ME,  HOENEE  ON  THE  ALLUVIAL  LAND  OF  EGYPT. 
79 
communicate  with  his  patron  the  Viceroy  through  the  medium  of  an  interpreter,  it 
proved,  at  first,  a great  obstacle  to  his  advancement.  For  three  years  Mehemet  Ali 
employed  him  to  superintend  his  cotton  mills,  but  in  1833  he  was  appointed  to  a more 
congenial  occupation,  being  entrusted  with  the  organization  of  the  Polytechnic  School 
in  Cairo,  receiving  rank  as  an  Adjutant  on  the  Staff,  and  in  1835  the  advanced  step  of 
Major  of  Engineers.  He  established  VEcole  des  Arts  et  Metiers,  which  he  continued  to 
direct  to  the  end  of  1840,  by  which  time  he  had  obtained  the  rank  of  Lieut. -Colonel. 
During  the  seven  years  that  he  was  attached  to  that  school,  he  was  more  or  less  engaged 
in  almost  all  the  commissions  appointed  by  his  Government  to  examine  the  plans  pro- 
posed for  the  construction  of  roads  and  bridges,  fortifications  and  the  working  of  mines ; 
and  he  was  further  engaged  to  translate  into  Turkish,  for  the  use  of  the  Viceroy,  the 
more  important  articles  in  the  journals  of  England,  France  and  India.  He  was  now 
advanced  to  the  rank  of  Bey  in  the  Engineers,  and  after  being  engaged  in  several 
employments  in  the  public  service,  early  in  1850  he  retired  into  private  life. 
Note  B,  page  61. 
The  existence  of  Microscopic  Organisms  in  the  Nile  sediment. 
I sent  some  specimens  of  recent  sediment  and  of  some  brought  up  from  a considerable 
depth,  in  all  sixteen,  to  my  friend  the  late  Dr.  Mantell,  requesting  him  to  examine  them 
imder  his  powerful  microscope.  He  did  so,  and  his  report  was, — “ Not  a vestige  of 
organisms  of  any  kind  have  been  detected.  I never  before  found  any  fluviatile  detritus 
free  from  animal  or  vegetable  remains  of  some  kind  or  other.”  Accidentally  mentioning 
this  to  my  friend  Professor  C.  Kittee,  then  in  England,  he  expressed  much  surprise,  as 
Professor  Eheenbeeg  had  published  some  years  ago  an  account  of  many  forms  he  had 
found  in  Nile  sediment,  and  he  requested  me  to  send  some  of  the  same  which  had  been 
examined  by  Dr,  Mantell  to  Professor  Eheenbeeg.  I did  so,  and  the  Professor  kindly 
undertook  a careful  examination  of  them.  The  results  he  read  at  a meeting  of  the 
Berlin  Academy,  and  they  are  published  in  their  ‘ Monatsbericht  ’ for  11  November  1852. 
He  then  describes  his  having  found  in  the  sixteen  specimens,  67  organisms;  viz.  10  Po- 
lygastrica,  47  Phytolitharia,  4 Polythalamia  and  6 indeterminate  forms.  The  details  of 
forty-four  examinations  are  given. 
Two  years  afterwards,  being  in  Berlin,  I requested  Professor  Eheenbeeg  to  show  me 
some  of  the  numerous  organisms  he  had  found ; they  are  preserved  in  his  collection,  and 
are  for  the  most  part  figured  in  his  great  work,  ‘ Geologie  des  kldnen  Lebens!  Many  of 
the  plates  I had  then  before  me,  and  I selected,  at  a venture,  those  which  I wished  him 
to  show  me.  He  brought  them  out,  and  I saw,  with  a power  of  300,  with  perfect 
distinctness,  the  following,  which  are  figured  in  the  above  work : — 
POLYGASTEICA. 
Surirella  Rhopala,  Tafel  xxxiii.  i.  19.  Taf.  xxxv.  A.  x.  3. 
Gallionella  procera,  Tafel  xxxiii.  i.  12.  Taf.  xv.  A.  1. 
