must have been written with the aid of a magnifying glass;--indeed, a magnifying lens of crystal, now exhibited in the British Museum, was found on the site of this library at Nineveh. These tablets, like those at Nippur, cover a wide range of subjects: historical, mythological, linguistic, mathematical, geographical, and astronomical. The next in point of time among the great libraries of the ancient world was that at Pergamos in Asia Minor. Eumenes II. (197-159 B. C.) and other kings of Pergamos established a library in this city of ancient Mysia in which was stored a vast collection of manuscript books, approximating 200,000 rolls, written on papyrus and parchment. This library at Pergamos flourished for a period of one hundred and fifty years, or from its establishment on until it was given to Cleopatra by Antony, and transferred by his authority to Alexandria in order to replace one of the libraries which was said to have been destroyed by fire in the wars of Cæsar; and so, thenceforward, became incorporated in the Alexandrian Library and shared its fateful history. The city of Alexandria, located on the delta of the Nile, became--and remained for centuries both prior to and after the Christian Era had begun--preëminent among the cities of the age we are considering, as a literary center and source of intellectual virility. Grecian literature and learning flourished there under the patronage of the Ptolemies; and there, under Ptolemy I. (Ptolemy "Soter") at about 300 B. C., was begun the Alexandrian Library and Museum, the largest, most valuable, and the most renowned of all ancient libraries. While the Alexandrian Library was begun under the rule of Ptolemy "Soter," a general of Alexander the Great, it was during the reign of his son and successor, Ptolemy Philadelphus, that the Library took on organized proportions and greatly augmented resources. Ptolemy Philadelphus sent to all parts of Egypt, Greece, and Asia to secure the most valuable books; no exertions nor expense were spared to enrich and enlarge the collection in the Library; and he left, it is said, 100,000 volumes therein. Staffs of copyists were gathered in the Museum and search was continually made throughout Greece and Asia Minor for copies and duplicates of existing rolls. Extravagant prices were paid for books by the librarians (page 30) and thus a steady flow of literature was turned toward Alexandria from all parts of the then civilized world. The Library further grew, during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, and, as augmented by the collection of books from Pergamos, to the vast proportions of 700,000 books (all, of course, in manuscript) in this proud Capital on the Nile.