WARD’S NATURAL SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
ANCIENT MONUMENTS. 
Never has there been a time when thorough in- 
vestigations ancl explorations have received more 
encouragement than at the present time, and as a 
natural result, the discoveries of the past few 
years have been numerous and great. No where 
have these been more marked than in the East, 
particularly in the region of the Levant. For 
the benefit of those readers of the Bulletin who 
do not have access to the works on this subject, 
we copy translations of some of the interesting 
“Records of the Past.” 
THE SILO AM INSCRIPTION. 
This inscription, which was concealed for (lie 
most part by water, was found in the summer of 
1880 by a native boy, who while playing in the 
channel near the so-called pool of Siloam, acci- 
dentally fell into the water and discovered it in 
rising to the surface. It occupies the under part 
of an artificial tablet in the southern wall of the 
tunnel which communicates with the so-called 
Spring of the Virgin, the only natural spring of 
water near Jerusalem, and is about 19 feet from 
where the conduit opens out upon the Pool of 
Siloam. 
Unfortunately the inscription contains no date, 
but the forms of the letters used show that it can- 
not be very much later in age than the Moabite 
stone. 
There are some vei’y good reasons for thinking 
that it dates back to the time of Solomon, but the 
prevalent opinion of scholars is, that the tunnel, 
and consequently the inscription in it, were execu- 
ted in the reign of Hezekiah. “This same Heze- 
kiah also stopped the upper water-course of Gihon, 
and brought it straight down to the west side of 
the city of David.” II. Chronicles XXXII. 30. 
“The acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how 
he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought 
water into the city,” II. Kings XX. 20. 
The tunnel was a very good piece of engineering 
for the times It was begun at both ends, and in 
spite of its windings, the workmen very nearly 
succeeded in meeting in the middle. 
Owing to the darkness of the tunnel, the water, 
&c., no good casts of the inscription were made un- 
until March, 1881, when Dr. Guthe removed with 
acid, the lime which had been deposited over it, 
and made a mould and squeezes, thus giving to 
scholars an exact copy of the old text. 
The language of the inscription, which consists 
of six lines, is the purest Biblical Hebrew, and 
translated, reads as follows. 
Translation. 
“(Behold) the excavation! Now this is the his- 
tory of the excavation. While the excavators were 
still lifting up the pick, each towards his neigh- 
bour, and while there were yet three cubits to (ex- 
cavate, there was heard) the voice of one man 
calling to his neighbour, for there was an excess in 
the rock on the right hand (and on the left). And 
after that on the day of excavating, the excavators 
had struck pick against pick, one against the 
other, the waters flowed from the spring to the 
Pool for a distance of 1,200 cubits. And (part) 
of a cubit was the height of the rock over the 
head of the excavators.” 
The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser. 
This Obelisk of black marble, six feet eight 
inches in heighth (not five feet, as is sometimes 
incorrectly stated), was found by Mr. Layard in 
the centre of the mound at Nimroud, and is now 
in the British Museum. Upon it are recorded 
the annals and conquests of Shalmaneser who 
died 823 B. C., after a reign of 35 years. 
A translation of the inscription was one of the 
fh'st achievements of Assyrian decipherment, and 
was made by Sir H. Rawlinson; and Dr. Hincks 
shortly afterward (in 1851) succeeded in reading 
the name of Jehu in it. 
Each of the four sides of the obelisk, which is 
not quite square, is divided into five compart- 
ments of Sculpture, representing the tribute 
brought to the Assyrian king by vassal princes, 
Jehu of Israel being among the number. 
The epigraphs accompanying these sculptures, 
according to the translation of Rev. A. H. Sayce, 
is as follows, beginning at the top. 
1. The tribute of ’Su ’a of the country of the 
MINERALOGY. 
During the past year we have added very 
largely in this department, and it is no exaggera- 
tion to say that at the present moment so large a 
stock of choice typical minerals can be found 
nowhere else in the world. By personal visits 
to the principal localities, we have been able to 
select our material, thus avoiding the collection 
of that which is poor, and by purchasing all good 
material readily obtainable, we have been able to 
make such advantageous arrangements that we 
are now prepared to offer our clients unusual 
facilities for completing their collections with 
choice specimens at reasonable rates. 
From this wealth of material we will select 
for special mention only the following: 
ALEXANDRITE, 
From the Ural Mountains. 
WUXFENITE, 
From Eureka, Nevada. 
CUSS O-DESCL OISITS, 
From Zacatecas, Mexico. 
FLUID CHALCEDONY, 
From Uruguay. 
FIRE OPAL, 
From Mexico. 
Amazon-Stone, Pike’s Peak, Col. 
Apophyllite, India and NT. J. 
Aragonite ( Flos Ferri), Greece. 
Arquerite, British Columbia. 
