and, among the rest, a tortoise; the flesh of which being dried and wasted by the sun, nothing was left within the shell but nerves and cartilages, which, braced and contracted by desiccation, were rendered sonorous. Mercury, walking along the banks of the river, chanced to strike his foot against the shell of this tortoise, was pleased with the sound it produced, and upon reflection, conceived the idea of a lyre, which instrument he afterwards constructed in the form of a tortoise, stringing it with the dried sinews of dead animals."

The flute, or monaulos, according to Plutarch, was the invention of Apollo; while Athenæus [in Juba's Theatrical History] attributes its origin to the great Egyptian ruler and legislator, Osiris. Its first shape is said to have been that of a bull's horn; and Apuleius, speaking of its uses in the mysteries of Iris, call it the crooked flute.

The celerated Egyptians or Africans of Egypt, were, at a very early age, a people who took an elevated stand in the civilized world, and were familiar with all the varieties of knowledge which flourished in those days. The influence of civilization extended to the people inhabiting the adjoining countries.

About 285 years B. C., the distinguished Dionysius, of Alexandria, began his astronomical era on Monday, June 26, being the first who found the solar year to consist exactly of 365 days, 5 hours, and 49 minutes.

ASTRONOMY.

The Ptolemaic System was so called from Ptolemeus, an Ethiopian, a celebrated astronomer of Pelusium, in Egypt, who adopted and defended the prevailing system of that age. This Egyptian astronomer lived 130 years B. C. He supposed the earth immovably fixed in the centre of the universe, around which moved the sun and the planets from east to west, once in twenty-four hours, in the following order: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Herschel; and beyond these were placed the fixed stars.

Astronomy was first attended to by the shepherds, on the beautiful plains of Egypt and Babylon. The Ethiopians, shepherds of Egypt and Chaldea, first acquired

the knowledge of the stars, and designated them by proper names. The Thebans, says Diodorus, consider themselves the most ancient people of the East, and assert that philosophy and the science of the stars originated with them.

As

Astronomy is the science which describes the heavenly bodies-the sun, planets, fixed stars and comets. sisted by astronomy we can observe the magnitude and calculate the periods and eclipses of the heavenly bodies. By it we learn the use of globes, the system of the world, and the preliminary law of nature. While we are em

ployed in the study of this science, we must perceive unparalleled instances of wisdom and goodness through the whole creation, and trace the glorious Author by his works.

SUN, the great source of light and heat; brought into existence on the fourth day of creation. The diameter of the sun is about 800,000 miles. His distance from our earth is ninety-five millions of miles; so that light, which flies at the inconceivable swiftness of two hundred thousand miles in a second, requires eight minutes to reach our earth! A cannon ball shot thence, and moving with unabated swiftness, viz., (according to Durham,) a mile in eight and a half seconds, would take about thirty years to reach our earth.

Moon, or lesser light, is a planet revolving round the earth, and reflecting the light of the sun.

The use of the Globes was first found out by the Egyptians. The Globes are two artificial spherical bodies, on the convex surface of which are represented the countries, seas, and various parts of the earth, the face of the heavens, the planetary revolutions and other particulars.

Their principal use, beside serving as maps to distinguish the outward parts of the earth, and the situation of the fixed stars, is to illustrate and explain the phenomena arising from the annual revolution, and the diurnal rotation, of the earth round its own axis. They are the noblest instruments for improving the mind, and giving it the most distinct idea of any problem or proposition, as well as enabling it to solve the same. Contemplating these bodies, we are inspired with a due reverence for

the Deity and his works, and are induced to encourage the studies of astronomy, geography, and navigation, and the arts dependent on them, by which man has been so much benefitted.

Maps, globes, and the signs of the Zodiac, invented by Anaximander, the scholar of Thales.

RHETORIC.

This science was first taught by the celebrated Apollinarii, of Africa. Victorinus, of Africa, had professed Rhetoric many years at Rome, and was held in such high reputation that a public statue was erected to his honor in that city.

Rhetoric teaches us to speak copiously and fluently on any subject, not merely with propriety alone, but with all the advantages of force and elegance, wisely contriving to captivate the hearer by strength of argument and beauty of expression, whether it be to entreat or exhort, to admonish or applaud.

The Egyptians first acquired the knowledge of Logic, Arithmetic and orders of Architecture.

