A

strong enough to become predominant among the peaceful cultivators of the soil, and to establish a regular form of government; or he may have been a man of superior energy and ability, who by force of character raised himself to the regal position. Tradition states that he derived his wisdom directly from Thoth, the great divine instructor, that he established laws and rites of worship, and introduced a more refined civilization than that possessed by the inhabitants of the Delta plains. He founded Men-nefer ("the good port") or Memphis, the oldest of Egyptian cities, and constructed the dyke of Cocheiche, still to be seen near Cairo. This dyke, rising three feet above the level reached by the Nile in its average annual rise, diverted the course of the branch of the river, leaving a site protected from inundation, on which the king built the fortified town, and a great temple dedicated to Ptah. In later times, the Coptic inhabitants of Egypt gave the name of Memfi to the old town; and now there are ruins surrounded by squalid villages, known as Tel-monf, in which we may have a corruption of the ancient name. considerable amount of materials from the remains of the old Memphis were used in building the town of Cairo, in the eleventh or twelfth century. Menes was a warrior as well as a lawgiver, and undertook military expeditions against the tribes occupying the borders of the great Libyan desert. Like other warlike monarchs, he was a mighty hunter, and at last was killed either by a crocodile or a hippopotamus. So much, at least, is indicated by the traditions preserved by the priests; but some modern investigators entertain doubts of his existence, Dr. Birch going so far as to say, "He must be ranked amongst those founders of monarchies whose personal existence a severe and enlightened criticism doubts or denies." It is impossible, however, to test the veracity, in this respect, of the priestly historians. Mere negations, unsupported by evidence, go for little; and perhaps our best course is to "tell the story as it is told to us," without attempting minute criticisms. There are no monuments or inscriptions of a date anterior to the close of the third dynasty of Manetho's record; and without their aid it is impossible to supersede tradition by more authentic history. That his actual existence was believed in by Egyptians of a later date is evident; for in the great temple at Thebes is a representation, certainly 1,500 years later than the conjectural date of the reign of Menes, in which his statue appears (named in hieroglyphics) borne in procession as the first of the ancestors of the great king Rameses.

Athothis or Atahutis, the son of Menes, is recorded to have built the royal palace at Memphis, and to have been the author of a work on human anatomy, a subject which appears to have been studied with some interest by the learned men of the time; and some treatises on the healing art, now preserved in European collections, profess to have been the work of some of the early kings. Athothis was succeeded by another king of the same name; and after him came a monarch whose Egyptian

name is not preserved, but who appears in the Greek lists as Ouenephes. In his reign was built the first of the pyramids, the oldest of all the Egyptian monuments, and which still exists at Sakkarah, near the site of the Egyptian Ko, or Kochome ("town of the black bull"). This is the earliest instance of which we have any record of the pyramidal sepulchres of royalty, which afterwards attained such colossal proportions as to rank among the wonders of the world. This pyramid of Ko had a base of about 395 feet square, and was 196 feet high. In the interior was the royal sarcophagus, which has been discovered in modern times.

It is unnecessary to enumerate all the eight kings named in the first dynasty. Except traditions of a famine and a plague, we are without information as to the events of their reigns. They are described as Thinite monarchs, or belonging to the kingdom of This, mentioned previously; and this would seem to favour the idea that this portion of the country was conquered by warriors of the Thinite race, of whom probably Menes was the leader. The second dynasty is also described as Thinite; probably there was some break in the direct line of succession after the death of the eighth king, and the new sovereign was therefore considered as the founder of a new dynasty.

The second dynasty.

There are notices of some remarkable events said to have occurred during the reigns of this second race of kings, among them an earthquake, which destroyed many lives in the town of Bubastis, on one of the eastern of the Nile channels. The second king, Kakau, instituted the worship of animals, especially of the bull Apis, at Memphis. To his successor, Binothris, or Baienneter, was due a very marked innovation-a law that the crown might be transmitted in the female line. The fifth king of the line, Sethenes or Sent, received public adoration and worship; and his successors frequently added Ra, a name of the sun-god, to their own names. There were nine or ten kings of this dynasty, the last but one being Sesochris, or NeferkaSekar, said to have been of gigantic stature, about ten feet high and broad in proportion.

social condition.

This dynasty, the third, was succeeded by another, of nine kings, known as the Memphite, but we are left to conjecture the events which may have resulted Political and in the transfer of the kingly power; and it may be convenient to pause here, and by the aid of the traditions preserved to later times, and the monuments, erected at a later date but preserving some of the earlier annals, endeavour to collect a few particulars respecting the political and social condition of the country.

