DISCOVERY 



A MONTHLY POPULAR 

 JOURNAL OF KNOWLEDGE 



Vol. IV, No. 43. JULY 1923. 



PRICE U. NET. 



DISCOVERY. A Monthly Popular Journal of Know- 

 ledge. 



Edited by Edward Liveing, B.A., 23 Westminster 

 Mansions, Great Smith Street, London, S.W.i, to whom 

 all Editorial Communications should be addressed. (Dr. 

 A. S. Russell continues to act as Scientific Adviser.) 



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Editorial Notes 



It was reported in a local paper a few weeks ago that 

 the " Tilt craze " had vanished into thin air and that 

 a Hebrew merchant, interviewed in a " curiosity 

 shop, wrung his hands as he pointed to a heap of 

 Eg\'ptian dresses and odds and ends of furniture, 

 carved in Oriental style, in a corner, remarking, " Look 

 at all that junk there ; all interest in the Luxor dis- 

 coveries has disappeared, and that stuff is absolutely 

 valueless." We hasten to assure the sad merchant 

 that the " Tut craze " will be revived this autumn 

 when Mr. Howard Carter resumes work on the Pharaoh's 

 tomb. The chief interest in the further investigations 

 will be focused on the opening of the dead monarch's 

 sarcophagus. If this reveals the mummy, which in 

 all likelihood it will do, an X-ray examination will be 

 made. In this event a further sentimental campaign 

 against desecration will probably force its way into 

 the pages of the daily press. We should like in as 

 few words as possible to emphasise what we consider 

 to be the right attitude towards this idea of desecration. 

 ***** 



In the first place Tutankhamon 's mummy will almost 

 certainly be restored to its sarcophagus after X-ray 

 examination. The only motive which would urge 

 Mr. Howard Carter to remove it to the Cairo Muserun 



would be a consideration for its greater safety. In 

 our February issue Dr. Blackman wTote an article on 

 the Plundering of the Royal Tombs at Thebes in the 

 Twentieth and Twenty-first Dynasties. Of these 

 ravages we have definite documentary evidence which 

 was admirably summarised by Dr. Blackman. But 

 it was not merely at this period, but much earlier and, 

 indeed, ever since that the inhabitants of the district 

 round Luxor have plied a thriving trade in despoiling 

 the tombs of their furniture and often even in cutting 

 up the mummies and selling the pieces. As Professor 

 Elliot Smith reminds us in a recently published book,' 

 Sir Thomas Browne wrote two and a half centuries ago 

 that " the Egyptian mummies which Cambyses or 

 time hath spared, avarice now consumeth. Mummy is 

 becom^e merchandise, Mizraim ciu"es wounds, and 

 Pharaoh is sold for balsams." Thieves abound in 

 Egypt to-day in all " tomb " localities, as anyone who 

 has visited Egypt and interested himself in its archaeo- 

 logy will testify ; and when they probe into a tomb 

 not touched by an Egyptologist, little is left of the 

 things inside and even the mural paintings are chipped 

 out of the walls. Under the circumstances two 

 alternatives can be adopted Ln the case of Tutankh- 

 amon 's mummy : if it is left to repose in its original 

 resting-place, then it will have to be continualh' and 

 rigidly guarded ; if it is not so guarded, it had better 

 be removed to Cairo. So numerous have been the 

 ravages in the past that the onlj' royal mummj' hitherto 

 found in its own tomb was that of the Pharaoh, 

 Amenhotep II. In the case of this discover}', the first 

 alternative was adopted, and it was adopted by none 

 other than Mr. Howard Carter, at that time the In- 

 spector of Antiquities at Luxor. 



***** 

 Any objections raised to the examination of the 

 body by X-rays are foolish. No harm can be inflicted 

 upon it by such an examination, as Professor Elliot 

 Smith and other authorities have po'nted out. But, 

 on the other hand, a great amount of valuable informa- 

 tion will be so gained about the physical qualities 

 and diseases of the inhabitants of Egypt living nearly 



' Tutankhamon and the Discovery of his Tomb. By Prof. 

 G. Elliot Smith, F.R.S., etc. (Routledge, 45. 6d.) 

 169 



