ed. The
great beer jars, closed with enormous stoppers of unbaked clay, were
made of ordinary baked clay. Of course the different stone and clay
vessels, which, undoubtedly, originally contained offerings for the
dead, form the bulk of the contents of the grave. The slate tablets
for rubbing cosmetics for painting the body, and the flint weapons and
knives of all sorts, follow in point of numbers. Remarkably enough,
metal objects occur in this oldest historical period alongside the
stone implements, though, of course, in less numbers. Several objects
made of copper and a slender bead of gold have been found. Such, in
short, is all that remains of the things put in the tomb with the
king. But little as there is, it gives us an idea of the richness and
splendor with which these old royal tombs were furnished.

It might certainly be productive of unusual emotions to know that the
few human bones found in the tomb, and now preserved in the Gizeh
Museum, once belonged to the oldest Egyptian king. But as we know
almost nothing of him, except some unfounded traditions, this sort of
relic worship deserves very little respect. The scientific value of
the proof that Menes was the king buried in the royal tomb of Neggadeh
lies rather in the fact that we have now settled the question of the
age of that culture which was presented to us by the excavations of
Ballas, Neggadeh and Abydos. The products of a whole period of
Egyptian civilization which had been misunderstood, and had been
used to support false historical conclusions, fall into their true
place; and our knowledge of the history of Egyptian culture is
carried back not merely a few centuries, but to a period presenting
characteristics different from the oldest previously known period, but
containing the germs of the later development.

Cairo, Egypt.

* * * * *

ROSE PSYCHE.

The hybrid Polyantha Rose Psyche is a seedling from the dwarf
Polyantha Rose Golden Fairy, crossed with the pollen of the Crimson
Rambler. Its growth and habit, though more delicate, much resembles
the Rambler. It is apparently quite hardy, and is very free flowering,
but we fear not perpetual. The flowers are produced in clusters of
from fifteen to twenty-five, and are 2 to 21/2 inches across when
fully expanded. In the bud stage they are very pretty and well formed.
The color is white, suffused with salmon-rose and pink, with a yellow
base to the petals. I