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"The Dawn Of History,"
" THE DAWN OF HISTORY , "
OUR SO-CALLED " ANCIRNT EGYPTIAN BRETHREN . ' BY BRO . JACOB NORTON .
VOLTAIRE wound up his Philosophical Dictionary as follows : — " Given at Monnfc Krapac , the 30 fch of tho month of Janus , in the year of tho world—According to Scaliger - 5722 According to Les Ent * rnnes Mignonnes .... 577 G According to Ricioli 5936
According to Eusobins G 972 According to tho Alphonsine Tables 8707 According to the Egyptians 370 , 000 According to the Chaldeans 465 , 102 According to the Brahmins 780 , 000 According to Philosophers
Had any one published the above in Switzerland , either before or immediately after the Reformation , he would probably havo been burnt for doubting the orthodox belief in the age of the world . In a book before me , however , viz ., " The Dawn of History " ( by C . F . Keary ) , thongh tho author dnes not try to gness the age of the world , yefc he evidently believes the world to be much older than we were
once taught to believe . Evidences of the existence of man upon the earth exist as far back as the glacial period . At that time , the now British Isles formed part of the Continent . If I understand the author I ightly , there was then neither an Irish Sea nor a North Sea . Scotland ancl Denmark in the norLh , and France and England in the sonlh , joined each o'her
alike . The Thames and other eastern rivers were then tributaries to a large st . earn , whxh bore throngh this Continent ancl up to the Northern Seas , where n mingled the waters of the English rivers with those of the Rhine and other German rivers . ' Spain was then united to Africa , ancl Africa itself extended as far as the Azore Islands . The Great Sahara was then pait of the Mediterranean , in
which was embraced the Red Sea ; and a great Mediterranean Sta existed then in Central Asia , of wl' -ch the Caspian and Aiab seas are merely traces . The melting of the glaciers gave rise to eno ; . nons rivers , which flowed from every hill ; the now little liver Onse , flowing throngh Norfolk into the Wash , was then , probably , many miles broad . Vast
forests grew upon the liver b . i"ks , which left their tiaces in the peat formations , and iu those forests roamed animals unknown to us . The most notable of these was the mammoth , a huge elephant , whose skeleton and gigantic tnsks are conspicuous in our mnsenms , and who has given its name to this earliest age of man ' s existence , or what is knowi to us as snch ; it is called tho "Mammoth A <* e . "
With the mammoth , too , lived other species of animnls which are either now extinct , or have been driven away from onr latitudes . Tho woolly rhinoceros , the Pave lion , and cave bear , the Lnthiarian bison , tho nrus , the reindeer , ancl the . musk ox . It is with the remains of these animals , in the beds of the great rivers , that we find the earlissfc tools and weapons made by human hands .
We can scarcely conceive how man conld live throu gh so many ages in this world of orrs before he discovered minerals and metals . " Tho pen I write with " ( says Mr . Keary ) " is of metal , or if ifc were a quill the steel knife would have to shape it ; the rags of which this paper is made had to be cut by metal knives , " and so it is in almost every department of human wants . But the primitive man ,
who had no knowledge of the metallic treasures hidden in the earth , sought for bis mater i als to make tools of on tho surface of the earth only , and finding stone to be the hardest substance , so he made his implements out of si one . This period is called " The Scone Age , " ancl its du ation was ve y long . This age is divided into two distinct periods , i ' . % ., "the old stone epoch , " so-called because the
implements were never po'ished , and "the new stone period , " called also " the po'ished stone age , " and , du ' ug the greater parfc afc leasfc of this stone period , tbe condition of life w & s the same as that of the arctic regions of the present time . These stone implements are fonnd associated with the remains of the mammoth ancl woolly rhinoceros , animals natnrally belon-rino- to
the arctic or semi-arctic climates which succeeded the glacial era ,. Bnt similar implements are also fonnd associated w'th the bones of tho lion , the tiger , ancl the hippopotamus , all of which , especially the last , are rarely living outside of tho torrid zone . This shows that the drift implements sufficed for man ' s wants throngh a succession of changes of temperature—from that of tbe frigid to that of tho torrid
climate , and probably after tho climate became again temperate ; and under all these conditions , frigid , torrid , and temperate , man had to defend himself from the attacks of all kinds of aoima ' s with mere stone weapons , and not of the most improved make either . Surely in those old times England conld not have been for man " a happy land . "
The author next introduces us to a little more advanced state of human civilisation . Thus , in caves generally fo' med in limestone rocks the most remarkable " finds " have been obtained in Devonshire ; also in the department of Dordogne , in France ; from caves in Belgium , and from a very remarkab ' e cave in Neandei tha 1 , near Dusseldorf , in Germany . But there is scarcel y a country in Europe where some cavo containing human bones and weapons has not been
