Memoirs Relative to Egypt Published during the Campaign of General Bonaparte in the Years 1789 and 1799 (Mémoires sur l'Égypte, publiés pendant les campagnes du Général Bonaparte dans les années 1798 and 1799) was published by The Learned and Scientific Men during Napoleon's Campaign in Egypt in 1800. A collection of writings, the memoirs' four volumes detail some of the most foundational scientific research on the Middle East by Western scholars. The memoirs were eventually worked into The Description of Egypt, or the Collection of Observations and Research which were made in Egypt during the Expedition of the French Army (La Description de l'Égypte, ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée française), an accumulation of various research done during Napoleon's campaign that would ultimately be presented to the French government in two volumes.
Organization & Content
The book is not divided neatly into chapters and the only divisions are by specific piece of research followed by another specific piece of research. Essentially, the book is a collection of primary source documents about living as a researcher through Napoleon’s campaign and various pieces of research that were collected from the adventure. Few scholars have written on the organization of the memoirs, but one who did is the British historian of science George John Singer. In a July 1816 issue of The Eclectic Review, Singer praised the memoirs for their ground-breaking insights, but expressed great confusion at why the research was organized the way it is and how exactly specific areas were chosen to be comprehensively researched or even investigated at all.
Nevertheless, there are a few patterns amongst the works that can be highlighted to gain a brief overview of the book's research without having to read through the entire work. However, it is crucial to remember that these are just generic themes throughout the memoirs that are not officially organized by or even stated by the authors. Furthermore, sometimes writings overlap between the following artificial categories. The re-occurring themes are military reports, geographical discoveries, and colonial subject descriptions.
Military reports - in this context - refer to pieces of research that deal with aspects such as weaponry, updates on campaign progress, medical findings, and narratives by army personnel. Examples of these writings include "A Report Relative to the Manufacture of the Saltpeter and Gunpowder of Egypt" and "Account of the Prevailing Opthalmia of Egypt." The quality of writing various greatly from piece to piece with different authors, likely a sign that some people on the expedition were more academically-inclined towards the liberal arts while others were geared toward the sciences or military.
Geographical discoveries refer to research relating to directions, topography, and other aspects at least peripherally related to land or location. A few examples in the book are "Description of the Route from Cairo to Isalehhyeh," "Observations on the Arabian Horses of the Desert," and "Plan of an Agricultural Establishment in Egypt." A trend that re-occurs throughout much of this theme is that many of the pieces were not written in the scientific manner traditionally used in the Western world of today. For instance, "Description of the Route from Cairo to Isalehhyeh" begins with praise by the French for Egypt's historic success in being a hub for literature in Africa and the Middle East, an introduction quite different from the bland third person narrative of academic jargon that encompasses much contemporary scientific research.
The last general theme is the preservation of descriptions of France's colonial subjects in Egypt. A couple examples of these writings include "An Arabian Ode on the Conquest of Egypt" and "Concerning the Coptic Monasteries." However, it is important to note that the writings are written by French scholars and not the colonial subjects themselves. As a result, this opens up the debate regarding whether or not the depictions were fully accurate, a controversy that has existed since the late 1970s called "Orientalism."
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