3i6 



NA'fURE 



[June 14, 191 7 



the general , body of fellows as to the introduction of 

 the amended statute, and not to proceed with any 

 recommendation for election under it before thorough 

 reconsideration of the whole question. Fear was ex- 

 pressed that the amended statute might result in the 

 election under (A) of "a politician, not at all neces- 

 sarily of high distinction, who may be engaged in 

 particular legislative or other public activity, on the 

 ground only that his election would assist the work of 

 the society," and under (B) of generous donors to the 

 society or other scientific institutions, and the chief 

 permanent officials of all departments of State con- 

 cerned with scientific matters. 



At the request of the memorialists, a special general 

 meeting was held on June 7 to reconsider the amended 

 statute, and the following resolution, moved by Sir 

 David Bruce and seconded by Sir E. Ray Lankester, 

 was carried after a long discussion : — "That this meet- 

 ing is of opinion that the council will serve the best 

 interests of the society by restoring Statute XII. to the 

 form it had before the change made in it by the council 

 on November 2, 1916, and by postponing further con- 

 sideration of the statute relating to the election of 

 fellows until after the termination of the war." 



The action of the council in endeavouring to provide 

 for the election of a few fellows on a broader basis 

 than at present exists is thus practically undone. It 

 was thought bv some fellows that opposition to the 

 new statute might have been met by a resolution to 

 suspend elections under it during the war, and to 

 leave any question of rescinding it until after the war ; 

 but, the meeting decided to refer back to the council 

 the whole question of amendment. A new council is, 

 however, now in office, and the considerations which 

 led to the recommendation of the amended statute 

 will have to be gone over again in detail for the 

 benefit of the new members when the resolution comes 

 before the council. 



THE ANIMAL SYMBOL OF THE EGYPTIAN 

 DEITY, SET. 



MG. DARESSY has been writing ^ concerning the 

 • long-disputed question as to the identity of one 

 of the animals which the old Egyptians selected as 

 the symbol of their malevolent deity. Set, or Seth. 

 Among creatures suggested as intended by the 

 Egyptian artists have been the jackal, hare, oryx, and 

 okapi, but all these assignments have been abandoned. 



Two years ago Dr. Schweinfurth decided upon the 

 or^'cterope, or anteater, the Erdferkel of the Sudan and 

 Aardvaark of the Boers, because of the almost abso- 

 lute resemblance of its head and snout to the Set 

 quadrupeds. 



The long legs and tail shown in Egyptian drawings, 

 the tail often depicted vertically erect, and with 

 double tufted end, render this attribution difficult, so 

 M. Daressy has reviewed the question from the 

 archaeological side, summarising important Egyptian 

 writings, and citing the delineations of the Set animal 

 by their draughtsmen. From the literary side he illus- 

 trates the question from myth and stories of Set, of 

 whom the creature was the crest, totem, and symbolic 

 hieroglyph. 



In the myths, when Set, with his name changed to 

 Souti, became ally, instead of foe, of Horus, he was 

 deemed lord of Upper Egypt, as Horus was of Lower 

 Egypt and the Delta. This suggests that Set may 

 have been a ruler of Upper Egypt, who warred with 

 Osiris, King of Lower Egypt, and later also with 

 Horus. 



Although the myths speak of Set as god of evil, 



1 M. Daressy's article may be found in the BuUejin de I'lnstitut Francais 

 d'Arch^ologie Orientale, tome xiii., pp. 77-52. 



NO. 2485, VOL. 99] 



darkness, and the sterile deserts, the fact of his in 

 some cases being said to have been reconciled to 

 Horus, though he had assassinated Horus 's father, 

 Osiris, caused Set to be semi-deified, and a few shrines 

 for his worship have been found as Souti. At Edfu 

 he was a crocodile, though never worshipped under 

 that type, crocodile deities such as Sobk and Pne- 

 pheros being different concepts. Set took other evil 

 animal forms, such as the boar and swine, creatures 

 abhorred in many religions. M. Daressy argues 

 that the Set animal is really a creation of the imagina- 

 tion, the object of the design being to depict a 

 creature so constructed as to be impotent to destroy 

 Horus. If this was so, it is futile to search for the 

 creature in either the existing or fossil fauna of Africa. 



Egyptian drawing 

 of head of Set 

 animal. 



Orycierope aethiopicus. 



Set Pharaonic 

 crest. 



M. Daressy thinks the design embodies all the most 

 opposite characters to those of a boar. If so, the 

 animal is merely a fantastic design to symbolise the 

 evil aspect of the deity. 



But once in Egyptian history a Pharaoh, instead of 

 using the falcon, which was their solar Horus dynastic 

 crest, for his totem, in the Second or Third Dvnasty 

 employed for his honour the Set animal. This king 

 was probably ruler of Upper Egypt solely, but his 

 successor, to assure his subjects that he was under 

 the tutelary protection of all Egypt's deities, used the 

 double crests of the Set animal and Horus falcon, 

 and the Set one was never used again for a royal 

 symbol. It is very improbable this would have been 

 done if the Set figure was , 



a sort of serio-comic in- 

 vention. 



It should be borne in 

 mind that the ancient 

 Egyptian animal -gods 

 were (unless Set is an ex- 

 ception) real existing 

 creatures. The Sphinx 

 was not a god, or even 

 totem of any particular 

 deity. In the tombs at 

 Beni Hassan various fan- 

 tastic animals are depicted 

 as denizens of the desert, 

 and real ones also. The 

 Set creature is there 

 placed between a real and 

 an imaginary one. An 

 interesting fact is that 

 the greater the anti- 

 quity of the figure, the less abnormal are its 

 features from those of a dog, or jackal, or some 

 allied species. Thus on some of the Serekh figures 

 containing the name of the early dynasty Pharaoh, 

 Perabsen, the Set quadruped is identical with old 

 Egyptian drawings of jackals, which were sacred to 

 Anubis excepting for its long erect tail, which has not 

 the forked ending introduced later. 



This Pharaoh only bore the Upper Egypt crown, so 

 the creature, if a real one, may not have existed in 

 Lower Egypt, and Set himself, as noted, seems to 

 have ruled in Upper Egypt only. 



It is just possible tl^at remains of a member of the 



Head of Set in Spink collection. 