discovered . Tho rrdest drift imo ' cmenls seem older than almost any found in caves , and on the whole the cave imp ^ ments indicate an advance in civilisation from that of the drift period . Thns , in addition to stone , are fonnd also implements made of bone , such as harpoon heacla with many ba ** bs , arrow-heads made both of stone and of bono ' they also found awls made of stone , likewise knives and ne 3 dles ' made of bone . Tho author thinks fcbafc ** rith the awls fchey pierced holes in the skins of an ' mals designed for clothing , and the siuows of
"The Dawn Of History,"
tho animals formed the thread to sew tho skins with . Man then began to be n tailor , or , moro properly , sonic tiling b tvirixfc the tailoi unci the furrier . So he was then a manufacturer of stone implements , ancl of clothing too ; ho must also have formed wrodon handles for his harpoon heads , which gave rise to the carpenter trade . But there is also evidence that the principle of political economy , viz .,
" di \ ision of labonr , " as well as that of commerce , was practised at that time . For iu one of the caves was found such a largo quantity of stone implements , as to leave no doubt that the owner of the cave made the manufacture of that article a speciality ; and specimens of amber , which can only be found on the coast of the Baltic , wero discovered in caves in Central Europe : thus , come
exchange of tie natural and manufactured productions of different parts of the country mnafc have then been going on . Poor as man ' s implements were in those days , he nevertheless actually found time to cultivate the Fi . ie Arts , for both stone and bona implements wero fonnd on which were sculptured faithful imitations of heads of animals , as well as other objects ; and in a cave of La
Madeline , in Dordogne , was found a tusk of a mammoth , upon which was an engra . ' ng of tho animal itself : thus proving that tho mammoth was a contemporary of that man , for otherwise he could not have made a delineation thereof . All these facts demonstrate clearly that Voltaire ' s philosopher was rig ht in not pretending to know how old the world was .
For obvious reasons , I cannot follow the author s narrative throngh the successive steps of man ' s further advance towards a higher state of civilization . It seems , however , highly probable that even during the stone ago man must havo hungered for some method to suppl y the deficiency of his memory . His first effort in thafc direction was probab'y to ' make a mark , and to tell his children what that mark
meant to commemo ate . Such mark , wherever or whenever made , may truly be called the emb yo , or parent of our alphabet and literature , for wo may natnrally suppose thafc one kind of mark could not commemorate everything ; hence additional marks had to bo designed , and the meaning of thern had also to be impressed on the mind of the younger generation . We will now suppose that the man
who slew a mammoth wished to commemorate thafc event . In thafc case , the picture . of slaying the mammoth , perhaps followed by a picture of the moon in either of her phases , with pictures of trees or flowers , to denote the season , wonld convey an idea to posterity of the event , and the time of tho month and year . But be that as ifc may , it is ce . tain that such picture writing existed in Egypt before
the invention of thealphabet , which is called "Egyptian hieroglyphics . " These aie formed of pictures of beasts , birds , snd fishes ; also that of a hand , of a heart , of an eje , a circle , & 3 . Now , as our pictorial Masonic Manuals conta n also tbo picture of a heart , an eye , a circle . & c , onr Masonic luminaries jumped therefore to tho conclusion that tho ancient Egyptians had speculative Freemason' } , and thafc the same
symbolism they taught in their Lodges abont tho eye , heart , circle , ifcc ., came down to us through successive generations of Masons , and hence they talk about " onr ancient Egyptian brethren , " and about an " affinity" between onr mysteries ancl those of tho ancient Egyptians . Onr Scotch Rite , Memphis Rite , and other moonshine rites luminaries will oven swear that there was then in Egyyfc
Snpreme Councils and Thrice Ilhistrimises . In onr Boston Maso . lie Temp-o there is an "Egyptian Hall , " wherein , by order of the lato C . W . Moore , was painted on the wall Egyotian hieroglyphics , among which is the picture of a bird . I suppose it was meant for a pelican ( which is a very important symbol in tho A . and A . Rite ) , to show a connecting link befcwooo the symboloj : * of tho Egyptian Thrice
Tllus-Uiouses ancl the present ones . The truth , however , ' s , no one knows anything abont tho Egyptian mysteries , but ifc is known that the p cfcnres , or hieroglyphics , represent either words , sentences , or syllables ; they wero placed on tha Egyptian buildings to commemoiaie certain events for the information of posteritv , and these hieroglyphics were no moro mysterious
