knowledge and to letters.  Egypt has furnished us with monuments of its
aboriginal inhabitants, which the ignorance and superstition of the Copts
and Mussulmans kept concealed from civilized countries.  The libraries of
the convents of the various countries have been ransacked by savants and
precious manuscripts have been brought to light. 

By no means the least interesting of the acquisitions is a fragment of
Petronius, which we offer to the public, taken from an ancient manuscript
which our soldiers, in conquering St.  Gall, have sent to us for
examination.  We have made an important discovery in reading a parchment
which contains the work of St.  Gennadius on the Duties of Priests, and
which, judging from the form of the letters employed, we should say was
written in the eleventh century.  A most careful examination led us to
perceive that the work by this saint had been written on pages containing
written letters, which had been almost effaced.  We know that in the dark
ages it was customary to write ecclesiastical works on the manuscripts
containing the best authors of Latinity. 

At a cost of much labor we have been able to decipher a morsel which we
give to the public: and of the authenticity of which there can be no