as its proper expression in the latter tongue, (Lev. iv. 20, 26, 31, 35; ix. 7; xxiii. 27, 28.) And, in xxv. 9, "the 66 day of atonement," which is then first declared in the Hebrew to be the day of Jubilee, and which the Hebrew still expresses, is rendered in the Egyptian, Xw-eBoλ -jo-ebol; which shews, atonement, to be the Hebrew interpretation of the new denomination Jo-bel, then first introduced into the Hebrew vocabulary by the special assignment of God. 66 It had been solemnly enjoined by God to the Hebrew people, immediately on their deliverance from Egypt (Deut. v. 15), to REMEMBER that they were servants in "the land of EGYPT, and that the Lord their God brought "them out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a 66 stretched out arm; and that He therefore commanded "them to keep the Sabbath-day," on which day He had brought them out. When, therefore, He instituted the great Sabbath of the JUBILEE," the acceptable year of "the Lord for giving deliverance to the captives;" He appears to have secured the REMEMBRANCE of the Egyptian captivity and deliverance, by affixing to that year the well-known Egyptian term Jo-EBOL, JO-BOL-remissio,―rendered JO-BEL in the Hebrew utterance: by 'which denomination, the record of their emancipation from Egyptian servitude became engraven in the ordinances of their Law, and was periodically recalled to their remembrance; and thus, was rendered perpetually monumental of the transaction, which they were commanded to -66 REMEMBER." And, the remarkable, and evidently intentional avoidance of that term by the Jews of Alexandria, in a translation made by order of a sovereign of Egypt; may, very probably, have proceeded from a national pride, which was averse to record before the Egyptians, the divine imposition of a name derived from the language of their country. It is well known, that the Hebrews received 66 66 many words from the Egyptian tongue during their long abode in Egypt, as they afterwards derived many from the Chaldee during their captivity in Babylon: Lingua Ægyptia multa Hebræis verba dedit," says Michaelis (Suppl. ad Lex. Heb. no. 996).—“ Quam multæ voces" (exclaims the learned La Croze,) extant in ipso He"bræorum Pentateucho, quæ præter illas, quas viri quidem eruditi jam observarunt, ad linguam Ægyptiacam et possunt et debent revocari." (Thesaur. Epist. LACROZ. tom. iii. p. 242.) 66 It may be of some interest to many of my readers, to know; that the Jubilee of the Roman Church, observed in the present year, 1825, has no retrospect to the Hebrew Jubilee, but only to the Annus Secularis of heathen Rome. "Causam Jubilæi non eam fuisse dicimus, quam aliqui 66 66 dixere, ut nempe Synagoga imitaretur; sed potius quid semper Pontifices vanas observationes Gentilium in sacras cæremonias erga Dei cultum convertere conati sunt, ideo "ad tollendum superstitiosum Romanorum Sæcularem Annum, Annum Sanctum indulgentiis Romani Pontifices instituerunt1. The cause of the Jubilee was not that " which some have alleged, namely, to imitate the Synagogue; but rather, as the Roman Pontiffs always endea"voured to convert the vain ceremonies of the Gentiles into "sacred ceremonies of Divine worship, so they instituted a "year sacred by indulgences, to do away the superstitious "Secular Year of the Romans." 1 HIERO-LEXICON, &c. fol. p. 337, Rome, 1677: Superiorum Permissu et Privilegiis. NOTE [III.] On M. HUMBOLDT's Theory of Rocks. IN the "Geognostical Essay on the Superposition of Rocks in both Hemispheres," this Herculean explorer, 46 "Emensus longi claviger orbis iter," has embodied, not only the observations of his own extraordinary personal experience, but that also of all the ablest and most celebrated writers of this age of Geology. The professed object of his elaborate treatise, is, "to trace the "Elements of Geognostic Philosophy, as far as regards. "the study of the superposition of rocks1." His work, he states, "includes nearly the whole of positive geognosy," (as opposed to hypothetic geology"); and " he endeavours, at the same time that he presents the detail of "the phenomena of the superposition, or tabular arrange"ment, of formations, to generalise the ideas respecting them with the great questions in Natural Philosophy 3. -"Positive or True geognosy, (he says,) ought to present a chain of facts well observed, and judiciously compared together:-it describes the exterior crust of our globe. such as it exists in our days.-This science, (he continues,) has no less certainty than the physical descriptive sciences in general." By means of it," the "order of superposition, and the relative age of rocks, are "facts susceptible of being determined, like the structure of a plant: on the contrary, whatever relates to the 66 66 66 66 1 Page 42. 2 Page 6. 66 "ancient state of our planet; to those fluids which, it is said, held all mineral substances in solution; to those "seas which have covered the summits of the Cordilleras, "and have afterwards disappeared; is as uncertain, as the formation of the atmosphere of the planets, as the various migrations of plants, or the origin of the different "varieties of our species. Yet, the time is not very remote, (he adds,) when geologists were occupied from choice in the solution of these problems, and with this fabulous period of the physical history of the earth 1.". " 64 " The new doctrine of geogony, (he says,) has a tendency "to lean towards the idea of the liquefied masses ascending across the fissures from below upwards, whilst the ancient geogony (i. e. that of Werner, propounded four years " before by M. D'Aubuisson, and maintained by M. Hum"boldt himself in 1804,) explained every thing by precipitations and movements in an opposite direction: positive geogony has profited by these discussions on "the igneous or neptunian origin of rocks; but it renders "the classification independent of geogonic results".". I must confess, (he proceeds,) that these classifications, according to the various hypotheses which we form on the origin of things, appear to me not only vague and arbitrary, but also very injurious to the progress of a geognosy of position; they prejudge in too arbitrary and absolute a manner, what is at least extremely doubtful."-"When the geognost has examined "the relations of position and composition, he has fulfilled "his task"." " 06 44 Here then we have, at last, a writer on geology altogether practical; who condemns, in the most express and in the strongest manner, every thing that is theoretical or 1 Page 5, 6. 2 See above, p. 10, note. ' Page 414. hypothetical in discussions on the structure of the earth. His " geognosy" is only " a descriptive science" of the crust of our globe, as it now exists; not as it may be supposed to have been 1." The simple and actual matter of fact, is, avowedly, the exclusive object of his consideration and instruction; which is presented to our view under the compendious form, of a Tabular arrangement of formations observed in both Hemispheres. Although in "the course of a laborious life, (says this indefatigable scrutinator,) I have had the pleasure of seeing a greater "extent of mountains than any other geognost, the little "I observed is lost in the great mass of facts which I " have undertaken to display. What is most important "in this treatise on formations, is derived from the com"bined efforts of my contemporaries. I wished to present "to my readers, in a concise manner, the whole of the "discoveries that have been made; and I thought I MIGHT ADD what is ONLY PROBABLE, to what appears to me completely verified. If I have attained the end proposed, the distinguished men, who, in Germany, France, England, Sweden, and Italy, have contributed "to enlarge the edifice of geognostic science, will recognise "in every page the results of their own labours 2." Yet, notwithstanding this emphatic disclaimer of all hypothesis, notwithstanding this determined advocacy of facts, and facts only, the " Geognostical Essay" is governed throughout by a masked theory; of which its eminent author appears to be hardly conscious, but of which the attentive reader will have caught some surmise from the reservation claimed by the author; “ of adding what is only probable, (that is, in his own opinion) to what appears completely verified," and thus, of incorporating theory with the facts of his observation and experience. 1 Introd. p. 1. 66 ?Page 76. |