to the ane'enfc educated Egyptians than the inscriptions in our churches and churchyards aro mysterious to our grammor-sclu ol boys . To make the idea of picture writing st'll more clear , I must remind the reader of a icbus , which is really in part picture writing . Now suppose a rebus was placed beft / can intelligent youngster , upon which
was a picture of a pai- of scales , followed by tho word "of , " ancl next to " of" wa ** a picture of a judge , the child wonld guess that signified tho scales of just ' ee . Tho Egyptians , however , had no letters then to convoy the idea of the word " of , " so they had either to vary the picture , or had some other p i cture to denote the verb . Thus , a heart , drawn io a certa i n way , always stood for love , ancl , so far as I
know , they may have callrd tho ' r lady loves sweethearts . An eye , with a tear on the lash , meant g-ief . Two hands , holding a shield , combine the verb and noun , viz . —to fight . A tongue meant to speak ; a man , kneeling , denoted a conquered enemy . But hco are pictures denoting only syllables—thus the wo ; -d " Os , " in the Egvptiaa
language was used for throne , and iris meant an eye ; henco tho picture of a throne , fo'lowed by thafc of r i eye , road Osiris , the name of an Egypt ' an deity : and , in like manner , a hand thoy c . illed " tot , " ancl a ci- clo " tro . " When , therefore , the picture of a hand wn followed by ac : 'cle ifc stood for "totro , " wh ch was the name of onoof their kin 23 .
We S 3 e , then , that notwithstanding the Testacies or * . * luminaries manifest when talking about ' - ' our ancient Egyptian brethren , " and about the affinity between Of" mysteries and those of the ancient Egyptians , & c ., that there is really nothing in the Egyptian hieroglyphics to denote nyslery , & c , and there is really nofc a particle cf c idence that either Eg > ptian priests or Egyptian
Masons regn-e ' ed ihe pictures of the hear 1 : the eye , t e circle , & c ., as e'ther .: ,-stie , sacred , or what we call Mason ' c . And such being ; h . * i case , It' ' 2 . i ' : is high time for on •luminaries to nse deluding LVomsclves fid others with the notion thafc our SpecuLtive Masonry either originate I in Egy it , or that it was ever known fo the ancient Egyptians . Boston , U . S ., 3 rd October 1879 . ' ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
"The Dawn Of History,"
" THE DAWN OF HISTORY , "
OUR SO-CALLED " ANCIRNT EGYPTIAN BRETHREN . ' BY BRO . JACOB NORTON .
VOLTAIRE wound up his Philosophical Dictionary as follows : — " Given at Monnfc Krapac , the 30 fch of tho month of Janus , in the year of tho world—According to Scaliger - 5722 According to Les Ent * rnnes Mignonnes .... 577 G According to Ricioli 5936
According to Eusobins G 972 According to tho Alphonsine Tables 8707 According to the Egyptians 370 , 000 According to the Chaldeans 465 , 102 According to the Brahmins 780 , 000 According to Philosophers
Had any one published the above in Switzerland , either before or immediately after the Reformation , he would probably havo been burnt for doubting the orthodox belief in the age of the world . In a book before me , however , viz ., " The Dawn of History " ( by C . F . Keary ) , thongh tho author dnes not try to gness the age of the world , yefc he evidently believes the world to be much older than we were
once taught to believe . Evidences of the existence of man upon the earth exist as far back as the glacial period . At that time , the now British Isles formed part of the Continent . If I understand the author I ightly , there was then neither an Irish Sea nor a North Sea . Scotland ancl Denmark in the norLh , and France and England in the sonlh , joined each o'her
alike . The Thames and other eastern rivers were then tributaries to a large st . earn , whxh bore throngh this Continent ancl up to the Northern Seas , where n mingled the waters of the English rivers with those of the Rhine and other German rivers . ' Spain was then united to Africa , ancl Africa itself extended as far as the Azore Islands . The Great Sahara was then pait of the Mediterranean , in
which was embraced the Red Sea ; and a great Mediterranean Sta existed then in Central Asia , of wl' -ch the Caspian and Aiab seas are merely traces . The melting of the glaciers gave rise to eno ; . nons rivers , which flowed from every hill ; the now little liver Onse , flowing throngh Norfolk into the Wash , was then , probably , many miles broad . Vast
forests grew upon the liver b . i"ks , which left their tiaces in the peat formations , and iu those forests roamed animals unknown to us . The most notable of these was the mammoth , a huge elephant , whose skeleton and gigantic tnsks are conspicuous in our mnsenms , and who has given its name to this earliest age of man ' s existence , or what is knowi to us as snch ; it is called tho "Mammoth A <* e . "
With the mammoth , too , lived other species of animnls which are either now extinct , or have been driven away from onr latitudes . Tho woolly rhinoceros , the Pave lion , and cave bear , the Lnthiarian bison , tho nrus , the reindeer , ancl the . musk ox . It is with the remains of these animals , in the beds of the great rivers , that we find the earlissfc tools and weapons made by human hands .