Barcenite 
Celestite, 
Corundum 
Diamonds, 
Emeralds, 
Epidote, 
Garnets, 
Geyserite, 
Harmotome, 
Jade, 
Labradorite 
Mexico. 
Girgenti, Sicily, 
(showing cleavage), N. C. 
Brazil and South Africa. 
Ural Mountains. 
Sulzbachthal, Tyrol. 
Alaska, Piedmont. 
Yellowstone National Park. 
Scotland. 
New Zealand and China. 
( fine polished specimens), 
Labrador. 
Martite, Brazil. 
Native Tellurium, Colorado. 
Natrolite, Bergen Hill, N. J., and Tyrol. 
Phacolite, Philip Island, Victoria. 
Phillipsite, Collingwood, near Melbourne 
Platinum, Brazil, Cal. and Ural Mts, 
Ruby Spinel, Ceylon. 
Rutile in Quartz, N. 0. 
Satin Spar, England and Japan. 
Smoky Quartz, Switzerland and Colorado. 
Sulphur, Girgenti, Sicily. 
Sylvanite, Transylvania. 
Tantalite, Coosa Co., Alabama. 
Topaz, Brazil, Saxony, Siberia and Col. 
Zircons, Canada, Colorado and N. C. 
Guzamans: silver, gold, lead, articles of bronze, 
sceptres for the King’s hand, horses, and camels 
with double backs: I received. 
2. The tribute of Yahua 3 son of Khumri; 4 
silver, gold, bowls of gold, vessels of gold, 
goblets of gold, pitchers of gold, lead, sceptres 
for the King’s hand, (and) staves: I received. 
3. The tribute of the country of Muzri: camels 
with double backs, an ox of the river ’Saceya, 
horses, wild asses, elephants , (and) apes: I received. 
4. The tribute of Merodach-pal itstsar of the 
country of the ’Sukhians: silver, gold, pitchers of 
gold, tusks of the wild bull, staves, antimony, 
garments of many colors, (and) linen; I received. 
5. The tribute of Garparunda of the country 
of the Patinians: silver, gold, lead, bronze, gums, 
articles of bronze, tusks of wild bulls (and), ebony, 
I received. 
Above the sculpture is a space about fourteen 
inches broad covered with closely written cunei- 
form inscriptions. The first one at the top ac- 
cording to Prof. Sayce, is as follows. 
1. Assur, the great Lord, the King of all 
2. the great gods; Anu King of the spirits of 
Heaven 
3. and the spirits of earth, the god, Lord of 
the world; Bel 
4. the Supreme, Father of the gods the Creator 
5. Hea, King of the deep, determiner of desti- 
nies ; 
6. the King of Crowns, drinking in brilliance; 
7. Rimmon the crowned hero, Lord of canals; 
the Sun -God 
8. the Judge of heaven and earth, the urger on 
of all; 
9. (Merodach), Prince of the gods, Lord of 
battles; Adar the terrible, 
10. (Lord) of the spirits of heaven and the spirits 
of eartb, the exceeding strong god; Nergal, 
11. the powerful (god), King of the battle; 
Nebo, the bearer of the high sceptre 
12. the god, the Father above; Beltis, the 
wife of Bel, mother of the (great) gods; 
13. Istar, sovereign of heaven and earth, who 
the face of heroism perfectest; 
14. the great (gods), determining destinies, 
making great my kingdom. 
15. (I am) Shalmaneser, King of multitudes 
of men, prince (and) hero of Assur, the strong 
King, 
16. King of all the four zones of the Sun (and) 
of multitudes of men, the marcher over 
17. the whole world; Son of Assur-nat-sir- 
pal, the supreme hero, who his heroism over the 
gods 
18. has made good and has caused all the 
world to kiss his feet; 
Space will not permit us to give the whole in- 
scription, which is continued around on all four 
faces, and then on the face at the base. So with 
one more example we will close. The first four 
lines on the third face of base are as follows: 
124. I slew. Their spoil I carried away. The 
cities I threw down, dug up (and) burned with 
fire. An image of my Majesty 
125. in the country of Kharkhara I set up. 
Yan’su son of Kiiaban with his abundant trea- 
sures 
126. his gods, his sons, his daughters, his sol- 
diers in large numbers I carried off. To Assyria 
I brought (them). In my 25tli campaign 
127. the Euphrates at its flood I crossed. The 
tribute of the Kings of the Hittites, all of them, I 
received. The country of Amanus. 
THE MALLET COLLECTION OF MINERALS. 
In our last Bulletin we announced that Dr. 
Mallet had placed this rare collection of miner- 
als in our hands for sale, we also gave a brief 
description of the collection and mentioned some 
of the special things which it contained. As no 
institution has been found to take the collection 
as a whole, we have Anally decided to break it, 
and sell individual specimens from it. This will 
enable collectors an unusual opportunity to add 
some rare things to their collections, without 
purchasing anything beyond what they want. 
3. Jehu. 4 Omri. 
