November 24. 192 1] 



NATURE 



419 



Egypt. It is probable that the erection of a repre- 

 sentation of the deceased over his grave belongs to 

 the same complex. 



The cumulative evidence of mummification, coffins, 

 and anthropomorphic figures gives strong support to 

 the belief that the resemblances between Ancient 

 Egypt and Modern Africa are due to transmission of 

 culture. Is this transmission of cultui;e the result of 

 direct influence from Egypt to Africa (or vice versa)., 

 or is it due to the common ancestr\- of Ancient 

 Egyptians and Modern Hamites? This last possibility 

 is untenable, since the histor>' of mummification can 

 be traced from its beginning in Egypt, whereas in 

 Africa it appears to occur only in a fairly developed 

 state. This further precludes the possibility of 

 African influence on Egypt, leaving as the only solu- 

 tion that various Egyptian practices were transmitted 

 to Africa, where they have survived, in a more or less 

 degraded form, until the present day. 



Why do these survivals occur in distant parts of 

 the Continent rather than in the north and east? 

 Two hypotheses are possible : (i) That elements of 

 Egyptian culture were transmitted to various parts 

 of Africa by land, but survive only in areas where 

 pastoral peoples have not penetrated ; (2) that sea- 

 farers established a centre of Egyptian civilisation 

 on the Guinea Coast, whence their influence spread 

 inland with ever-lessening intensity. 



The presence in East .Africa of a few isolated in- 

 stances of the practices under consideration supports 

 the first hypothesis. On the other hand, the evidence 

 of Egyptian civilisation in West Africa raises the 

 possibility of a settlement on the coast itself. It is 

 probable that much of the culture of the Canary 

 Islands was of Egyptian origin, and the islands may 

 have served as a base for voyages further south. 



In opening the discussion which followed the read- 

 ing of the paper the president said that the question 

 involved three distinct problems : (i) Was there anv 

 relation between burial customs in West .Africa and 

 those of Ancient Egypt? (2) Did the influence pene- 

 trate by land or sea, and why were these customs 

 absent from the greater part of Africa? (3) What 

 was the date of the movements by which they were 

 introduced? Miss Murray said that regarding the 

 evidence from the chronological, rather than from 

 the geographical, point of view, she required further 

 proof of connection. Similarity was no proof. For 

 instance, the ceremonial of royal funerals in this 

 country had been identical in many points with that of 

 the royal funerals of Ancient Egypt; but it did not 

 follow that they were connected. The types of 

 mummification cited belonged to the earliest times. 



Prof. Elliot Smith pointed out that the customs 

 cited by the author, so far from being early in date, 

 belonged to a small group of dynasties of the late 

 Empire, ranging mainly from the nineteenth to the 

 twenty-second dynasties. This gave the earliest date 

 for the diffusion of these customs. ITiey had spread 

 by land across the Continent and down the Niger; 

 but there was definite evidence of a later diffusion 

 by sea in the sixth century B.C. The distribution 

 should be compared with the occurrence of gold. Mr. 

 Peake said that these customs must have been intro- 

 duced at an early date, and clearly were not in- 

 digenous, as climatic conditions were not favourable 

 to the independent development of mummification. 

 The distribution was probably due, not to the 

 occurrence of gold, but to the fact that an incoming 

 people, arriving from the grasslands, would follow the 

 line of least resistance along the open glades of the 

 forest and the river valleys. 



Mr. Torday suggested that the use of the coffin 

 NO. 2717, VOL. 108] 



might be due to European influence, while the distri- 

 bution was due not to gold — there was no forest gold 

 — but to the fact that these customs had been re- 

 ported by travellers who had followed the beaten 

 track. Further, was there not more reason to be- 

 lieve that these customs had been introduced into 

 Egypt from .Africa rather than vice versa? Dr. 

 Stannus said that the custom of plugging the nostrils 

 of a corpse, on which stress had been laid, was wide- 

 spread in .Africa, and was intended to arrest the rapid 

 setting in of decomposition through the agency of 

 flies. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Bristol. — Prof. T. Loveday, principal of University 

 College, Southampton, and formerlv professor of 

 philosophy at .Armstrong College, Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne, has been appointed vice-chancellor of the Uni- 

 versitv in succession to Sir Isambard Owen, recently 

 retired. 



Cambridge. — Mr. W. E. H. Berwick. University 

 lecturer in mathematics at Leeds University, has been 

 elected to a fellowship at Clare College. 



The list of those who voted last month on the 

 position of women at Cambridge has now been pub- 

 lished. It shows a strong majority among the resi- 

 dents in favour of the compromise scheme. .As had 

 been generally surmised, this scheme was thrown 

 out by the non-resident voter. 



Leeds. — Mr. E. C. Williams has been selected for 

 the post of research chemist to the Joint Benzole 

 Research Committee of the University and the 

 National Benzole .Association, and he was officially 

 appointed by the council on November 16 last. Mr. 

 Williams graduated in 19 14 at the Universitv of Man- 

 chester with first-class honours in the School of 

 Chemistry. He was awarded the Mercer and Dalton 

 research scholarships for research theses, and a soec'al 

 Universit\- prize for physical chemistry. His M.Sc. 

 was gained by research, and later he was appointed 

 research chemist to British Dyes, Ltd., where for the 

 past four and a half years he has been engaged, not 

 onlv upon laboratory research, but also on large-scale 

 work and administration, as head of the department 

 at the Dalton Works, Huddersfield, for the manufac- 

 ture of intermediate products. Mr. Williams's work 

 will centre at the Univfrsity of Leeds in the Depart- 

 ment of Coal-gas and Fuel Industries, where labora- 

 torv facilities are provided, but will also be carried out 

 so far as mav be found desirable on the plants en- 

 gaged in benzole production and laboratories attached 

 thereto. 



LoKDON. — The Senate has adopted a resolution that 

 the recentlv erected inorganic and physical chemistry 

 laboratories at University College should be named 

 after the late Sir William Ranisav. 



Mr. E. R. Weidlein has been appointed director 

 of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, L'ni- 

 versity of Pittsburgh. 



The Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological 

 Society has organised a course of six public lectures 

 on topics of local archaeological interest which are 

 being delivered at Southampton. Two lectures have 

 already been given, and it is gratifying to learn that 

 the attendance has in each case been between 350 

 and 400, of whom nearly 300 were persons who had 

 obtained serial tickets. We note that the lecturers 

 are giving their services free, and all the profits 

 made will be devoted to publishing original research. 