The people, numbering probably six or seven millions, were divided into five classes or castes, not with indelible limits, like those of the Hindus, but sufficiently distinct to prevent much mingling.

The first class comprised the priests, of whom were several grades, varying in influence according to the rank of the gods in whose temples they served. All the chief offices of state were occupied by members of the priestly

caste. They were the depositaries of religious traditions, and expounders of the law, judges. physicians and architects. They had the custody of the sacred records, and practised a mode of writing peculiar to themselves. Candidates for the priesthood were required to pass through mysterious forms of initiation, popularly believed to be of a very terrible character; and this ceremony of initiation the king himself was compelled to undergo, if he did not previously belong to the priestly caste. The king was solemnly bound to govern according to the laws as expounded by the priests, who were exempt from all imposts such as were levied on others, and received a maintenance from the state.

The second class were the warriors-for a standing army appears to have existed in the earliest times of the monarchy. It was divided into battalions or regiments, each having a peculiar emblem, and every soldier had a portion of public land allotted to him for his support.

The third class was composed of cultivators of the soil, who may be supposed to have formed the greater portion of the population-which, in modern language, we might describe as the great middle-class.

BOTANY.

XXVIII.

THE CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. ALLUSION has many times been made to botanical "families." We now proceed to describe exactly what these are, and upon what principles botanists have proceeded in constructing them. It is proper, however, to sketch, in the first place, the early history of classification, thus enabling ourselves to follow, step by step, the admirable discoveries of which the idea of the families may be considered the outcome and result. In the earliest ages, say in the time of the Greeks and Romans, when plants were regarded merely with a view to their utilization, and the number which had been discriminated scarcely exceeded a thousand, the efforts at classification were of the very simplest kind, and scarcely deserved the name. Trees, shrubs, aromatic herbs, poisonous plants, and a few other such groups were established; but upon points of likeness wholly superficial, and seldom of the slightest scientific value. Botany, in truth, had not commenced, and the system of arrangement was conjectural and quite arbitrary. Such was the state in which it existed, indeed, at the time of the restoration of learning, in the fifteenth century, to which period all exact knowledge of plants must be referred for its beginning. Most curious and interesting is the illustration, in the botanical patriarchs of that time, of the zest with which a proper system of classification was sought and not found. None of the early workers

59

we

went deep enough. As in so many other things, there was too great a disposition to rest content with the surface, and with appearances, whereas truth, like the gold and diamonds hidden in the mine, invariably calls for a certain amount of digging and sifting. In the ages commonly called those of Shakspeare and his immediate predecessors, ingenious and patient observers of plants thought to classify them by the peculiarities, simply and sufficiently, of their flowers, their fruits or seed-pods, and even their leaves. There were distinct perceptions, at the same time, of genuine resemblances; so that in the old "herbals often find plants very correctly and consistently side by side. Still there was no settled principle at work, and for want of it the most amusing errors were constantly made. Light began to dawn with the observation that the affinities of plants depend not upon resemblances between the flowers alone, or the leaves alone, but upon similarities of the entire series of organs, and in very many cases upon resemblances of parts not patent to the first view. How grand the discovery that the structure of the seed must never be skipped! Equally fine, in regard to real scientific classification, was the discovery that the internal structure of the stem must be taken account of,-that also of the leaves, at all events as regards their venation. The result of thousands of careful comparisons, and of persevering, minute scrutiny, was that plants began to be cast into the great natural groups which to-day we call families, only that very many were rebellious, and had to be let remain, as it were, outside. This, in truth, is a difficulty which has never yet been wholly grasped. Many plants, at this present moment, are, as the classifiers say, of "uncertain seat." Still we know pretty nearly where

to place them, and in course of time no doubt the marshalling will be complete. An illustration of the modern uncertainty as to the true relationship of even a very familiar plant is furnished by that lovely wild-flower the Parnassia. Surely, one would think, there can be no mystery over this. A simple and straightforward pentamerous white blossom, stamens and pistil well developed, would seem the last thing to be perplexed over. Yet that charming flower has been regarded by different good botanists, and for well-considered reasons, a member of the St. John's wort family, of the Sundew family, and of the Saxifrage family, in which last-named it now rests. With the growth of clearer ideas as to the real bases of plant-affinity, there was increase in the knowledge of species. Botanists are of two distinct classes. Some love the philosophy of plants, the laws of their life, and the information supplied by the study of a comparatively small number. Others are enamoured of the pleasures attending the discovery of the new and strange, and without disregarding physiology, prefer to ramble over the hills and far away, in search of surprises and additions to the list of the plants growing at home. The latter spirit was never more active than during the childhood of Botany. The Alps, the Pyrenees, the forests and plains of every accessible part of Europe

