Only a fool would go...
Illustration
Object:
Only a fool would go digging randomly in the desert -- unless he knew his faith was not
misplaced. During the British expedition against the French in Egypt in 1801, the English
troops found themselves marching across sand, not far from Alexandria, and running out
of water. One of the British soldiers, Sir George Murray, had a classical education. He
remembered that Julius Caesar had suffered the same problem in almost exactly the same
spot. He lost no time in consulting the copy of Caesar's writings that he always carried
with him. He learned the Romans had found water by digging wells in the sand to a
specified depth. Murray set his men to work. They soon found a plentiful supply of fresh
water.
