I. 
ROSETTA. 9 
stitions with regard to the scarahcrus are not chap. 
wholly extinct; for the women of the country 
still eat this kind of beetle, in order to become 
proUtic ". 
inscriptions according to the style of tlie translated legend upon the stone 
found near to Rosetln. M'ith such evidence, we have, perhaps, something 
beyond mere conjecture for its illustration. We there find the promulga- 
tion and commemoration of a decree, inscribed in hieroglyphic characters, 
opening with a date : " On the 4t/i day of the month Xandicus, and the \8th 
»jlhe Egyptian ^lechgir." Tliere seems to be as little reason for doubting 
that the characters upon Egyptian obelisks were used to register transactions, 
according to annals preserved by the priests of the countiy, as that the 
Pillar of Forres in Scotland, similarly inscribed, and other more antient 
Gaelic monuments, were erected to record public events. Yet the learned 
Kirchcr, upon the authority o( Plutarch, explains this symbol in bis usual 
fanciful manner ; and to his opinion, the natural history of the insect 
does indeed offer some support. He considers it as a type of the 
Anima Mundi, or Giver of Light. Every sign used in the writings of the 
priests had its mystical as well as literal signification ; and therefore this 
may be true concerning its sacred and original import. The figure of 
Aries, used to denote the month of March, had also, among the Antients, 
a mythological signification. Tlie image of the scaruhaus was worn as an 
amulet both by Egyptians and by Greeks; and so was the head of the 
Ram. " Scanilxeifigura circulo insignita .... nihil aliud indicat, quum 
Soiem supra-mundanum." Kircher. CpAlip. j^Lgypt. torn. II [. p. 320. 
Rom. 1654. ^^ Anima Mundi, sive Spiritus Universi, ex Scardbao 
constat." Ibid. p. 147. 
(2) This curious remnant of an antient superstition is also not without its 
elucidation in Kircher : " Accedil quod idem Scarabaus signijicatione ad 
mores translata idem, teste Horo, lib.i. cap. 10. quod patrem et mascidam, 
virtiitem notet." CEdip. jEgyjit. torn. III. cap. 4. ^j. 179. Tlie subject 
admits of further illustration, by reference to Plutarch. According to him, 
soldiers wore the image of the beetle upon their signets; and this, perhaps, 
may account not only for the number of them found, but also for the 
coarseness of the workmanship. " Of a like natiu-e," says he, " is the 
beetle, which we see engraven upon tlie signets of the soldiers ; for 'here 
are 
