rus Ebers just mentioned is now the only Egyptian
source from whence we can obtain instruction concerning this important
branch of ancient medicine.

All this scarcely seems to have a place in the preface of a historical
romance, and yet it is worthy of mention here; for there is something
almost "providential" in the fact that it was reserved for the author of
"An Egyptian Princess" to bestow the gift of this manuscript upon the
scientific world. Among the characters in the novel the reader will meet
an oculist from Sais, who wrote a book upon the diseases of the visual
organs. The fate of this valuable work exactly agrees with the course of
the narrative. The papyrus scroll of the Sais oculist, which a short time
ago existed only in the imagination of the author and readers of "An
Egyptian Princess," is now an established fact. When I succeeded in
bringing the manuscript home, I felt like the man who had dreamed of a
treasure, and when he went out to ride found it in his path.

A reply to Monsieur Jules Soury's criticism of "An Egyptian Princess" in
the Revue des deux Mondes, Vol. VII, January 1875, might appropriately be
introduced into this preface, but would scarcely be possible without
entering more deeply into the ever-disputed question, which will be
answered elsewhere, whether the historical romance is ever justifiable.
Yet I cannot refrain from informing Monsieur Soury here that "An Egyptian
Princess" detained me from no other work. I wrote it in my sick-room,
before entering upon my academic career, and while composing it, found
not only comfort and pleasure, but an opportunity to give dead scientific
material a living interest for myself and others.

Monsieur Soury says romance is the mortal enemy of history; but this
sentence may have no more justice than the one with which I think myself
justified in replying: Landscape painting is the mortal enemy of botany.
The historical romance must be enjoyed like any other work of art. No one
reads it to study history; but many, the author hopes, may be aroused by
his work to make investigations of their own, for which the notes point
out the way. Already several persons of excellent mental powers have been
attracted to earnest Egyptological researches by "An Egyptian Princess."
In the presence of such experiences, although Monsieur Soury's clever
statements appear to contain much that is true, I need not apply his
remark that "historical romances injure the cause o