ries the
cubit of justice, or measure of the Nile, and a cup for the
libations; he bears also in the procession ten volumes on
the subject of sacrifices, hymns, prayers, offerings,
ceremonies, festivals. Lastly arrives the prophet, bearing
in his bosom a pitcher, so as to be exposed to view; he is
followed by persons carrying bread (as at the marriage of
Cana.) This prophet, as president of the mysteries, learns
ten other sacred volumes, which treat of the laws, the gods,
and the discipline of the priests. Now there are in all
forty-two volumes, thirty-six of which are studied and got
by heart by these personages, and the remaining six are set
apart to be consulted by the pastophores; they treat of
medicine, the construction of the human body (anatomy),
diseases, remedies, instruments, etc., etc."

We leave the reader to deduce all the consequences of an
Encyclopedia. It is ascribed to Mercury; but Jamblicus
tells us that each book, composed by priests, was dedicated
to that god, who, on account of his title of genius or decan
opening the zodiac, presided over every enterprise. He is
the Janus of the Romans, and the Guianesa of the Indians,
and it is remarkable that Yanus and Guianes are homonymous.
In short it appears that these books are the source of all
that has been transmitted to us by the Greeks and Latins in
every science, even in alchymy, necromancy, etc. What is
most to be regretted in their loss is that part which
related to the principles of medicine and diet, in which the
Egyptians appear to have made a considerable progress, and
to have delivered many useful observations.

"There happened early on the borders of the Nile, what has since been
repeated in every country; as soon as a new system was formed
its novelty excited quarrels and schisms; then, gaining credit by
persecution itself, sometimes it effaced antecedent ideas, sometimes it
modified and incorporated them; then, by the intervention of political
revolutions, the aggregation of states and the mixture of nations
confused all opinions; and the filiation of ideas being lost, theology
fell into a chaos, and became a mere logogriph of old traditions no
longer understood. Religion, having strayed from its object was now
nothing more than a political engine to conduct the credulous vulgar;
and it was used f