C ^68 ) 
fecellcncy lay in Political Knowledge; and that though 
hje was a better Mathematician and Philofopher than ar>y 
Man of that Time, yet fince he is commended chiefly 
for finding the XLVH Pfopofition of the Firft Book of 
Euclid^ his Skill in thofe matters was, comparatively 
fpeaking, but very indifferent, which he aifo affirms of 
the Ancient Sages. (^Chap, 7, 8.) 
From them he goes to iht Egyptians^ of whom 
oblcrves, That more may be challenged from them, than 
from other Nations, becaufe their pretences to exaftnefs 
in Recording Inventions and Traditions have been more 
confidtrable. Yet he thinks that their Hiftory could 
not be txtraordinary, fince both the Time u hen the 
Pyramids were built, and that when their great Hero 
Sejojiris hved could never be determined by the Anci- 
enteft Writers now extant: That all the great Ancient 
Inventions in Geometry, though its Original be owii»g 
to them, are conveyed to us by Greeks as their own In- 
V-entions : That their Medicine was wholly built upon 
Aflrologica! or Magical grounds: That their Preienas 
to the Phiiofophers Stone, ftem to have been Fathered 
upon them by later Alchemifts : That their skill m Ana- 
tomy was fo fmall, that they believed that the Heart 
iocreafed Annually two Drachms in weight till Men were 
50 Years old, and aftervvards decrealed as gradually; 
for which r^afon, according to them, no Man could 
live above 100 Years : That with all their boafted Cu- 
riofity, they feem never to have failed loo Miles down 
the i^de into yEtkhpia ; fince till abcuc p/a/o's time , 
they could not give a clear Solution cf the Annual In- 
undations of that wonderful River : And in fhort, That 
their greateft Skill lay in making Wife and Piudent 
Laws, which were worth going fo far as the Greeks went 
to fetch them. {Chap. 9, 10.) 
He thinks that the ChaUean Learning was. nor fo ex- 
cellent as itkQ j^gyptian'-i that the Jjfyrian Hiftory,whicfa 
we 
