living Archaeologists, previously qualified by lengthened discipline, and furnished by munificent
governments with facilities as unexampled as unbounded. We subjoin a list of the
works (401) since published by Lepsius, that have been carefully consulted in the preparation
of “ Types of Mankind and may mention that, while one of its authors sojourned
at Berlin in May, 1849, both are in frequent epistolary communication, on the themes this
work discusses, with the esteemed Chevalier himself.
Consequently, whether the deductions drawn by the authors of the present volume be
right or wrong, the facts upon which these are grounded are vouched for by the highest
authorities. No attention is bestowed, in “ Types’of Mankind,” to the puerilities of the
ephemeral tourist, to the twaddling inanities of the unlettered missionary, or to the Egyptian
hallucinations of the theological rhapsodist. At the present day (without disparagement to
the less-known literary resources of other cities on our continent), (402) a qualified student,
in this year a . d. 1858, can sit down quietly at Mobile, Alabama; and the books contained
in four private libraries will enlighten him, upon almost! every point oui* work discusses,
with smaller trouble and greater economy of time, labor, and money, than if he resided for
years, without previous knowledge of these works, in the valley of the Nile : or, should such
student prefer Philadelphia, there, at her Library, his bibliothecal aspirations can be satisfied.
How utterly hopeless it is for any man (apart from erudition) unsupported by enormous
pecuniary means, to advance Egyptian sciènces, at the present day, by a steam-boat excursion
up the Nile, may be inferred from three facts. In 1844-5, Ampère, one of the living
luminaries of archaeological knowledge, was sent out by the French Government expressly
to make discoveries. His “ Recherches en Egypte et en Nubie ” in literary excellence are
unsurpassable; yet, withal, his predecessors had left him so little to do, without a protracted
sojourn, that he refers to Lepsius for every novelty discoverable :—
“ Je n’ai pas touché, sans un certain respect, ce livre des Rois, commencé par lui avant
son voyage d’Egypte, et qui contient une qollection de,noms royaux plus complète qu’aucune
autre ne peut l’être, et un ensemble de chronologie Egyptienne depuis l’ancien roi Ménès
jusqu’à Septime Sevère. Cette série va plus loin encore, car M. Lepsius ne s’arrête pas
à ce nom, le dernier qu’eussent trouvé écrit en hiéroglyphes Champollion et ses autres successeurs.
M. Lepsius a été assez heureux pour découvrir, dans un petit temple de Thèbes
où Champollion avait trouvé le nom d’Othon, les noms de Galba, de Pescennius Niger, et, ce
qui est plus important, de l’empereur Dice. Par cette découverte, M. Lepsius prolonge la
série hiéroglyphique d’un demi-siècle au déla de Septime Sevère, où elle s’arrêtait jusqu’
ici. On a. donc une suite de monumens et d’inscriptions qui s’étendent depuis 2500 avant Abraham
jusqu’à 250 ans après Jésus Christ. Il n’y a rien de semblable dans les annales
humaines.” (403)
Two years previously, Prisse d’Avennes had rescued the Ancestral Chamber of Karnac,
the Tablet of Ramses XIV, (404) and other precious relics, from Turkish demolition. A
residence of sixteen years in Egypt, of which about five in the Upper country among the
monuments, had enabled this proficient Orientalist to fill his portfolios with every arciæo-
logical item discovered, chiefly too by himself, between the departure of the French and
Tuscan Scientific Commissions under Champollion and Rosellini, 1830, and the advent of
the Prussians in 1842. So valuable were M. Prisse’s self-sacrificing labors in Egyptology
(401) Vorlaufge Nachricht über die Expedition; Berlin, 1849 ; — Briefe aus Ægypten, Æthiopien, und der Hall-
insél des Sinai; Berlin, 1852; also, its excellent English translation, by Mr. K e n n e t h B. H. M ackensee : “Discoveries
in Egypt,” &c. ; London, 1852; — Einteitung zwr Chronologie der Ægypter; Berlin, 1848 ; vol. i; ; — Ueber
der Ersten Ægytischen Gotterlcreis ; Berlin, 1851;— Ueber den Apislcreis ; Leipzig, 1853;'^- Ueber die ZwSlfte
Ægyptische Kônigsdynastie ; Berlin, 1853; — and, above all, the magnificent DenhmUler aus Ægypten und
Æthiopien ; Berlin, 1849 ; folio. Of this vast work, besides a series of the earlier ethnological plates kindly
selected for him by Chev. L e p s iu s , and in his own posséssion, the writer has enjoyed the free use of two copies
.at Mobile, in the private libraries of Mr. A. St e in and of the Rev. Dr. H amilton — to both of whom he here begs
to reiterate his obligation — and of another in the Philadelphia library. Altogether, he has seen the plates
down to Abth.lll., Bl. 172. ‘ ' j î ';^ ' *
(402) X am speaking of public libraries. The private library of my honored friend, Mr. R. K. H aigh t of New
York has been from the commencement of my studies in i842, the main source whence my individual facilities
have been drawn.
(403) Recherches en Égypte; vil,; Thébes, 21 Jan. 1845; — Revue des Beux Mondes; 1842; p. 1035.
