their training, have been, and it would be absurd to suppose that some,
at least, of the simpler chemical decompositions and combinations were
not known to them.

The manufacture of glass would seem to have been very ancient amongst
the Egyptians, and the insufficiency of the old fable, of its discovery
by the fusing of blocks of stone in the fire is quite clear; besides,
Egyptian glass has been found which contains potash, and nothing is more
probable than that the nitrate of potash, found so plentifully in the
soil of India, was imported for this manufacture.

Precious stones or amulets with Sanscrit inscriptions have repeatedly
been found in tombs, which must date back to at least B.C. 1400.

In tracing back the history of Chemistry, we constantly find reference
to Hermes, Trismegistus, who would seem to be the god Thoth, or Taaut of
the Egyptians. The famous inscription of the Emerald table ascribes to
him the possession of three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
I have been much struck with the resemblance of this god Taaut with the
Menu of the Hindoos, who also was credited with saving from destruction
by the flood the three Vedas, which were supposed to contain all that
was required for man’s direction here below.

There would appear to have been also other Hermes, but if we look at the
condition of things which obtained in Egypt when the Pyramids of Memphis
are supposed to have been erected, within 300 years of the supposed date
of the deluge, and that the Beni Hassan tombs, about 300 years later,
depict the manners and customs of what we cannot help admitting, was a
highly civilized nation, we must be struck with the fact that the
distance of time between the deluge and the building of these pyramids