Were there historians before Berosus, Manetho, and Herodotus, whose works have come down to us in Greek, Latin, or other European languages?
H. M. Eastman.
Answer.—Herodotus is the oldest of the Greek historians. He was born 484 B. C. He is generally recognized as the father of history. Berosus was an educated priest of Babylon, who lived about 260 B. C., and wrote in Greek three books of Babylonian-Chaldean history, the materials for which he declares he found in the ancient archives of Babylon. Manetho was an Egyptian historian, of the priestly order, who lived in the reign of Ptolemy Soter, in the beginning of the third century B. C. He, too, obtained the materials for his works from the temple records at his command, from which he wrote two works, one on the religion and the other on the history of Egypt. Only fragments of the writings of Berosus and Manetho remain—preserved in the works of Josephus, Eusebius, and other later writers. There are historical records on the ancient monuments of Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria which date back to earlier days, but except the historical books of the Old Testament, beginning with those of Moses (who was born 1738 B. C.), and some of the writings of Confucius (born 551 B. C.), there is nothing antedating the writings of Herodotus that is regarded as history.
FORMS OF LEAD CRYSTALS.
Burlingame, Kan.
Why is east and west lead ore always in cubes, while it is not always so with lead found in north and south lodes?
C. A. Damon.
Answer.—The primitive form of galena, or sulphate of lead, crystals is the cube. Whenever left free to crystallize, subject to no extraneous force or pressure, this ore takes that form. At cross veins it takes modified forms, the angles and edges of the cubes being replaced by faces, so as in many cases to form octahedral crystals. Now just why lead seems to have been more free to take its simple primitive form when crystallizing in east and west veins or lodes than in veins running in other directions is still largely a matter of theory or conjecture. Some theorists think that the north and south magnetic currents, to which the polarity of the magnetic needle is attributed, have something to do with this phenomenon, but a great many other wise people think nobody knows.