a complete Egyptian grammar and vocabulary.

Through the discovery of Champollion the interest in ancient Egypt grew
in all learned circles, and from his day until now efforts at bringing
to light the remains of the Egyptian civilization have never ceased.
The French have been especially active; but other nations also have
been in the field and have greatly added to our knowledge of ancient
Egypt. Since 1883 the Egyptian Exploration Fund has been at work in
various parts of the Nile valley; private subscriptions have enabled
the investigation of certain places of special interest; and now every
year new finds are made, which constantly enrich our knowledge of the
history, art, and civilization of the land of the Pharaohs.

"Palestine," says Dr. Benzinger, "became the object of most general
interest earlier than any other Oriental country.... Nevertheless,
Palestine research is but a child of the century just closed, the
systematic exploration of the land, in all its aspects, beginning
properly speaking with the foundation of the English Palestine
Exploration Fund in 1865."[4] The reason for this delay is not far to
seek. From the time that Christians first began to visit Palestine to
a comparatively {119} recent date all pilgrimages were prompted by
religious, not by scientific motives. The interest of the pilgrims was
excited only by those places which were pointed out to them as the
scenes of sacred events, and the knowledge they brought home consisted
chiefly of descriptions of the places held in special veneration. In
1841 there appeared in three volumes a work entitled Biblical
Researches, in which Professor Edward Robinson recorded the results of
his travels in Palestine during the year 1838. In 1852 Robinson made a
second journey. During these two trips he and his companions worked
with ceaseless industry, always accurately measuring the distances, and
describing the route, even to the smallest detail. This painstaking
care made the accounts so valuable that his books marked a turning
point in the whole matter of Palestinian research, and could serve as a
foundation upon which all future researches might rest.

Among other travelers who have made valuable contributions to our
knowledge of Palestine, the most important are Titus Tobler, H. V.
Guerin, E. Renan, and G. A. Smith. But the better the land came to be
known, the more fully was it realized that the complete systematic
exploration of the land