DISCOVERY 



59 



tions, or a subconscious fear prompting us to run away 

 from illness. This is a true enough explanation of many 

 cases, but does not apply to the average man. It 

 would b3 interesting to know how far nomadic ten- 

 dencies inherited from far-away ancestors account 

 for such a desire^a desire that has produced many 

 bsautiful lyric poems, from the spring ode (Carmen 

 XLVI) of the Roman Catullus to one of the last 

 lyrics written by a young poet, E. A. Mackintosh, in 

 the late war, and ending with the lines that express 

 the wish to be one of that band of 



" Lost adventurers, watching ever 

 Over the toss of the tricksy foam, 

 Many a joyous port and city. 

 Never the harbour lights of home." 

 ***** 



As individuals we still feel at times the inner call to 

 wander, to open up our horizons, to probe into the 

 unknown, though the tribes and races from whic h 

 we have inherited the instinct have long since ceased 

 to roam. Even the nomadic Arabs are fast settling 

 down to a more stationary' mode of existence, and in 

 Egypt one comes across their new villages on the out- 

 skirts of the cultivation of the Nile valley, on the edge 

 of the desert. But the gypsies still continue their 

 wanderings. Besides the many English gypsies in this 

 country', we have it on good authority that bands of 

 " Belgian " and " Servian " gypsies have lately found 

 their way here. In this connection we are glad to hear 

 that the Gypsy Lore Society is resuming its activities. 

 The society was first founded in 1888 by Mr. David 

 MacRitchie " to promote the study of the Language. 

 History, Ethnology', and Folk-lore of the Gypsy Race." 

 It has experienced a somewhat interrupted career 

 owing to lack of funds, but has b^en set on its feet again 

 by the generosity of a Romani Rai. Mr. T. W. 

 Thompson is the honorary secretary, and we advise 

 any of our readers interested in the society, or wishing 

 to become members, to write to him at Repton, Derby. 

 The first number of the society's new journal, edited 

 by Mr. E. O. Winstedt, contains papers on " Panjabi 

 and Romani Parallels," illustrated by Rumanian- 

 gypsy and Welsh-gypsy folk-tales, and on " The 

 Uncleanness of Women among English Gypsies," 

 which deals with sex taboos likely to be of much 

 interest to anthropologists. 



***** 



The centenary of the birth of Francis Galton occurred 

 early in February. A cousin of Darwin, and perhaps 

 almost better known during his lifetime for his African 

 explorations than for his biological researches, he is 

 nowadays famous for having systematically attacked 

 the problem of inherited characteristics, and for having 

 thus paved the wa}' to the theory and practice of 

 Eugenics. 



The Discovery of 

 History 



By W. M. Flinders Petrie, D.C.L., Litt.D., 

 LL.D., Ph.D., F.R.S., F.B.A. 



Edivards Professor o/ Eguplologg, University Cullcge, London 



To most persons the word History will call up the idea 

 of a text-book, shorter or longer, a necessary evil for 

 those who have not the needful time to read at 

 first-hand in the actual authors. To those who look 

 further it will mean standard texts and various readings; 

 to very few will it mean the actual manuscripts from 

 which the material has been drawn. There the chain 

 seemed to end, and, down to two or three generations 

 ago, it was said that nothing could be known except 

 what was recorded by the authors whose works have 

 come down to us. 



Gradually the mist has lifted. In place of relying 

 only on the fragmentary accounts of what a few writers 

 thought worth record, we have now a wide view over 

 the details of those ages of hterature ; beyond that, 

 whole languages and national annals have been read 

 that were but vaguely surmised before ; yet, further, 

 the scope of history is now extended to times vastly 

 more remote, and which can only be reached by entirely 

 new methods that have no relation to the traditional 

 materials. The history which was read a century ago, 

 and looked on as the limit of human knowledge we 

 see to be but a fragmentary outline of only a hundredth 

 of the period of man now before our view. 



Within the age of classical authors the manuscript 

 material has been greatly amphfied by the multitude 

 of inscriptions, the dedications, the decrees, the tomb- 

 stones, which give first-hand contemporary statements. 

 More detail comes from the great mass of Greek 

 papyri, extending from about 300 B.C. to 700 a.d., 

 which gives the fundamental detail of daily life, of 

 social organisation, and of the carrying on of society. 

 The written record is but one side of this amplification ; 

 in the camps, the towns, the cemeteries, we find full 

 evidence of the ways of life, and the intimate personal 

 feeling of style and design, which means so much. 

 .'\rtistic character needs learning, just as a language 

 has to be learned before it can be read ; but it is as 

 full of meaning, and of the power of reconstituting 

 personaUty, as any works of literature. A Pompeian 

 fresco carries as much intimacy of feeling as an ode of 

 Horace, a portrait by Holbein makes us know a char- 

 acter as much as a page of Erasmus or More. 



Beyond the home-lands of the Greek world wide 

 countries and long lines of rulers which lay almost 

 outside of hterature are now added to our general 

 survey. We could never have understood the Greek 



