterly Journal of Science ; and then comes the ques- 

 tion — Will its members care to hear more about the Great 

 Pyramid, when they now know for certain that it deals only, 

 and under circumstances of peace and purity, with such 

 innocent things as number, weight, and measure; and 

 what may be typified thereby ? And will they, in the 

 interests of true history and the primeval condition 

 of man, ever join in representing to Her Majesty's 

 Government, that if the Egyptian gallery in the British 

 Museum has been built so gloriously at the expense of the 

 nation to do honour to, and illustrate the progress of, the 

 antiquity of intellectual man, — the oldest remains there, 

 viz., those of the Great Pyramid, ought, in simple justice, 

 to occupy the highest and fairest place ; while the idols of 

 subsequent times, the fruits of man's wandering from his 

 first estate into the dangerous and unhallowed mazes of 

 "theotechny," should rather have a lower place assigned to 

 them, if not also a veil of shame drawn over their hideous 

 and repulsive countenances. J3 c^xf^s/^ — * 



III. ON THE THEORY OF IRRIGATION. 

 By Frederic Charles Danvers, A.I.C.E. 



tHE great importance which the subject of irrigation has 

 recently attained to in this country is no doubt primarily 

 due to the forced necessity of utilising our town sewage, 

 and devoting it to profitable purposes, instead of, as has be- 

 come the general practice, emptying it into our streams and 