We can scarcely conceive how man conld live throu gh so many ages in this world of orrs before he discovered minerals and metals . " Tho pen I write with " ( says Mr . Keary ) " is of metal , or if ifc were a quill the steel knife would have to shape it ; the rags of which this paper is made had to be cut by metal knives , " and so it is in almost every department of human wants . But the primitive man ,
who had no knowledge of the metallic treasures hidden in the earth , sought for bis mater i als to make tools of on tho surface of the earth only , and finding stone to be the hardest substance , so he made his implements out of si one . This period is called " The Scone Age , " ancl its du ation was ve y long . This age is divided into two distinct periods , i ' . % ., "the old stone epoch , " so-called because the
implements were never po'ished , and "the new stone period , " called also " the po'ished stone age , " and , du ' ug the greater parfc afc leasfc of this stone period , tbe condition of life w & s the same as that of the arctic regions of the present time . These stone implements are fonnd associated with the remains of the mammoth ancl woolly rhinoceros , animals natnrally belon-rino- to
the arctic or semi-arctic climates which succeeded the glacial era ,. Bnt similar implements are also fonnd associated w'th the bones of tho lion , the tiger , ancl the hippopotamus , all of which , especially the last , are rarely living outside of tho torrid zone . This shows that the drift implements sufficed for man ' s wants throngh a succession of changes of temperature—from that of tbe frigid to that of tho torrid
climate , and probably after tho climate became again temperate ; and under all these conditions , frigid , torrid , and temperate , man had to defend himself from the attacks of all kinds of aoima ' s with mere stone weapons , and not of the most improved make either . Surely in those old times England conld not have been for man " a happy land . "
The author next introduces us to a little more advanced state of human civilisation . Thus , in caves generally fo' med in limestone rocks the most remarkable " finds " have been obtained in Devonshire ; also in the department of Dordogne , in France ; from caves in Belgium , and from a very remarkab ' e cave in Neandei tha 1 , near Dusseldorf , in Germany . But there is scarcel y a country in Europe where some cavo containing human bones and weapons has not been
discovered . Tho rrdest drift imo ' cmenls seem older than almost any found in caves , and on the whole the cave imp ^ ments indicate an advance in civilisation from that of the drift period . Thns , in addition to stone , are fonnd also implements made of bone , such as harpoon heacla with many ba ** bs , arrow-heads made both of stone and of bono ' they also found awls made of stone , likewise knives and ne 3 dles ' made of bone . Tho author thinks fcbafc ** rith the awls fchey pierced holes in the skins of an ' mals designed for clothing , and the siuows of
"The Dawn Of History,"
tho animals formed the thread to sew tho skins with . Man then began to be n tailor , or , moro properly , sonic tiling b tvirixfc the tailoi unci the furrier . So he was then a manufacturer of stone implements , ancl of clothing too ; ho must also have formed wrodon handles for his harpoon heads , which gave rise to the carpenter trade . But there is also evidence that the principle of political economy , viz .,
" di \ ision of labonr , " as well as that of commerce , was practised at that time . For iu one of the caves was found such a largo quantity of stone implements , as to leave no doubt that the owner of the cave made the manufacture of that article a speciality ; and specimens of amber , which can only be found on the coast of the Baltic , wero discovered in caves in Central Europe : thus , come
exchange of tie natural and manufactured productions of different parts of the country mnafc have then been going on . Poor as man ' s implements were in those days , he nevertheless actually found time to cultivate the Fi . ie Arts , for both stone and bona implements wero fonnd on which were sculptured faithful imitations of heads of animals , as well as other objects ; and in a cave of La
Madeline , in Dordogne , was found a tusk of a mammoth , upon which was an engra . ' ng of tho animal itself : thus proving that tho mammoth was a contemporary of that man , for otherwise he could not have made a delineation thereof . All these facts demonstrate clearly that Voltaire ' s philosopher was rig ht in not pretending to know how old the world was .
