Acknowledgment and thanks for permitting the use of the following selections–“The Dawn of Civilisation,” “The Struggle of the Nations” and “The Passing of the Empires,” by Gaston Maspero–which appear in this volume, are hereby tendered to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, of London, England.Island in

Gaston Camille Charles Maspero, born on June 23, 1846, in Paris, is one of the most renowned of European experts in philology and Egyptology, having in great part studied his special subjects on Oriental ground. After occupying for several years the Chair of Egyptology in the École des Hautes Études at the Sorbonne in Paris, he became, in 1874, Professor of Egyptian Philology and Archæology at the Collège de France. From 1881 to 1886 he acted in Egypt as director of the Boulak Museum. It was under his superintendence that this museum became enriched with its choicest antique treasures.