were explored, with the result to be expected, -an enlargement, to the extent of several thousands, of the list of species known to the ancients. This steady augmentation of the mass of material to be dealt with caused still profounder embarrassment with the classifiers; and by the close of the seventeenth century, despite the brilliant achievements, particularly of the German botanists, in respect of sound classification, the detail was fast becoming unmanageable. Early in the eighteenth century a happy change came to pass. Then arose, at Upsala in Sweden, a botanical genius by whom an expedient was devised for classifying plants in such a way that there should be a place not only for every species already known, but for everything that nature can possibly contain. This great man was Linnæus, ever since that period venerated as the father of botanical order and exactitude. His plan was to defer for awhile the marshalling by pure affinities, and to fall back upon plain and palpable resemblances, such as readily catch the eye, and serve the excellent temporary purpose, just then required so urgently, of enabling all things to be sorted and ticketed, and put where every one could find them. Linnæus commenced, towards this great end, in a way intelligible to a child. He counted the stamens and pistils, observed in what manner they were placed, and the other particulars above mentioned

as

Unspeakably valuable as was the method of arrangement devised by Linnæus, he rendered a still greater service to botany Genera and in giving definiteness to the species. ideas expressed in the words "genus" and "species." So far he worked on behalf of what to-day we call the "Natura. System," and the accuracy of his judgmen and performances is declared by the recogn tion to this day of the great majority of the genera and species he discriminated and described. A "genus" of plants is a collection of kinds related to one another, and usually resembling one another, in the way that is familiarly illustrated, say, in peas.

We have first the fragrant "sweet pea" of the flower-garden; then the scentless "everlasting pea," which produces its fine rosy crimson clusters in the hedgerows, and again in the garden; then the "yellow field-pea," an abundant element of many a meadow; and besides these a score of others, less common, but well known to cultivators of the pretty and curious. The Tangier pea, the blue

and

remarkable in these organs; then threw the whole mass of flowering-plants into twentythree classes, and adding a twenty-fourth for the Cryptogamia, the scheme was complete. It so happens, as we have indicated in former chapters, that in a few large families of plants there is an almost absolute uniformity as to the number and arrangement of the stamens and pistils. The Cruciferæ, for instance, are always tetradynamous, the Malvaceæ always monadelphous, the Orchidaceae always gynandrous. Hence there was now then, in the Linnæan system, a coincidence of natural and artificial. But most of the classes were as heterogeneous as any of those constructed by the Greeks and Romans. Having regard to the purpose in view-a ready and unexceptionable mode of classifying, open to the comprehension of all men-the heterogeneousness did not matter. The object was attained, and that was enough. The Linnæan system of twenty-four classes at once gave new life to Botany. Every student of it took heart; and however rapidly new plants poured in from foreign countries, there was a niche for them on the instant.

flowered pea, the seaside pink. flowered pea, the marsh pea, fur. nish examples. These, in the aggregate, constitute the genus called in Latin Lathyrus, every one of the different kinds being, at the same moment, a

"species." The definition of a "species" is, no doubt, according to the views of modern science, a matter scarcely

yet within command. Ever since the publication of Mr. Charles Darwin's celebrated book on "The Origin of Species." the old idea of their fixedness and their criginal integrity has required qualification. It is sufficient, however, for all ordinary, straightfor ward, practical purposes, that we accept the idea of" species" as laid down by Linnæus. It is quite enough for plain, common-sense people that the plants around us keep the same from seed, year after year, always reproducing themselves after the same identical fashion that they did centuries ago, as proved by the drawings and descriptions in the old herbals of the time of Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth. The seedlings sport and vary, no doubt, in regard to the colours of the flowers, and other sub rdinate and unimportant particulars, but the essential characters remain the same. Pansy, the Dahlia, the Tulip, are the same in all that really constitutes them what they are, no matter how strange, as well as exquisite, the departure in matter of hue of the petals, which is but transitory. "Genera" are, in some respects, more arbitrary. Whether we yet

The

understand the true principles upon which "species" should be grouped, is still uncertain. Botanists very frequently refer the same species to different genera; and some are disposed to reduce the number of genera very considerably, as done by Mr. Bentham and Dr. Hooper in the splendid work upon which they have now been engaged for nearly twenty years. It remains true, nevertheless, that for ordinary people, who desire to enjoy things as they are, somehow the Linnæan idea of a genus holds good and unchanged to the present day. Every one can understand what a Lilium is, or a Primula, or a Quercus, or a Salix. The whole matter of classification depends very much upon men's own intellectual temperament. Those who are fond of tracing the magnificent unities of nature throw things together more, reducing the number alike of families, genera, and species. Those who have quick eyes for minate differences, and who attach equal value to the trivial and the substantial, multiply the number of all three. As in other things, the truth lies, no doubt, in the "happy medium." The multiplying of "species" by the analytical-minded is remarkably illustrated in the number of names bestowed upon the forms of that protean plant, the water snow-cups,

Ranunculus aquatilis, FIG. 169.-COMMON MUSHROOM. which has been subdivided into a score or two. In English botany there has been a similar multiplying of the "species" of the common Hawkweed, Hieracium murorum; and the naraes of many other plants might be cited to the same purpose.