For obvious reasons , I cannot follow the author s narrative throngh the successive steps of man ' s further advance towards a higher state of civilization . It seems , however , highly probable that even during the stone ago man must havo hungered for some method to suppl y the deficiency of his memory . His first effort in thafc direction was probab'y to ' make a mark , and to tell his children what that mark
meant to commemo ate . Such mark , wherever or whenever made , may truly be called the emb yo , or parent of our alphabet and literature , for wo may natnrally suppose thafc one kind of mark could not commemorate everything ; hence additional marks had to bo designed , and the meaning of thern had also to be impressed on the mind of the younger generation . We will now suppose that the man
who slew a mammoth wished to commemorate thafc event . In thafc case , the picture . of slaying the mammoth , perhaps followed by a picture of the moon in either of her phases , with pictures of trees or flowers , to denote the season , wonld convey an idea to posterity of the event , and the time of tho month and year . But be that as ifc may , it is ce . tain that such picture writing existed in Egypt before
the invention of thealphabet , which is called "Egyptian hieroglyphics . " These aie formed of pictures of beasts , birds , snd fishes ; also that of a hand , of a heart , of an eje , a circle , & 3 . Now , as our pictorial Masonic Manuals conta n also tbo picture of a heart , an eye , a circle . & c , onr Masonic luminaries jumped therefore to tho conclusion that tho ancient Egyptians had speculative Freemason' } , and thafc the same
symbolism they taught in their Lodges abont tho eye , heart , circle , ifcc ., came down to us through successive generations of Masons , and hence they talk about " onr ancient Egyptian brethren , " and about an " affinity" between onr mysteries ancl those of tho ancient Egyptians . Onr Scotch Rite , Memphis Rite , and other moonshine rites luminaries will oven swear that there was then in Egyyfc
Snpreme Councils and Thrice Ilhistrimises . In onr Boston Maso . lie Temp-o there is an "Egyptian Hall , " wherein , by order of the lato C . W . Moore , was painted on the wall Egyotian hieroglyphics , among which is the picture of a bird . I suppose it was meant for a pelican ( which is a very important symbol in tho A . and A . Rite ) , to show a connecting link befcwooo the symboloj : * of tho Egyptian Thrice
Tllus-Uiouses ancl the present ones . The truth , however , ' s , no one knows anything abont tho Egyptian mysteries , but ifc is known that the p cfcnres , or hieroglyphics , represent either words , sentences , or syllables ; they wero placed on tha Egyptian buildings to commemoiaie certain events for the information of posteritv , and these hieroglyphics were no moro mysterious
to the ane'enfc educated Egyptians than the inscriptions in our churches and churchyards aro mysterious to our grammor-sclu ol boys . To make the idea of picture writing st'll more clear , I must remind the reader of a icbus , which is really in part picture writing . Now suppose a rebus was placed beft / can intelligent youngster , upon which
was a picture of a pai- of scales , followed by tho word "of , " ancl next to " of" wa ** a picture of a judge , the child wonld guess that signified tho scales of just ' ee . Tho Egyptians , however , had no letters then to convoy the idea of the word " of , " so they had either to vary the picture , or had some other p i cture to denote the verb . Thus , a heart , drawn io a certa i n way , always stood for love , ancl , so far as I
know , they may have callrd tho ' r lady loves sweethearts . An eye , with a tear on the lash , meant g-ief . Two hands , holding a shield , combine the verb and noun , viz . —to fight . A tongue meant to speak ; a man , kneeling , denoted a conquered enemy . But hco are pictures denoting only syllables—thus the wo ; -d " Os , " in the Egvptiaa
language was used for throne , and iris meant an eye ; henco tho picture of a throne , fo'lowed by thafc of r i eye , road Osiris , the name of an Egypt ' an deity : and , in like manner , a hand thoy c . illed " tot , " ancl a ci- clo " tro . " When , therefore , the picture of a hand wn followed by ac : 'cle ifc stood for "totro , " wh ch was the name of onoof their kin 23 .
We S 3 e , then , that notwithstanding the Testacies or * . * luminaries manifest when talking about ' - ' our ancient Egyptian brethren , " and about the affinity between Of" mysteries and those of the ancient Egyptians , & c ., that there is really nothing in the Egyptian hieroglyphics to denote nyslery , & c , and there is really nofc a particle cf c idence that either Eg > ptian priests or Egyptian
Masons regn-e ' ed ihe pictures of the hear 1 : the eye , t e circle , & c ., as e'ther .: ,-stie , sacred , or what we call Mason ' c . And such being ; h . * i case , It' ' 2 . i ' : is high time for on •luminaries to nse deluding LVomsclves fid others with the notion thafc our SpecuLtive Masonry either originate I in Egy it , or that it was ever known fo the ancient Egyptians . Boston , U . S ., 3 rd October 1879 . ' ,