Page:An Essay on the Age and Antiquity of the Book of Nabathaean Agriculture.djvu/68

52 most important part in “The Book of Nabathæan Agriculture” is Adami. Adami was considered as the founder of agriculture in Chaldæa; to him are attributed certain books of which Kúthámí doubts the authenticity, and which he found altered or interpolated. Kúthámí, a zealous monotheist, quotes him among his authorities. We know that many apocryphal writings were attributed to Adam, that the Mendaïtes ascribed their chief book to him, and that the ancient Sabians had books under his name. Our Adami is thus most undoubtedly the Adamas or apocryphal Adam of the Babylonian sects. Can there remain any doubt about this identity, when it is seen that Adam bears, in “The Agriculture,” the title of Father of Mankind, a title which all the Moslem East gives to Adam.