DISCOVERY 



ordinary' man or woman at all, simply because there is 

 no easy channel of communication. 



It is easier to sugRcst what these channels are, than 

 to get the right people to make use of them. Popular 

 lectures in the past have been a vcn,' useful means to 

 the end we are seeking. When the lecturer really 

 knows his subject, possesses a good voice and lantern 

 slides, and, without telling his audience too much, 

 keeps his remarks cheerful and witty, he gets an atten- 

 tive hearing. But books and magazine articles must 

 needs be the chief means of information. We hold 

 that the specialist, when he has communicated his 

 results to his fellow-workers in the ordinary' way, should 

 do the further work of making the same results plain 

 to the ordinary man in books, pamphlets or articles 

 easily understood. To review and recommend such 

 books when they seem suitable, and to print such 

 articles, is part of the work we have undertaken in 

 bringing out Discovery. 



Having thus briefly described our aims, our inten- 

 tions and our hopes, we may be allowed to describe 

 shortly how Discovery came into being. The first 

 conception of the journal was due to the late Professor 

 Julius Macleod, of Ghent, a distinguished Belgian 

 botanist, who was a guest of the University of Man- 

 chester during the war. His suggestion led to a special 

 conference between a committee of the Council of 

 Hximanistic Studies and a committee of the Conjoint 

 Board of Scientific Studies. As a result of this con- 

 ference, negotiations were commenced, which have 

 since developed until the project has taken its present 

 shape. In October of last j-ear, it was decided that 

 the magazine be maintained under a deed of Trust, 

 the Presidents of the Royal Society and of the British 

 Academy being two of the four trustees. It was 

 decided also that the committee of management be 

 composed of representatives of bodies which have 

 joined in a guarantee of the initial expenses, and also 

 of representatives of learned societies. The former 

 bodies include the National Union of Teachers, the 

 Co-operative Union, the Library Association, the 

 Incorporated Associations of Headmasters and 

 Headmistresses, and the Headmasters' Conference: 

 the latter the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies, 

 the Classical, Historical, English, Geographical and 

 Modem Language Associations, the British Psycho- 

 logical Society and the Royal Society of Economics. 

 Each of these speciaUst bodies undertakes to supply, 

 year by year, for our use, a list of contributors who are 

 capable of representing its particular branch of know- 

 ledge in articles of a popular kind. We are thus doubly 



equipped in a way that few new periodicals have been. 

 To a large extent we have found our contributors ; to 

 some extent our public awaits us. With this solid 

 phalanx of good men to help us, we hope we have 



"Caught soul 

 For the goal." 



We shall welcome correspondence relating to the 

 subject-matter of the articles, and also suggestions 

 and criticism that may lead to the more complete ful- 

 filment of our aims and intentions. A short list of 

 books suitable for further study will be appended in 

 most cases to an article. We hope these will be found 

 useful. Occasionally, as in this number, it may 

 happen that a wTiter recommends his own book. In 

 such cases, it will be understood that the book 

 mentioned is the best procurable, and has been given 

 at our suggestion. 



New Light on Old Authors 



I. The Secret of Philae 



By R. S. Conway, Litt.D., F.B.A. 



llulme Professor of Latin in tttc Universilu of Manchester 



Philje, the most famous island in the Nile valley, con- 

 tains, as our illustration shows, several ancient temples, 

 the oldest and most conspicuous having been built about 

 300 B.C. But all the visitor to-day can see of them is 

 the summits of the tallest. The rest is now covered 

 with water through the creation of the great reservoir 

 by the new barrage of the river at Assouan. This 

 colossal feat of British engineering is a permanent 

 service to Egypt, since it has rendered perpetual what 

 for untold centuries had been a matter of anxiety to 

 the Eg>'ptian nation every year, a full supply of Nile 

 water to fertilize the fields ; and some account of it 

 may well be given in this journal on another occasion. 

 This article is concerned merely with one of the many 

 additions to our knowledge which has resulted from the 

 survey of the ancient remains of the Nile Valley, which 

 was begun and continued for many years by the 

 Egyptian Government to anticipate the coming flood. 

 At the north-west corner of the island, which appears 

 on the left-hand side of the illustration, there once 

 stood a temple which has long since been almost 

 levelled to the ground, but which in its day was the 

 first thing on the island to meet the eyes of a traveller 

 arriving from Europe. This, as we know from the 

 inscription on its fallen portico, was built twelve years 

 before the birth of Christ, to the honour of the Emperor 



