466 



NATURE 



[April 15, 1922 



and College officers— is to be the ultimate authority, 

 its decision being checked, in the event of a strong 

 opposing minority, by an appeal to the larger body 

 of non-residents. A second affirmative vote by the 

 resident body is, however, to be decisive. Unless a 

 minority recommendation, signed by two of the 

 Cambridge committee, calling for immediate Parlia- 

 mentary action is adopted, the position of women at 

 Cambridge is left for decision by the new House of 

 Residents. The Commissioners do, however, support a 

 scheme for full membership, with restriction in numbers 

 to 500, — essentially scheme A rejected by the Senate 

 in December 1920. Special grants, earmarked for the 

 women's colleges, of 4000Z. a year to each University 

 for a period of 10 years should be a great help to 

 them in their present financial difficulties and a great 

 incentive for a renewal of appeals for benefactions 

 from the public. 



Other special grants recommended are 6000/. a year 

 to each University for the development of the valuable 

 extra-mural teaching, and special arrangements are 

 suggested for allowing selected adults to join the 

 University without passing the entrance examination 

 to be imposed on all ordinary undergraduates. The 

 importance of the non-collegiate body of students is 

 emphasised as being economical, especially suitable 

 for certain types of students and historically the 

 oldest form of residence in both places. The minimum 

 cost at Oxford in 1920, in cheap lodgings of non- 

 collegiate residence, including board and lodging, is 

 given in the report as 65Z. 



A summary of the report has already appeared 

 in our columns (April i, p. 428). It is impossible to 

 enter here into all the important questions raised as 

 to the cost of living and the regulations as to college 

 finance. It is equally impossible to conclude this 

 article without reference to the enthralling historical 

 survey of the growth of the Universities with which 

 the report opens. 



The First European Civilisation. 



The Palace of Minos : A Comparative Account oj 

 the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilisa- 

 tion as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. 

 By Sir Arthur Evans. Vol. i. The Neolithic and 

 Early and Middle Minoan Ages. Pp. xxiv + 72i + 

 18 plates -1- plans, etc. (London: Macmillan and 

 Co., Ltd., 1921.) 6 guineas. 



THE excavations at Knossos were described by 

 Sir Arthur Evans in detailed reports which 

 appeared in the Annual of the British School at Athens 

 from 1900 to 1905, and were reviewed from time to 

 time in these columns. For years afterwards he and 

 NO. 2737, VOL. 109] 



his adjutant. Dr. Mackenzie, were engaged in supple- 

 mentary work, which involved much digging, in 

 addition to the laboratory processes of cleaning, 

 restoring, and classifying an enormous mass of finds. 

 The history of successive rebuildings was unravelled, 

 and the sequence of pottery-types verified by new 

 trial-pits. Meanwhile discoveries on other sites have 

 filled gaps and supplied chronological data, so that 

 the rise of Cretan civilisation can be correlated step 

 by step with that of Egypt. The magnificent volume 

 before us is the first of three in which Sir Arthur 

 Evans proposes to embody his mature conclusions ; 

 it covers two of the three main periods into which he 

 divides the Cretan Bronze Age, and the introduction 

 includes an outline sketch of the whole course of 

 Minoan culture. Much of the material, as of the 

 interpretation, is new. The book is abundantly 

 illustrated, with plans and sections by Mr. Theodore 

 Fyfe and Mr. C. C. T. Doll, drawings by the two 

 Gillierons, Mr. Halvor Bagge, and Mr. C. T. Lambert, 

 and many excellent photographs. Even more impres- 

 sive than the extent of the excavation is the skill with 

 which it has been carried through. One wishes that 

 this enterprise, to which the author has so long devoted 

 his private fortune and his unrivalled insight into 

 prehistoric problems, had been more liberally backed 

 by pubhc subscription. 



In a notice such as this, one can touch only on a 

 few aspects of the story which the author unfolds. 

 He emphasises the continuity of Cretan civilisation ; 

 " from the earliest Minoan stage to the latest there 

 is no real break such as might be naturally explained 

 by conquest from abroad." The Neolithic strata at 

 Knossos are 23 ft. deep, the accumulated debris of 

 several thousand years. If the incised pottery and 

 nude female idols recall those of Anatolian sites, this 

 points to a common heritage rather than to intercourse 

 between distant tribes. Over a vast area of Europe 

 and Western Asia the same low level of rude culture 

 had endured for many centuries without notable 

 progress. The sudden quickening of the Cretan stock 

 which made their island the cradle of European civilisa- 

 tion, came from pre-dynastic Egypt. " It may well 

 be asked whether, in the time of stress and change 

 that marked the triumph of the dynastic element in 

 the Nile Valley, some part of the older population 

 may not have made an actual settlement on the soil 

 of Crete " — a daring hypothesis which future discoveries 

 may confirm ; the south coast and western half of 

 the island have been little explored and certainly hold 

 surprises in store. 



Pre-dynastic stone vases seem to have reached 

 Knossos before the accession of Menes, for which 

 the author accepts Eduard Meyer's date, 3315 B.C. 