61

shortened into ft) will come before the inflexion, as in the following examples:

Das kleine Buch, the little book; das kleinere Buch, the smaller book; das kleinste Buch, the smallest book. Des werthen (vairr'-ten) Männes, of the worthy man; Des wertberen Mannes, of the worthier man; Des wertheften Mannes, of the worthiest man. Where

Te adjective ends in d, f, fch, ft, f, or 3, the full eft is used.

Many adjectives, especially those in el, en, er, omit the e in the comparative-as dunkel, dark; bunkler, darker.

Generally, monosyllabic adjectives have the Umlaut or modification of the vowels a, o, and u, changing these into å, ö, and i-as Die alte Frau, die ältere, die älteste Frau, the old woman, etc. But there are many exceptions. The following, among others, retain the vowel unaltered :

Barsch, harsh, rude; blant, bright, shining (metallic); brav, good; blaß, pale; bunt, variegated; bumpf, dull (generally of sound); fahl, fallow; fade, insipid; falsch, false; flach, flat; froh, glad gerade, straight; glatt, smooth; hohl, hollow; hold, fair, gentle; fahl, bald; farg, stingy; fnapp, tight; lahm, lame; Laß,

FIG. 170.-CHAMPIGNON. tired; lose, loose;

FIG. 171.-MORELL.

THE COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES.

IN English the comparative and the superlatire degree of adjectives are expressed respectively by adding er and est to the positive-as old, older, oldest; but in many dissyllabic and all polysyllabic words by prefixing the words more and most to the adjectives. In German the mode of proceeding is similar: the comparison is formed by adding er and the superlative by adding eft to the uninflected form of the positive, quite irrespective of the number of syllables the word may contain. Thus, if the adjective is in an inflected or declined form, the er and eft (the latter generally

dumb; ftumpf, blunt; wahr, true; jahm, tame.

matt, wearied; morsch, brittle, rotten; nadt, naked; platt, flat; plump, clumsy; rasch, quick; roh, raw; rund, round; facht, slow, soft; sanft, gentle; fatt, satisfied, sated; schlaff, slack; fchlant, slender; schroff, rugged; starr, stiff: ftolz, proud; ftraff, tight; fumm, toll, mad; voll, full;

(The foregoing adjectives should be learnt by heart, as they frequently occur, that they may be recognised, and always used in comparative and superlative without the Umlaut, thus-barsch, barscher, stolz, stolzer, etc.)

In English the word "most" is frequently used in the meaning "exceedingly." In German we use the expression höchft (in the highest degree) or äußerst in such a case, and call it the superlative of eminence. Thus: He is a most worthy man, would be-Er ist ein höchst, or äußerst würdiger Mann.

When one adjective is compared with another with regard to the same subject, and when, therefore, the English word "more" would be synonymous with "rather," as in the phrase He is more (rather) industrious than clever, the word "more" is rendered by mehr: Er ift mehr fleißig als geschickt. The corresponding superlative is am meisten, or am mehrften. For instance: He is most known through his

Study on the Comparison of Adjectives. (Remember to insert the signs of the comparative and superlative, the er and eft or r and ft, before the inflexional termination, thus: Dem braven Manne, dem braveren Manne, dem bravsten Manne. The adjective in the comparative or superlative degree is therefore declined exactly as in the positive, the degrée of comparison not interfering with the declension, as the er and the ft do not appear at the end of the word except where the adjective is undeclined, as-Das Kind ist kleiner, the child is smaller. Here the adjective is undeclined, as a predicate, after the verb seyn, to be.)

