ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 15 



nearest analogue to Ammon would be their Zeus, whereupon they 

 were not slow in identifying him with their great Jupiter — 6eos 

 0cov, as Plato calls him; so the god was henceforth given the double 

 appellation, Jupiter Ammon. 1 Ammon is twice mentioned in the 

 prophetical books of the Old Testament: — "I will punish Ammon 

 of No, 2 and Pharoah, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even 

 Pharoah and them that trust in him/' 3 "Art thou better than 

 populous No, [Nu] Ammon, situate among the rivers, whose 

 rampart was the sea, [the Nile] Ethiopia and Egypt were her 

 strength, and it was infinite." 4 



Now it is highly probable that the distillation of camel's dung, 

 or the soot derived from its combustion, yielded a product known 

 to the Egpytians as a source of ammonia; while the white deposits 

 found in some parts, notably in the Nitrian desert, yielded nitre, 5 

 called also nitron, which gives us, in turn, the root for our appropri- 

 ate nitro-generator, nitrogen, so named by Chaptal. If, therefore, 

 Zeus or Ammon, 6 the chief among gods, was the father of mankind, 



1 The fossils of the Mesozoic Age known as Ammonites are also 

 named after the convoluted horn, pictured on the head of the god Jupiter- 

 Am mon. 



2 No, On, Heliopolis, or Atocr7roAt§. On or Beth-shemesh, Jer. xliii. 13. 

 Curiously enough the letters of these words are often transposed in ancient 

 writings, and may occur both as On or No. 



3 Jer. xlvi. 25. * Nahum iii. 8. 



5 By the word ' nitre,' often 'nitron ' and ' natron/ was included a white 

 generic soda compound. I am indebted to The Chemist and Druggist for a 

 brief notice of Soda in Egypt, which bears on this subject : — " North-West 

 from Cairo, between two small hills, stretches a valley which, by reason 

 of the large quantity of soda found in it, was formerly known far and 

 wide. Until the discovery of the Leblanc process, this soda was sent in 

 large quantities to Europe, but during recent decades the export of 

 Egyptian soda has been limited to Greece and Turkey. The soda -valley 

 possesses a considerable number of lakes from ten to twelve metres under 

 sea level. With the rising of the Nile, which takes place in about the end 

 of August, the lakes begin to fill, and reach their highest point about the 

 end of January. In the month of March the water gradually evaporates, 

 and the bed is covered with a layer of natural soda, which presents the 

 appearance of large lumps of ice. The deposits at Wady Natron are 

 practically inexhaustible." 



6 Whether the Ammonites, the tribes mentioned in the Old Testament, 

 derive their name in this way is uncertain. 



