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believe that fact can be correctly deduced, from the cylindrical form sometimes used in Egypt. The cylinder perforated is only a form of the bead, and beads were one of the earliest forms of decoration and ornament, used by primitive man. The earliest shape of genuine seals known and used in Egypt, is that in the scarab form and that form is peculiarly Egyptian; cylinders however were sometimes used by that people in early times. The Egyptians at a time, to us beyond all positive history, took advantage of and used the intaglio seal, so as to secure, by its impression, the authenticity of personal acts whether done by the sovereign, his chancellor, or his treasurer, or by private individuals; and they sometimes made use of signets of a cylindrical form, which they applied upon clay or wax, but such were not frequently used in Egypt. The cartouch of the earliest known king, Mena, (4400 B.C.,) is in the form of the outline of the under side of the scarab. It was because of its shape, the oval, ellipse, or ring form of the line around the cartouch, it not having an end; that the pharaohs, always having in mind immortality, have placed their names within that form. The incised oval capable of producing millions of impressions, would also be thought of as an emblem of reproduction, renewment and eternity. Indeed in all the different epochs of its greatness, we will find used in Egypt, a few cylinders of hard stone upon which are well engraved cartouches. There is one in serpentine in the National Library of Paris bearing the name of Khufu or Kheops, of the IVth Dynasty, (3733 B.C.,) builder of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh. They have been found of soapstone made in the period of the IVth Dynasty, and of schist enameled green, of the periods of Amen-em-hat Ist, Amen-em-hat IInd and of Sovkhotpu IIIrd, pharaohs of the XIIth and XIIIth Dynasties. These were royal cylinders. After the XVIIIth Dynasty such are very rare in that form. "The cylinders," says a very learned writer upon Oriental Glyptic Art; "whatever may be their material, have never shown the mark of a foreign influence upon the soil of Egypt. Nevertheless the relations of Egypt and Chaldea date from the very highest antiquity."[42] Scarabs became unfashionable in Egypt in the XIIth Dynasty and cylinders were largely used. They were used by the Usertsens and the Amen-em-has, but after the XIIth Dynasty cylinders are rare in Egypt. The shape of the cartouch does
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