without an accurate knowledge of the meridian line. All antiquity also attests, that the Egyptians first divided the year into twelve months, of thirty days, to which were afterwards added five supplementary days in every year, and a sixth every fourth

year.

52. Geometry is universally acknowledged to have originated in Egypt. This is expressly asserted by Herodotus, the most ancient of profane historians, who gives the following account of the circumstances leading to the invention of this important science :-"I was informed," says Herodotus, "that Sesostris had divided Egypt among all his subjects, assigning to each an equal portion of land, on condition of paying an annual tax. If, in consequence of the overflowing of the Nile, the allotment of any one was diminished or rendered doubtful, the king caused it to be measured, and required a tribute in proportion to that which remained. "Hence," adds the historian, " arose geometry, and thus was it transmitted to the Greeks." But a modern writer on the history of this science has justly observed, that, though the statement of Herodotus proves some knowledge of geometry to have been possessed in the reign of Sesostris, the contemporary of Solomon, it does not prove that it originated at that time. The probability is, that it may be traced much higher; that the invention must have been prompted by the same necessity, which led to the use of the rule and square and compasses in architecture; and was practically, if not theoretically, understood in the very infancy of

society. There is no proof that the mathematical knowledge of the Egyptians exceeded that which was requisite to practise the art of mensuration, to construct drafts and schemes, the proportions and dimensions of which were accurately laid down; and perhaps, from these, by an easy transition, to proceed to the solution of a few simple geometrical problems.

53. The sciences of medicine and chemistry, in their most elementary states, have also been traced to the ancient Egyptians. The former of these, and its inseparable companion, anatomy, was certainly cultivated with some degree of success, at a very early period of the history of that nation. For the practice, observed by them from remote antiquity, of embalming the dead, proves their partial acquaintance with the properties of natural substances, the power of certain drugs in preserving from decay, and some degree of scientific skill in compounding them; and the manner in which this ancient rite was performed indicates some acquaintance with the construction and anatomy of the human frame. The invention of the healing art was ascribed by the Egyptians themselves to certain benevolent deities, to whom they gave the names of Isis and Serapis, or Esculapius; and to whose honour they erected temples and altars: but it is probable that the true history of the case is, that these were individuals. who rendered themselves eminent, while they lived, in the successful application of those drugs, with which Egypt abounds, to the cure of diseases, and

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who, after their death, were elevated by their stitious countrymen to the rank of demi-gods.

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54. But the science (if science it may be called,) for which the ancient Egyptians were most famous, and which was most highly esteemed by them, was that of magic, or the power of producing supernatural appearances, interpreting dreams, and foretelling future events by certain mystical processes known only to the initiated. It cannot be doubted, that there was much of juggle and artifice in this pretended science--that the proficients in this art practised successfully on the ignorance and credulity of the vulgar; yet, from what is stated in the book of Exodus, of the successful imitation of some of the miracles of Moses by the magicians of Pharaoh, it is evident that they must have possessed a greater knowledge of some of the latent properties of natural substances than was known to their descendants, and that this their physical science was employed for purposes of deception. This art was founded on two principles of popular belief which then prevailed; the first, a persuasion that the heavenly bodies exerted a constant and mighty influence on mundane affairs; and the second, that spirits or dæmons of a nature superior to men were employed in the government of the world, and had their several provinces appointed them by the Supreme Divinity. In addition to the preceding facts, tending to prove the early civilization of the Egyptians, and their acquaintance with some of the practical sciences, it may be stated that commerce, if not invented by them, was much improved

and successfully cultivated in very remote ages; and that the art of navigation was carried farther by that ingenious people, than by any other of the oriental nations. Vid. Anc. Univ. Hist. (Egypt.) Enfield's Hist. of Philos. Vol. I. p. 63.

SECTION VII.

PHOENICIA.

55. PHOENICIA was the connecting link between the eastern and southern provinces of Asia, and those parts of Europe and Africa which border on the Mediterranean. Its inhabitants are chiefly known to posterity as a commercial people. Their merchandize was extensive, and is said, in remote antiquity, to have reached even to the British isles. Together with the articles of commerce, to which they owed their wealth and political importance, they conveyed to other lands the knowledge, both scientific and practical, which they possessed. This knowledge was probably confined within narrow limits; but it was such as to render them eminently the benefactors of mankind. By the same process of inferential reasoning, which has been applied to Arabia, it may be concluded that the Phoenicians were not destitute of science. They must have possessed some geographical knowledge, accustomed as they were to make voyages to distant lands. They must have attained to no inconsiderable degree of practical skill in navigation, and as a prerequisite

to this, must have derived, either from the Egyptians or the Chaldæans, some knowledge of astronomy. Nor is it the least honour that attaches to this enterprising people, that while other eastern nations degraded the science of astronomy, by rendering it subservient to astrology, they applied it to the purposes of navigation. Fixing on one of the stars of Ursa Minor, situated near to that immoveable point in the heavens, called the North Pole, they were enabled to navigate the sea with greater certainty, and to undertake more adventurous voyages, than any other nation of antiquity. To these facts it may be added, that their merchandize could not have become so celebrated without some degree of physical science, by which they discovered the properties of natural substances, and some mechanical knowledge, by which those substances might be manufactured or otherwise prepared for exporta

tion.

56. The principal reason, however, for including Phoenicia in this sketch of ancient literature is, that there appear to have flourished to have flourished among that people two or three individuals who contributed, by their writings or their inventions, to the advancement and wider diffusion of knowledge. The most ancient of these was Sanchoniatho, whose history is involved in much obscurity, and whose writings are only known through the medium of other works of antiquity. If the testimony of Porphyry and Philo Biblius can be credited, Sanchoniatho flourished long before the Trojan War, and was a contemporary of Semiramis. But as these enemies of christianity evidently wished to throw discredit on the Jewish