Note 36 — CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE. (continued 2)

Typhon, the genius of evil, is the great ancestor of the too-frequent deadly enemy of our own day, typhus and typhoid fever. In the Egyptian language we meet with many words which are in common use amongst ourselves at the present time:—Chemistry is derived from Chem, or Shem; Alabastron, was a city of Egypt; the Oasis of Ammon produces ammonia; the topaz and the sapphire are named after Topazion and Saparine on the Red Sea; the smaragd, or emerald, is found in Mount Smaragdus; and natron and nitre in Mount Nitria, &c. So that the world and all its mysteries are but a chain of mutually related links.