A MANUSCRIPT AS OLD AS MOSES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 21, 16 May 1876, Page 2

A MANUSCRIPT AS OLD AS MOSES.

Much interest is bein.Esjajfen.iii learned circles in a facsimile pubmsSftL at Leipsic of a ancient in years ago, by a GSman archfeologist v an Arao of some position; wheF®stated that, a' man' now dead had found it fourteen years previously between the -bonegjpf a mummy, in the necropolis of Thebes. original forms one immense sheet, ctmded into 110 pages, and both the materjyjfand thei written characters are in an exejfient state of preservation. By a of Jthe forms-of the latterj the1 "tligjiam.es of kings, andvthe lamination of the bacldi|f page, HerFEbers has determined that the writing must be assigned to about the year 1552 8.C., when,, according to. the usually accepted chronology, Moses was twentyone years of age. The 'manuscript is a treatise on medicine, but contains also much interesting information regarding the domestic life of the. ancient Egyptians. Among the matters treated of, it is curious to find such things as hair invigorators and dyes, pain-killers and flea powders Ojie of the chapters also gives directions for making medicines for killing lice, which is interesting in connection with the total incapacity of the Egyptian.wise men to grapple with the plague of lice sent by God through the agency of Moses, a man who was " learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians " (Acts vii. 22). The value of the manuscript is s'liihmed up by a competent authority, the Librarian of the Astor House Library, New York,-int the follow--ing terms :—" It is hardly possible to ex- . aggerate the literary, scientific, and historical importance, of this remarkable document. It is the largest, best preserved, and most legible text in the language of the hieroglyphics, and does not speak vaguely of incomprehensible and fantastic ideas, but furnishes indubitable insight -into different..phases of the life. of. the..ancient Egyptians." j