252 



DISCOVERY 



which lie maintains was not put there for the con- 

 venience of spectators of the bath, but for a chapel 

 choir. These are attractive arguments, but Dr. 

 Burrows answers quite simply that (i) the gypsum 

 argument is ruled out because it would be covered 

 with plaster ; (2) terra-cotta tubs have been found 

 close at hanj, and the Knossians might quite well 

 have been content with tubbing instead of plunging 

 into a large tank that needed elaborate pipes ; (3) the 

 bath in the Throne Room was used for ceremonial 

 ablutions, for which little water would be needed ; 

 and (4) no objects suggesting any cult (such as images 

 or altars) have been found to show that these places 

 were chapels. All this may serve to show what 

 fine sport the arch£eologist may find in Knossos to-day. 



Or take the lighting arrangements There was a 

 system of shafts used at Knossos, at Tyiissos (a little 

 palace a few miles west of Knossos), at Phaestos, and 

 at Hagia Triada. The light came down vertically at 

 the back of the room, where the roof had been left 

 uncovered for the purpose, and the floor specially 

 cemented to stand exposure to the weather. Sir 

 Arthur Evans enthusiastically declares that " the 

 light pours in between the columns," and that " in 

 cooler tones it steals into the little bathroom behind " 

 —but on the latter statement Dr. Burrows remarks 

 that it is merely a poetic way of saying that it is very 

 dark there ! Dr. Burrows, in fact, connects this dark- 

 ness with the large number of lamps that have been 

 found. Big marble-standard lamps have also been 

 found which probably held two or even four w'lcks. 



The use of lime plaster on the outer walls gave an 

 opportunity to the Minoan artists, who not only 

 executed fresco paintings thereon, but further fashioned 

 the plaster into relief.' " Fresco " paintings are 

 executed as soon as the initial setting of the plaster 

 takes place, and while it is still wet. Brilliant colours 

 were used — red ochre in the E.M. period (made by 

 burning yellow clay), then yellow (from the natural 

 clay) and black ; then blue, progressing from a pale 

 greenish tint in M.M. to a dark blue in L.M. The 

 cup-bearer is an e.\amplc of fresco painting, and the 

 bull's head of high relief ; the fresco painters merely 

 attempted an outline and wash of colour in two dimen- 

 sions, not indicating shades or folds of drapery. The 

 main difference between Cretan painting on wet 

 plaster and Egyptian painting on fine white lime- 

 stone is that the Cretan gives a more vivid impression 

 of movement, and the Egyptian more detail.* 



There are many other sites in Crete which cannot 



' Sec " Minoan Lime Piaster and Fresco Painting," by 

 Mr. Noel Ucaton, Journal of the Royal Institute of British 

 Architects, vol. xviii, 191 1, pp. 697-710. 



' See " The Relations of /Egean with Egyptian Art." Journal 

 of Egyptian Archaology, vol. i, pt. 3, July 1914, pp. 197-205. 



be dealt with here — Gournia on the nortli coast, 

 Palaikastro and others in the east, and Vrokastro. 

 Their main importance lies in their bearing ujxin 

 Minoan town-planning. Vrokastro has been explored 

 by Miss E. H. Hall, who published her results in 1914.' 

 It has a special interest because it belongs to the 

 Iron Age, and shows the inferiority of this age to its 

 predecessor, the Bronze Age. In general the houses 

 in these towns were huddled together with the object 

 of leaving as much ground as possible free for agricul- 

 ture. They are poor specimens of houses ; small two- 

 storied cottages with windows on each side of the 

 door. An interesting point about these Iron Age 

 houses is that they were built on rocky eminences 

 or spurs of mountains — a significant sidelight on the 

 fall of Knossos and the disappearance of her fleet. 

 (To he conlinued) 



' Anthropological Publications of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania (Philadelphia). 



Sir William Ramsay, K.G.B., 

 F.R.S. 



October 2, 1852 — July 23, 1916 



The Discoverer of the Rare Gases of tite Ahnosphere 



U.VLiKE Sir William Crookes, the subject of our short 

 biograph}' this month was, as he himself has said, pre- 

 destined bj'heredity for a scientific career, as his father's 

 people were dyers and his mother's medical men. Al- 

 though at school he was on the classical side, he took but 

 little interest in the ancient languages which it was his 

 lot to learn, and spent most of his spare time in making 

 experiments in chemistrj'. In 1871 he obtained his 

 parents' permission to go to Germany to stud\', and 

 at first intended to enter Bunsen's laboratory, but 

 later decided on Tubingen, where Fittig was attracting 

 students by his researches in Organic Chemistry. On 

 his returning to this country, after obtaining his Ph.D., 

 he went as assistant to the Universitj' in Glasgow, 

 and at the early age of twenty-eight was appointed to 

 the chair of Chemistry at University College, Bristol, 

 in 1880. Here his work was associated with that of 

 Dr. Sydney Young, the lecturer in Chemistry, with 

 whom he published a number of researches in Phj-sical 

 Chemistrj', ha\'ing discovered his bent for this branch 

 of the science. 



In 1887 he became Professor of Chemistij' at Uni- 

 versity College, Gower Street, an appointn-ent which 

 he held almost to the end of his life ; and 't was here 

 his life's work was done, not only in research, but also 

 as a great teacher. 



