Adams, Walter M.: The house of the hidden places: a clue to the creed of early Egypt from Egyptian sources (London, 1895)

38 The Pyramid of Light. [Ch.

belongs. Then comes the Theban recension,
also in hieroglyphics, of which the papyri have
been with great labour collated and published
by M. Naville ; followed during the succeeding
dynasty (XXth) by another written in the
Hieratic (or priestly) characters. And last of
all, we have the recension of the XXVIth or
Saite dynasty, to which is due the great
papyrus * now preserved at Turin, of which

* An English translation has been published by Mr.
Birch, in Bunsen's " Place of Egypt;" and one in French
has been produced by M. Pierret. While speaking on
this subject, it is impossible to refrain from a regret at
the almost incredible carelessness with which the papyri,
relating to every kind of topic, have been scattered
loose-cast over half the museums of Europe, without the
preservation of any general account of their contents, or
even of their existence. Some are to be found at the
Bodleian ; others at the Louvre j others, again, in the
museums of Bologna, of Naples, of Turin, of Leipsic,
of Berlin, of Copenhagen, of Stockholm, and of Rome ;
while our insatiable sarkophagus, the British Museum,
entombs them by the thousand. If France, the country
to which belongs so distinguished a record in these
matters, could be induced to join with us in urging the
Government of Egypt to issue a Commission for the