(404) SaUe des Ancêstres de Thoutmès III. ; Rev. Archéol.; 1845; pp. 1-23, tirage à p art; —B i r c h : Egyptian
Inscription in the Bibliothèque Nationale; Trans. R. Soc. Lit., new series, iv. ; 1852.
deemed by Parisian science that, at national^ expense, he was appointed to continue the
great folios of Champollion ; (405) at the same time that his contributions to the Revue
Archéologique are standard documents for posterity.
Last though not least, in Egypt itself resides a gentleman, affluent and influential, versed
in many branches of ancient lore as thoroughly as 30 years of domicile have familiarized him
with modern affairs, who never allows an opportunity of advancing archaeological science
to escape him ; nor will any Egyptian student mistake our allusions to A. C. Harris. (406)
No clap-trap pretensions to acquaintance with hieroglyphical arcana recently made by
theojogers who speak not any continental tongue through which alone these subjects are
accessible—no “ ad captandum ” figments of the possession of Oriental knowledge when men
cannot spell a monosyllable written in the Hebrew alphabet — detract from the Memphite
exhumations conducted at French ministerial expense by a Mariette ; for whose enormous
discoveries in the Serapeum, as yet confined to reports, we wait impatiently. ’T were well
if, in view of the contemptuous silence with which Egyptologists treat their publications,
some writers on these matters were to become readers.
Our part, however, is to indicate to the reader those sources upon which Egyptian chronology
is dependent at the present day, in regard to the date of the first Pharaoh, Menes :
a personage considered, in the subjoined works, to be historical; and neither connected
with the mythical Mestrceans invented by the Syncellus (407) in the seventh century after
c. ; nor, except nationally, with the MTsRIM (not Mizraim) of the Hebrew Text, whom, in
our examination of Xth Genesis, we have proved to be nothing more or less than the
“ Egyptians,” inhabitants of MiZR, Muss’r ; the Semitic name of “ Mertèr,” Egypt [supra,
p. 494]: —
Authorities. ' Dates of Menes.
1839, Paris.............. L e n o rm a n t : Cercueil de Mycerinus— b . o.
XYtb Dyn. (p. 24) “ Mycerinus, la date de 4136 avant J . C.”
Add I l l d ¡I Africanus ......... “ 214 “
« n d “ . “ ’ ........... « 302 “
« 1s t « “ “ 263 «
- — 4915
1845, Berlin............ B o c k h : Manetho und die JHundsstemperiode............................... .......... ......... 5702
1845, Tu rin ............ B a ro c ch i : Discorsi Crìtici sopra la Cronologia Egizia........................... ......... 4890
1845, Hamburg...... B u n sen : AEgyptens Stelle in der WéUgeschichte....................................... ......... 3643
1846, Paris.............. .......... 5303
1848, Paris.............. L e s u e u r : Chronologie des Rois di Égypte.......................... ...................
1849, Berlin............ , L e p s iu s : Chronologie der AEgypter.................................................................. 3893
1851, Dubjin..... ...<. H in c k s : Turin Papyrus.............................. .......................................... . .......... 3895
1851, Iiondon...;.....i K e n r io k : Egypt under the Pharaohs...................................................... .......... 3892
1854, Philadelphia.., P ic k e r in g : Geographical Distribution o f Animals and Plants...... ...... .......... 4400
The views of the authors of Types of Mankind, while with Humboldt, (408) for reasons to
be given anon, they follow Lepsius, incline to the longer rather than to the shorter period.
Ampère’s opinion has been previously cited. The following is that of the first hierologist
of France, Count Em. de Rougé, Conservator at the Louvre Museum: —
“ Les efforts de M. de Bunsen seraient la meilleure preuve du contraire ; après avoir,
sans égard pour l’histoire et les monumens, supposé des règnes constamment collatéraux, trois
dynasties à la fois et huit ou dix rois simultanés pendant la moitié des 12 premières dynasties,
il n’en fixe pas moins le règne de Ménès à l’an 3643 av. J. C. L’obstiné fils de Cha-
naan, mutilé avec acharnement pendant 3 volumes, se relève enfin de ce lit de Procuste où
l’avait étendu son critique impitoyable, et l’on s’apperçoit alors qu’il dépasse encore de plu-
(405) Continuation des Monumens ; 100 plates; 1848; — Papyrus Égyptien ; 1849.
(406) Mr. H a r r is ’s contributions, in the Trans, o f the R . Soc.pf Literature, the Revue Archéologique, and in
the pages of several Egyptologists, axe too numerous for specification here : b u t we may refer to his papyrus,
“ Fragments of an Oration against Demosthenes,” London, 1848; also to th e papyric fragments of “ Books
of Homer” fAthencmm, 8 Sept. 1849), and of the “ Grammarian Tryphon” (Athenaeum, 7 Dec. 1850): while of
the very important work — “ Hjeroglyphical Standards representing Places in Egypt supposed to be Nomes and
Toparchieg, collected by A. Ç. H a r r is ,” M. R. S. L., 1852 — his kindness allows us to acknowledge receipt.
(407) L e t r o n n e : in B io t’s Année Vague des Égyptiens; p. 25 : — supra, p. 494.
(408) Cosmos ; ii. pp. 114,115,124 : — supra, p. 245.