December 29, 1910] 



NATURE 



27. 



that the little island was really wealthier than 

 Gournia, which at the time (about 1700-1400 B.C.) was 

 probably the local provincial capital of the isthmus 

 district. This wealth must have been due to seafaring 

 trade, and probably to a great fishing industry, for 

 agriculture there could be none on Pseira, even if in 

 those days (as seems likely) there were water springs 

 which now have dried up. 



Then, about the end of the First Late Minoan Period 

 (about 1500 B.C.), came a catastrophe. The town, 

 which, like other settlements of the Cretan thalasso- 

 crats, even on the coast, was undefended by walls 

 and open to attack, was taken, destroyed, and sacked 

 by some unknown enemy. It never recovered, being 

 oiily occupied for a short time during the Roman 

 period. 



To this disaster we owe, as Mr. Seager well points 

 out, the preservation of so many objects of high in- 

 terest. Gold, siver, and bronze were all looted and 

 carried off ; hence the comparative rarity of metal 

 objects. But the fine pottery which is of so great 

 interest to us now as evidence of the culture of its 

 makers was unvalued by sea-robbers, and so, here, 

 as elsewheFe in ancient towns which have been de- 

 stroyed by a catastrophe, we find this pottery and 

 other remains of value to us exactly where it was left 

 by the expelled or destroyed owners, or where the rage 

 of the conqueror cast it forth. " On all sites the period 

 of destruction is the one which leaves the richest 

 harvest for the excavator. As long as a site is in 

 continuous occupation the earlier deposits are only the 

 refuse of breakage and objects which have ceased to 

 be of service to their owners. They are thrown into 

 rubbish-heaps and used as artificial fillings to make 

 even floors over naturally uneven surfaces. Where, 

 as at Pseira, the town was destroyed in the height of 

 its prosperity, with no extensive later settlements to 

 disturb its ruins, the finds are, of course, unusually 

 rich " (p. 10). 



I have no space for any critical discussion of tech- 

 nical points of archaeology, but may say that Mr. 

 Seager 's description of his fi.nds in this summary 

 report is both able and interesting. The publication is 

 well produced, its plates are admirable, and its line 

 illustrations well and accurately drawn. It is a worthy 

 addition to the series of anthropological publications 

 of the Pennsylvania University Museum, of which it 

 '^ .-ms the first number in the third volume. Soon we 

 oe to see a similar report on Mr. Seager's later and 

 -vA\ more interesting discoveries at Mokhlos, another 

 I isle, east of Pseira, where tombs have yielded gold 

 I treasures like those of Troy, and as old. Mr. Seager 

 jis to be congratluated on his admirable contributions 

 to the great work, important and useful alike to 

 nee and to art, which is being carried out by the 

 avators of ancient Crete. H. R. Hall. 



T 



THE LEAD GLAZE QUESTION.^ 

 HE report referred to below is the outcome of the 

 deliberations of a committee appointed by Lord 

 Gladstone in May, 1908, to consider a question" which 

 has engaged the attention of the Home Office and 

 Parliament for several years past, and has already 

 been the subject of inquiry by several depart- 

 mental committees. It is a matter of common know- 

 ledge that persons engaged in the making of earthen- 

 ware and china are subjected to considerable risk to 

 ' "^alth from two main cases — dust and lead. The 



Report of the Department Committee appointed to inquire into the 



gers attendant on the use of Lead and the Danger or Injury to Health 

 ing from Dust and other Causes in the Manufacture of Earthenware and 



la and in the Processes incidental thereto, including the Making of 

 lographic Transfers. Presented to both Houses of Parliament bv Com- 

 id of His Majesty. Vol. i. Report. Pp. vii 4-150. (London: H.M.S.O., 



.) Price ts. $d. 



NO. 2148, VOL. 85] 



dust arises from the finely-divided silicious matter, 

 mainly ground flint, employed in various stages and 

 processes of ceramic manufacture ; this when breathed 

 gives rise to distressing bronchial and lung troubles, 

 and in an aggravated form leads to the malady known 

 as "potter's rot." 



The danger arising from dust may be largely 

 obviated by the use ot mechanical and other appliances 

 whereby tfte operative is prevented from inhaling the 

 dust-laden atmosphere. By the more general use of 

 exhaust-fans or other suitable ventilatmg machinery, 

 and by the employment of respirators, cases of 

 "potter's rot" are less frequent now than formerly. 

 At the same time much remains to be done by a more 

 stringent application of these remedial measures. It 

 was only in 1894 that the Home Office issued the first 

 code of special rules dealing with dusty processes. 

 The evil is patent and notorious ; it is, however, not 

 very satisfactory to be told that we must wait for the 

 statistics of 1920-2 before we can estimate the real 

 value of these special rules. If public opinion moved 

 as fast on the dust problem as it has on the lead 

 question, we should not have to wait ten or twelve 

 years before this crying evil was absolutely stamped 

 out, and "potter's rot" become as much a thing of 

 the past as "phossy jaw." 



It is, however, mainly to the dangers attendant on 

 the use of lead in pottery manufacture that public 

 sentiment has been roused, and it has been largely 

 in deference to this feeling that the several depart- 

 mental committees above alluded to have been ap- 

 pointed. It is only by "pegging away" in this 

 manner that such amelioration as has been secured 

 has been reached. 



The pottery industry in this country is mainly 

 centred in North Staffordshire. Of the 63,000 workers 

 in the 550 factories scattered throughout the United 

 Kingdom, 48,000 are employed in the 329 "pot- 

 banks " in the district known as the " Potteries." 

 Owing to special circumstances, arising largely from 

 local conditions of employment, no systematic 

 attempts to grapple with the evil of lead poisoning 

 have been made by the manufacturers as a bodj-. 

 Individual firms, with intelligent management, have 

 succeeded in minimising the mischief, but the laxity 

 of other firms has at times more than neutralised 

 the benefits which have been secured by the more 

 general adoption of the precautionary measure which 

 common-sense seemed to indicate and experi- 

 ence has shown to be adequate. The manufacturers 

 as a body have, in fact, been content to wait until 

 outside pressure has forced them into action, mainly 

 by rules and regulations issued by the Home Office, 

 and based on the suggestions or recommendations of 

 departmental committees appointed ad hoc. 



The committee which has now reported has gone 

 over much of the ground already traversed bv its 

 predecessors, or which occupied the attention of those 

 engaged in the prolonged arbitration under Lord 

 James, leading up to the special rules of December, 

 1903. But it cannot be said that any real progress 

 has been made. Although it has been established that 

 a large amount of earthenware can be made without 

 the use of lead in any form, and even in the cases 

 where lead must be used, it has been proved that the 

 lead may be so combined that it is practically inno- 

 cuous, the manufacturers as a body have hitherto 

 resisted any attempt to prescribe a schedule of articles 

 which should be made with leadless glaze, or to bind 

 themselves to use grlazes in which the lead is in an 

 innocuous form. They, in fact, demand unrestricted 

 liberty to use any materials they think necessary for 

 their purposes. The loud cry of " foreign cornpeti- 

 tion " is sufficient to drown the still, small voice of 

 pity raised on behalf of the workers. 



