7P 



NATURE 



[March 17, 192 1 



which will doubtless disappear in a second edition. 

 Thus the toadstool in Fig. 146 which purports to 

 be Amanita, muscaria is clearly a Cojjf inus ; 

 Fuqaria is said to be dioecious ; Kerner von 

 Marilaun appears as "Korner"; "Nasturtium 

 Tropaeolum," is an unwelcome comhinatio nova. 

 Among- g-ood features of the book may be noted 

 the section on the seasonal life of certain common 

 plants, and the inclusion of Chlamydomonas as 

 a type for detailed study. Without a first-hand 

 knowledg^e of the requirements of American uni- 

 versities and colleg-es, it is difficult to say how 

 this book will be received in its own country. 

 There is not likely to be much demand for it on 

 this side of the Atlantic. 



(2) The book of practical exercises, though 

 open to the same general criticisms as its com- 

 panion volume, is more satisfactory on the whole. 

 Some important subjects, such as sieve-tubes, the 

 stoma, the ascus, and the angiospermic ovule, 

 might have been dealt with in more detail. 



M. D. 



Theban Tombs. 



(i) The Tomh of Amenemhet. (No. 82.) Copied 

 in line and colour by Nina de Garis Davies, 

 and with explanatory text by Dr. Alan H. 

 Gardiner. (The Theban Tombs Series. First 

 and Introductory Memoir.) Pp. vii+132 + xlvi 

 plates. (Published under the auspices of the 

 Egypt Exploration Fund.) (London : George 

 Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1915-) 2 guineas 

 net. 



(2) The T&mb of Ante faker, Vizier of Sesostris 1., 

 and of his Wife, Senet. (No. 60.) By N. 

 de Garis Davies. With a chapter by Dr. 

 Alan H. Gardiner. (The Theban Tombs Series. 

 Second Memoir.) Pp. iii4-4o + xlviii plates. 

 (London : George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1920.) 

 2 guineas net. 



THE importance of the series of painted tombs 

 at Thebes for the history of civilisation is 

 at last being adequately met by publication. A 

 "Theban Tombs Series" has been started by Mr. 

 Davies and Dr. Gardiner with the scrupulously 

 accurate copies by Mrs. Davies. The style is 

 adequate to every requirement, without the fastu- 

 osity of luxurious book-making. The pictures of 

 an age that overlaps the most brilliant civilisation 

 of prehistoric Europe, about 1500-1200 B.C., are 

 worthy of the fullest record that can be made. 



(i) In this volume there is much to illustrate 



Egyptian thought and ideas. The conventions of 



the drawing arise from the need for a complete and 



absolute figure of each object, regardless of the 



NO. 2681, VOL. 107] 



limitations of the view of it ; if it were not comr 

 plete, the magic value of the figure would be im- 

 paired or lost, and a merely relative view would 

 not suffice. At first, in the pre-pyramid times, the 

 paintings of objects were the exact size of the 

 object. A discussion of the magic value of paint- 

 ings ends in an open verdict ; those entirely hidden 

 in the burial chamber could only be magical ; while 

 biographies and other matter which was prominent 

 to the public were memorial. The crippling of 

 paintings by imperfect figures of noxious animals^ 

 or erasures of important parts, shows how much 

 magic value was considered. The eldest-son priest 

 was effaced, to hinder the value of offerings ; the 

 eyes of figures were picked out, that they might 

 never see again; the drawing of the surveyor's 

 measuring-rope was cut across, that he might 

 never use it in a future state. The whole ritual 

 of funeral scenes is discussed here, and also the 

 meaning of the constant formula ^" an offering 

 which the king gives." The likely meaning of this 

 is omitted, however ; the regular system of food- 

 rents, or right of boarding for the king, which 

 we find elsewhere, may well have existed in Egypt ;. 

 a later appropriation of this for the service of the 

 dead would constitute an offering legally by the 

 king. 



(2) This volume deals with almost the earliest 

 painted tomb at Thebes. The scenes are the usual 

 domestic, hunting, and funeral subjects known 

 elsewhere, but many of the phrases of the work- 

 men are very lifelike. The figures of fallow deer 

 show how much the desert fauna has changed. It 

 is to be hoped that the editors will publish a 

 large part of the hundred tombs which need their 

 care. W. M. Flinders Petrie. 



Our Bookshelf. 



Hittite Seals: With Particular Reference to the 

 Ashmolean Collection. By D. G. Hogarth. 

 Pp. xi+io8 4-x plates. (Oxford: At the 

 Clarendon Press, 1920.) 3Z. 135. 6d. net. 

 The opening out of the history of man during the 

 last thirty years has been quite as surprising as 

 the growth of other branches of science. In place 

 of trying to extract some further ideas from the 

 ragged relics of literature, we have learned how 

 to understand a civilisation without any intelligible 

 documents, and to place the remains of it in order 

 so as to show its abilities and to tell its course. 

 The volume here noted deals with a branch of the 

 Hittite work which has a wide historical interest, 

 for the small seals are distinctive in their styles, 

 and serve to show connections with work in other 

 lands ; they also were readily carried to other 

 countries, and thus are links with neighbouring 

 civilisations. 



Mr. Hogarth has a close knowledge of the 



