ls, whose
subjects are taken from the history of ancient Egypt, perhaps the most
popular being "An Egyptian Princess." Besides these popular novels and a
valuable description of Egypt, Ebers also made personal explorations in
the country, and discovered at Thebes the great medical papyrus, which
is called the Papyrus Ebers. This remarkable document, to which he
devoted so much labour, is our chief source of information regarding
the practice of medicine as it existed, and would alone keep the name of
Ebers alive among Egyptologists.

The leading German Egyptologist of to-day is Dr. Adolf Erman, who was
born at Berlin in 1854. He is the worthy successor to Brugsch in the
chair of Egyptology at the University of Berlin, and is director of
the Berlin Egyptian Museum. His writings have had to do mainly with
grammatical and literary investigations. His editions of the "Romances
of Old Egypt" are models of scholarly interpretation. They give the
original hieratic text, with translation into Egyptian hieroglyphics,
into Latin and into German. Doctor Erman has not, however, confined his
labours to this strictly scholarly type of work, but has also written a
distinctly popular book on the life of the ancient Egyptians, which
is the most complete work that has appeared since the writings of
Wilkinson.

The memorable speech of Erman, delivered on the occasion of his election
as a member of the Berlin Academy, sets forth clearly the progress
made in the science of Egyptology and present-day tendencies. On that
occasion he said:

"Some of our older fellow-specialists complain that we of the younger
generation are depriving Egyptology of all its charm, and that, out of
a delightful science, abounding in startling discoveries, we have made
a philological study, with strange phonetic laws and a wretched syntax.
There is doubtless truth in this complaint, but it should be urged
against the natural growth of the science, and not against the personal
influence of individuals or its development. The state through which
Egyptology is now passing is one from which no science escapes. It is a
reaction against the enthusiasm and the rapid advance of its early days.

"I can well understand to outsiders it may seem as though we had only
retrograded during later years. Where are the good old times when every
text could be translated and understood? Alas! a better comprehension of
the grammar has revealed on every side difficulties and impedim