er

der

Ein ruhiges Leben ist besser als Gold ine roo-ich-es lay-ben ist bes-ser als golt und Silber. Der Kaiser Karl der Große unt zil-ber dare ky-zer karrl dare grow'-se war ein viel besserer Mann als sein Sohn cahr ine feel bes'-ser-er mann als zine zone Ludwig der Fromme; auch regierte lood'-vich dare from-me owch re-geer-te airr länger. Heinrich der Löwe, Herzog laerg'-er hine'-rich dare loe'-ce hairr-tzoch von Sachsen, war der mächtigste fon zach-sen vahr dare mech'-tich-ste dare Basallen des Deutschen Kaisers; keiner rah'-sal-len des doit-shen ky'-zers ky'-ner War größer oder reicher als er. cahr groes'-ser oh'-der ry'-cher als airr Hunger ist der beste Koch," sagt das alte hunger ist dare beste koch zaacht dass al'-te Sprichwort. „Der schwerste Stab im Land," sprich-vort dare sheair-ste stahb im land sagt ein anderes Sprichwort, „ift der zaacht ine an-der-es sprich'-vort ist dare Stecken in des Bettlers Hand." Der Narr steck-en in des bett-ler's hand dare nahrr gleicht dem Weisen am meisten, wenn er glycht dame ryzen am my-sten venn airr statt zu reden, schweigt. Dresden ist statt tsoo ray-den shrycht drays-den ist eine der schönsten unter den Deutschen i-ne dare shoen'-sten un'-ter dane doit-shen Hauptfäcten; keine Stadt zeigt größere hompt-stay'-ten ky-ne stat tsycht groe'-se-re

oder zahlreichere Kunstwerke als oh'-der tsahl'-ry-che-re kunst-wairr-ke als man hier in der berühmten Bilder man here in dare be-ruehm'-ten bil-dergallerie findet. Auch die Kirchen und gal-le-ree fin'-det orch dee keer-chen unt andere Gebäude sind äußerst prachtroll. an-de-re ge-boy-de zint oy'-serst pracht-foll Nicht weit von einem großen Steine den nicht vite fan i'-nem grow'-sen sty'-ne dane man nachher als Denkmal aufrichtete, man nach-hare' als denk-mahl owf-rich-te-te fiel der tapfere, kluge, König Gustav feel dare tap'-fe-re kloo'-che koe'-nich gus-taf Adolf auf der berühmten Lüßener ah-dolf or dare be-ruchm'-ten luet'-sen-er Ebene. Die Trajans-säule zu Rom ay'-be-ne dee trah-jahns'-zoy'-le tsvo rome wurde als Denkmal der großen Siege voor-de als denk-mahl dare gross-en zee'-ge errichtet die der kräftige Trajan er-rich'-tet dee dare kre'-tiche trah-jahn' über die kriegerischen Dacier gewann. ue'-ber dee krec'-ge-rish-en daht' -sec-er ge-vann' Nach der friedlichen und glücklichen naach dare freed-lich-en unt glück-lich-en Regierung des Antoninus Pius, folgte ray-geer-ung des an-to-ni'-nus pee'-us folg-te Marcus Aurelius, der weise Philomar-cus ow-ray-le-us dare ry'-ze fee-lowforh, gleich ausgezeichnet als Regent, zoaph' glych ers'-ge-tsych-net als ray-ghent und als Feldherr. Am frühen Morgen unt als felt-hairr am frue'-en morr-gen find die Gedanken am Klarsten; der zint dee ge-dank'-en am klahr-sten dare Geist ist hell, und am fähigsten barte guyst ist hell unt am fay-ich-sten harr-te Arbeit zu vollenden. Der Undank ift arr-bite tsoo col-len'-den dare un'-dank ist eins der schlimmsten Laster. Im Winter, i-nes dare shlimm'-sten last'-er im vinn'-ter

in

in

Lustiges.

Flüffen

Holland fiebt man ein hol-land zeet man ine lust'-ich-es Leben auf den gefrorenen lay-ben orf dane ge-froar-en-en flues-en und Kanälen, wann die Leute auf raschen unt kah-nail-en vann dee loy'-te orff rash-en Schlittschuhen vorbei jagen. Das Schwert ist shlitt-shoe-en for-by' yah'-gen dass sheairt ist dem freien Manne als lestes Mittel dame fry-en man'-ne als lets-tes mit-tel

gegeben. Das Leben ist kurz aber ge-gay-ben dass lay-ben ist koorts ah-ber die Kunst ist lang. Vor vielen hundert dee kunst ist lang fore feel-en hund'-ert Jahren war die Stadt Stavoren, an der yah'-ren vahr dee shtat stah-cohr-en an dare Holländischen Küste, groß und reich, und hol-len-dish-en kuest-e gross unt rych unt

trieb treeb

einen ansehnlichen Handel mit i-nen an'-zayn-lich-en han-del mit fremden Ländern; aber jezt ist selbst frem-den lend'-errn ah'-berr ýetst ist zelbst