Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/114

98 times, and the student knows no better than before what are the features whereby one species may be truly known from its neighbour. An earnest student is no foe to work, and this kind of work will give him self-reliance. Whilst trusting to a friend or the Editor of to name his specimens "by the batch," he not only will fail in acquiring knowledge, but also reliance on his own work, whenever he attempts to name for himself.

"Take nothing for granted" is a good maxim for beginners. Take nothing for granted which you can verify for yourself. It may be so, or it may not. Investigate, examine, dissect, analyse, and do not rest until you have proved the point. It may consume time in the present, but will save time in the future. Study nature rather than books, and things rather than words. Observe trifles, for nothing is so trifling as to be without importance. Cultivate a habit of making notes of your observations. Keep up a good resolution, have faith in the future, and work earnestly in the present, and already you will have learnt "How to begin!"

GYPT is full of monuments of its grandeur and its weakness, and the astonished traveller who can spend days and weeks exploring its "chambers of imagery" still left amidst the stupendous ruins, is overwhelmed with the eloquence of the sermons

in those mighty stones. The solitary column in the grand temple of Carnac, erect amidst a heap of ruins, is a touching emblem of the land "overshadowing with wings beyond the river of Ethiopia." In the beginning, probably a deeper and a holier meaning was attached to the mysteries of the worship of the Egyptians than in later times: the virtues and passions of the soul, and the actions and attributes of the Deity, were expressed by the figures of animals, plants, and other symbolical characters; but, ultimately, the meaning of these mysteries became obscure, and was lost. As an example of these symbols we may refer to that of the hawk, which, having the most piercing of eyes and the most rapid flight, served to express the divine intelligence and activity; and, placed on the highest branches of a pictured tree, signified that God was infinitely exalted above all matter. The winged globe, found by the modern traveller over nearly every temple door, encompassed with a serpent, signified the invisible unity of the Deity, without beginning or end; the serpent, the supreme wisdom; and the wings, that active spirit which animates and gives light to all; and these three qualities or attributes, united, still further indicated the Trinity, whom they worshipped as Osiris, Isis, and Orus. Amongst the symbols of the Deity which subsequently received divine honours, was the Scarabæus, or dung beetle, and a brief examination of a fine specimen recently brought over may not be uninteresting. It connects the present with the past history of these interesting people, and its portrait is precisely that which 3,000 years ago ornamented the walls of Egypt's palaces. It encloses its eggs

in a ball of excrement formed by a protracted rolling of the substance by means of its long hind legs; and although the insect measures 1 to 2 inches in length, the dung pellet in most instances exceeds the size of the beetle. The head is flattened and truncated, and gave to the earlier Egyptians an idea of rays, as of the sun, whilst inability to distinguish between the sexes led to a conclusion that all were males; and this symbolised the exclusively masculine character of the Deity, whilst almost every part and action of the animal served to describe some property in nature or some attribute of the Creator. From a very old work upon natural history, written upwards of a hundred and fifty years ago, before the Entomological Society was born, or the modern microscope thought of, we make the following curious and fanciful extract respecting the object under consideration:—"The principal of all those animals, or that for which the Egyptians had most veneration, was the beetle, as well because of its wonderful birth or production, as from the analogy or resemblance this animal has with the sun, and the strange instinct in this creature to continue its own species; for when the male would produce, he seeks out the dung of an ox or bull, and having found it, he forms a round ball of the figure of the world, which, with