LOGIC teaches us to guide our reason discretionally in the general knowledge of things, and directs our inquiries after truth. It consists of a regular train of argument, whence we infer, deduce, and conclude, according to certain premises laid down, admitted, or granted; and in it are employed the faculties of conceiving, judging; reasoning and disposing; all of which are naturally led on from one gradation to another, till the point in question is finally determined.

ARITHMETIC teaches the powers and properties of numbers, which is variously effected, by letters, tables, figures and instruments. By this art, reasons and demonstrations are given for finding out any certain number, whose relation or affinity to another is already known or discovered.

ARCHITECTURE.

From the first formation of society, order in architecture may be traced. When the rigor of seasons obliged men to contrive shelter from the inclemency of the

weather, we learn that they first planted trees on end, and then laid others across, to support a covering. The bands which connected those trees at top and bottom, are said to have given rise to the idea of the base and capital of pillars, and from this simple hint originally proceeded the more improved art of architecture. By order in architecture is meant a system of proportions, and ornaments of columns and pilasters;—or, it is a regular arrangement of the projecting parts of a building, which, united with those of a column, form a beautiful, perfect, and complete whole.

SHIPS Noah's ark was probably the first vessel of this kind ever formed.

The first ship that was built was called the Egyptian Argus. She was brought into Greece from Egypt by Danaus, who arrived at Rhodis, with his five daughters.

By order of Nechao or Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, some Phoenicians sailed from the Red Sea round Africa, and returned by the Mediterranean.

The tribes of Zebulon and Dan appear to have early engaged in commerce.

Solomon, king of Israel, married Psammis, or Nechao Pharaoh's daughter, and was furnished by Hiram with seamen to navigate vessels to Ophir. The account of these voyages we have in 1 Kings ix. 26-28; and also chapter x. 5-22. Once in three years the king's navy came, bringing from Ophir gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

Ezion Geber, the port from whence they set out, lies on the Red Sea, at the upper part. Down this sea they came, and along the coast of Africa, till they reached the country now called Sofala; but then known under the name of Ophir. They were three years in going and returning, and after king Solomon, Jehoshaphat sent out vessels to trade by sea.

The Trojans were powerful at sea, but the Tyrians and Sidonians for many ages were much more so; and after them, the Carthaginians. The Greeks were also in their turns famous by sea. Their navigation, however, was very imperfect, as, even in the time of Paul, vessels passing from Judea to Italy, frequently wintered on the way. The vessels were small, and generally had

oars, as well as sails. The compass being unknown, they dared not go out of sight of land.

The ancients of Gebal, and the wise men thereof, were in thee thy caulkers; all the ships of the sea, with their mariners, were in thee, to occupy thy merchandise. (Ezek. xxvii. 9.)

But

The Phoenicians, an Ethiopian nation, greatly improved the art of navigation. But the world is indebted to the Ethiopians for blessings greater even than their alphabet, geometry, and navigation. These great principles would have been useless if unapplied, and if wrongly applied, worse than useless. The knowledge of its use gives an instrument its value; and this knowledge accompanied these principles. It was the true, practical wisdom of the Egyptians, by which the Grecian legislators raised their state to such dignity. The wisdom of the Egyptians pointed out the correct application of these principles, which it had first shown important, invaluable; and doubtless suggested many of the improvements which the Grecians afterwards made upon them. for the Egyptians, Greece might have remained a coun→ try of barbarians to this day; the world, in consequence, in want of the rich stores of Grecian lore, and Rome, uncivilized by the arts and sciences of Greece, might have risen and fallen, distinguished only for its glory in blood and military horrors. The Egyptian sciences, and the religious feelings which the Grecians imbibed while studying in Egypt, and which they carefully cherished and diffused in their own country, are the parents of the boasted civilization and of much of the mental and physical enjoyments of those who, while they participate in them, are manifesting their grateful emotions in their barbarous, soul-sickening treatment of the offspring of their benefactors.

PYRAMIDS.—A Pyramid is a solid or hollow body having a large and generally a square base and terminating in a point.

There were three pyramids in Egypt more famous than the rest, one whereof deserved to be ranked among the seven wonders of the world; they did not stand very far from the city of Memphis. I shall take notice here only of the largest of the three. This pyramid, like the rest,