inscribed with pictures that may fairly be spoken of as works of
art; but so long as no written word accompanies these records, so
long as no name of king or scribe comes down to us, we feel that
these records belong to the domain of archaeology rather than to
that of history. Yet it must be understood all along that these
two domains shade one into the other and, it has already been
urged, that the distinction between them is one that pertains
rather to modern scholarship than to the development of
civilization itself. Bearing this distinction still in mind, and
recalling that the historical period, which is to be the field of
our observation throughout the rest of our studies, extends for
Egypt well back into the fifth millennium B.C., let us briefly
review the practical phases of that civilization to which the
Egyptian had attained before the beginning of the dynastic
period. Since theoretical science is everywhere linked with the
mechanical arts, this survey will give us a clear comprehension
of the field that lies open for the progress of science in the
long stages of historical time upon which we are just entering.

We may pass over such rudimentary advances in the direction of
civilization as are implied in the use of articulate language,
the application of fire to the uses of man, and the systematic
making of dwellings of one sort or another, since all of these
are stages of progress that were reached very early in the
prehistoric period. What more directly concerns us is to note
that a really high stage of mechanical development had been
reached before the dawnings of Egyptian history proper. All
manner of household utensils were employed; the potter's wheel
aided in the construction of a great variety of earthen vessels;
weaving had become a fine art, and weapons of bronze, including