June io, 1897] 



NATURE 



141 



carries additional information to that which may be gathered 

 merely from the shape of the article. Crushing stone, hammer- 

 ing or breaking it, by heat or cold, by pressure applied in any 

 of the many known ways, each and every item of personal 

 work has its value, and no one can say in advance to what its 

 inspection may lead. We gather here, if the author be correct 

 in his claims, data which no one could have anticipated in 

 advance of experiments. 



The long-stone drill points are found unsuited to boring sub- 

 stances which wood and dry sand will cut with ease. Soft 

 wood is shown to be as unsuited as is hard wood for drill shafts. 

 The hard stone point is found to cut steatite or wood quite 



Fig 5.— Top Drill 



readily, but is easily broken if it is attempted to bore hard stone 

 with it. The study has been a careful one, has extended over a 

 long period, and no known source of information has been inten- 

 tionally neglected. Personal acquaintance with drills and their 

 workings, as developed in the paper, is calculated to familiarise 

 one with the Australian or American producing fire with the 

 plain shaft-drill. It enables us to see in a new light Ulysses 

 and his companions boring the eye from the Cyclops king. It 

 gives a new interpretation to one of the incarnations of Vishnu. 

 The remark of the latter, that their foes "should share their 

 toil," suggests further, that instead of the "Nile gods" being 



Fig. 6. — Disc Drill on Base of Statue of Amennemhat. 



shown in Fig. 6, we see the citizens of a subjugated territory 

 performing ordinary menial labour. The so-called "gods" 

 themselves are usually females, Negro or Asiatic, who hold the 

 straps of the drill. It will be interesting to inquire whether 

 under the late Nubian dynasty the Negro disappears from the 

 work, and the Egyptian takes the subordinate place when the 

 latter became subject to the Negro dynasty. The drill repre- 

 sented in the closing pages of the paper is capable of performing 

 more and better work in boring stone than any other known 

 hand-implement, either of ancient or modern date. This drill 

 familiarises us somewhat with the high degree of skill possessed 



NO. 1 44 1, VOL. 56] 



by the Egyptian workman of a remote antiquity. The author, in 

 reproducing the Egyptian drill, has no doubts as to the identity 

 of its shaft, its disc, the straps used to revolve it, or of the 

 principle upon which it worked. He also believes that it was 

 braced in some way. The bracing and method of tightening down 

 the braces, invariably accompanying the drill, and even the pos- 

 sibility of the shafts having been tautened by strings or straps, 

 are matters not satisfactorily interpreted. It will be a matter 

 of interest to have more examples of this implement, which 

 acquaints us with the man of Ancient Egypt in possession of a 

 very complicated machine at a period in the life of the nation 

 centuries prior to any date heretofore suggested. The scarcity 

 of works and photographs on Egypt accessible to the author, 

 prevents the hope that he may further interpret with available 

 material the braces and means of tightening down this drill ; but 

 it is suggested that, in Europe and the East, there may be found 

 sufficient data to answer this enigma. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford.— Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., has been appointed a 

 delegate to attend the International Geological Congress to be 

 held at St. Petersburg in August or September next. 



The following examiners for the Honour School of Natural 

 Science have been appointed : — Physics : Mr. S. A. F. White. 

 Chemistry: Mr. V. H. Veley, F.R.S. Physiology: Prof. 

 F. Gotch, F.R.S. Morphology: Mr. G. C. Bourne, Mr. 

 Adam Sedgwick, F.R.S. Botany: Mr. P. Groom, Mr. 

 R. W. Phillips. Geology: Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., Dr. J. 

 W. Gregory. 



There are thirty-eight entries this year in Natural Science ; 

 eighteen of these are in physiology, twelve in chemistry, three 

 in animal morphology and physics respectively, and two in 

 geology. 



The degree of Honorary M.A. has been conferred upon the 

 Mayor of Oxford, Alderman Buckell, J. P. This is the first 

 time that the University has conferred a degree on the Mayor of 

 the city. 



Miss Kingsley gave a public lecture at Manchester College ork 

 Friday last, on "The Connection of Fetish with West Africaa 

 Customary Law : a Study in Primitive Religion." 



Cambridge. — The Rev. Prof. Wiltshire has presented to the 

 Woodwardian Museum his valuable geological librar}', consist- 

 ing of about 600 volumes and 900 pamphlets. 



Prof. Macalister announces a course in Osteology, and Mr. 

 J. E. Marr a course in Practical Geology, in the ensuing Long 

 Vacation. 



The Council of the Senate propose the re-establishment of the 

 Professorship of Chinese, held by the late Sir Thomas F. Wade. 

 It is understood that a distinguished Chinese scholar is willing, 

 to accept the office without stipend, and to undertake the charge 

 of the magnificent collection of Chinese books given to the 

 University by the late Professor. The collection is said to be 

 unmatched in Europe, and probably in China. 



The examination in Agricultural Science for the University's 

 diploma will be held from July 5 to July 12. 



The degree of LL. D. is to be conferred on Colonel Maharaj, 

 Dhiraj Sir Pratap Singh, K.C.S.I., as representing India, on. 

 June 17, when the Colonial Premiers are to receive honorary 

 degrees. 



A grant of 3CX)/. from the Worts Fund has been made to Dr. 

 A. C. Haddon, towards the expenses of an anthropological ex- 

 pedition to the Torres Straits. It is understood that Dr. Haddon 

 will be accompanied by two or three other Cambridge men 

 skilled in various branches of anthropological research, and bv 

 an expert in the Melanesian languages. 



A grant of 100/. has also been made to Mr. H. H. W. Pearson 

 for botanical research in Ceylon. 



Dr. Humphry, Dr. Foxwell, Dr. Sidney Martin, and Dr. 

 Mitchell Bruce have been appointed Examiners in Medicine ; Dr. 

 Phillips and Dr. Cullingworth, Examiners in Midwifery ; and 

 Mr. Pitts, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Watson-Cheyne, and Mr. Golding- 

 Bird, Examiners in Surgery for the ensuing year. 



The London Technical Education Board has appointed Dr. 

 J. O. W. Barratt to the scholarship in sanitary* science. Dr. 

 Barratt will commence his research work under the pathological 

 superintendent at Claybury Asylum during the present summer. 



