The Progress and Prospects of Oriental Discovery [pp. 476-493]

1875.1 ORIENTAL DISCOVERY. 479
in his book a treatise on Egyptian grammar, etc., by Dr. Birch,
which indicated an advance upon previous studies. Errors in
this were pointed out by M. de Roug~, who, in successive years,
extended his criticisms over a broader field. In 1849, he
gave his views of portions of the religious symbolism of the
Egyptians. In 1851, he, for the first time, gave a full interpretation of an Egyptian inscription, discussing it word by
word and sign by sign, assigning to each its value, and setting
forth the evidence upon which he based his conclusions.
His example was thenceforth imitated, and almost at the
same time, Dn Birch published the first results of his study of
the annals of Thothmes III. Germany rivaled England in her
devotion to this branch of Egyptian science and Brugsch gave
new evidence of the enthusiasm which was yet to overcome
greater obstacles, in his essay in connection with the translation
of an Egyptian funeral chant.
The work of translating the papyrus manuscripts was now
fairly initiated. In 1852, M. De Roug~ published a translation
of the greater portion of a papyrus, which, after having been
offered to the different museums of Europe, was presented
to the Louvre, and in 1856 was prepared to give the world a
nearly complete version of a poem on the victories of Rameses
II. The Egyptian vocabulary was enlarged, and light was
thrown on the syntax of the language. Dr. Birch translated
quite a number of inscriptions of a historical character, and
critically discussed the texts. In 1853, Brugsch elucidated certain prescriptions of Egyptian medicine, contained in a manuscript of the Berlin museum. M. W. Goodwin, uniting his efforts with those of M. Chabas, gave a marked impulse to the
study of Egyptology, and in 1866 appeared, as the fruit of
their labors, the translation of a papyrus on a "~Ourney to
Syria."
A zealous explorer now appeared in the person of M.
Manette. His discoveries in the Tomb of Apis were a grateful surprise to Egyptologists. In his interpretation of the
Stclcs of the Serapium, he manifested his extensive acquaintance
with the hieroglyphic system. His discovery of the annals of
Thothmes III. was followed the next year by their translation
by Dr. Birch. Meanwhile, M. de Roug~ had been devoting
his attention to a problem hitherto insoluble, the translation of