even though he dive in the Nile, may catch nothing.  The trade of the fisherman is the worst of all.  He is in blind terror of the crocodile, and falleth among crocodiles.”  The text continues with a few further remarks on the honourable character of the profession of the scribe, and ends with a series of Precepts of the same character as those found in the works of Ptah-hetep and the scribe Ani, from which extracts have already been given.

IX.  MEDICAL PAPYRI.—­The Egyptians possessed a good practical knowledge of the anatomy of certain parts of the human body, but there is no evidence that they practised dissection before the arrival of the Greeks in Egypt.  The medical papyri that have come down to us contain a large number of short, rough-and-ready descriptions of certain diseases, and prescriptions of very great interest.  The most important medical papyrus known is that which was bought at Luxor by the late Professor Ebers in 1872-3, and which is now preserved in Leipzig.  This papyrus is about 65 feet long, and the text is written in the hieratic character.  It was written in the ninth year of the reign of a king who is not yet satisfactorily identified, but who probably lived before the period of the rule of the eighteenth dynasty, perhaps about 1800 B.C.  A short papyrus in the British Museum contains extracts from it, and other papyri with somewhat similar contents are preserved in the Museums of Paris, Leyden, Berlin, and California.

X. MAGICAL PAPYRI.—­The widespread use of magic in Egypt in all ages suggests that the magical literature of Egypt must have been very large.  Much of it was incorporated at a very early period into the Religious Literature of the country, and was used for legitimate purposes, in fact for the working of what we call “white magic.”  The Egyptian saw no wrong in the working of magic, and it was only condemned by him when the magician wished to produce evil results.  The gods themselves were supposed to use spells and incantations, and every traveller by land or water carried with him magical formulae which he recited when he was in danger from the wild beasts of the desert or the crocodile of the river and its canals.  Specimens of these will be found in the famous magical papyri in the British Museum, e.g. the Salt Papyrus, the Rhind Papyrus, and the Harris Papyrus.  Under this heading may be mentioned Papyrus Sallier IV in the British Museum, which contains a list of lucky and unlucky days.  Here is a specimen of its contents: 

    1st day of Hathor.  The whole day is lucky.  There is festival in
    heaven with Ra and Hathor.

    2nd day of Hathor.  The whole day is lucky.  The gods go out.  The
    goddess Uatchet comes from Tep to the gods who are in the shrine of
    the bull, in order to protect the divine members.

    3rd day of Hathor.  The whole day is lucky.

    4th day of Hathor.  The whole day is unlucky.  The house of the man
    who goes on a voyage on that day comes to ruin.