ic>4 



NA TURE 



[November 30, 1905 



most complete and authoritative existing. Messrs. 

 King and Thompson have also taken some unique 

 photographs of the monument. 



In the Sudan, Dr. Budge, of the British Museum, 

 and Mr. J. W. Crowfoot, Inspector of Education in 

 the Sudan, have completed the work which the former 

 began at Meroe in IQ03. They finally cleared out the 

 shrine of the largest pyramid, and made some in- 

 teresting explorations in the country near the Second 

 Cataract. Dr. Budge, whose services had been pre- 

 viously lent to the Sudan Government by the British 

 Museum in 1897, 1899, and 1903, is now engaged on 

 an account of his four missions to that country, which 

 is announced to appear in the spring. 



We cannot close this account of British archae- 

 ological work without a word of con- 

 gratulation to our American friends on 

 the success of the excavations of Mr. 

 Theodore N. Davis, assisted by Mr. 

 J. E. Quibell, the British Inspector of 

 Antiquities in Upper Egypt, in the 

 Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at 

 Thebes. Mr. Davis found the un- 

 touched tomb of Iuaa and Tuaa, the 

 father and mother of the great Queen 

 Tyi, consort of Amenhetep III. and 

 mother of the heretic King Akhunaten. 

 The tomb was full of the most magni- 

 ficent furniture, chariots, &c, mostly 

 thickly overlaid with gold. Mr. Davis 

 will proceed with his excavations this 

 winter with the assistance of Mr. Ayrton. 

 who has left the Egypt Exploration 

 Fund for this purpose. 



prominence to curiosities and out-of-the-way objects, 

 we are here brought into close quarters with the 

 familiar, with diatoms and Foraminifera, the whelk's 

 radula and the barnacle's cirri, the butterfly's 

 " tongue " and the scales of the sole, the spine of the 

 sea-urchin and the spider's foot, a gnat and a house- 

 fly's eggs, the dodder entering the clover, the bud 

 of the lily flower, the sting of the nettle and the stem 

 of wheat, and so on through a long list. Along with 

 each of the sixty-five illustrations there is a short and 

 clear description, and a note of the conditions of the 

 photograph, e.g. magnification, focal distance, and 

 exposure. The photographs were taken by Mr. 

 Arthur E. Smith, and are certainly among the finest 

 thai have ever been published. They were taken, for 



THE BEAUTY OF MINUTE 

 STRUCTURE IN NATURE. 1 



ONE of the many ways of beginning 

 the study of natural science is 

 with a " beauty-feast "—of flowers or 

 birds, of shells or gems, of anything — 

 for all natural things are beautiful, in 

 their proper setting at least. It is an 

 old-fashioned mode of approach, com- 

 mending itself to children and simple 

 minds, "but one which often leads far 

 beyond assthetic pleasure to the joy of 

 understanding. It affords a dynamic 

 to investigation, and fosters a healthy 

 reverence for things. In school "nature- 

 study " the aesthetic factor should be 

 characteristic, though it is too often con- 

 spicuous by its absence. Indeed, if we 

 had to choose, we should prefer admir- 

 ation without science to science without FlG - "■— Dlat 

 admiration. But a simple book like that 

 before us shows that there is no neces- 

 sary antithesis ; it is a disclosure of beautiful things, 

 and yet within its limits it is quite scientific. 



The author's aim is to illustrate by well chosen 

 examples the beauty of minute structure, the beauty 

 which the microscope discloses, and he is to be con- 

 gratulated on his success. While older books on 

 " the wonders of the microscope " had to be content 

 with drawings, some of which were exquisitely done, 

 this book presents us with photomicrographs of the 

 highest excellence. It is difficult to over-praise them. 

 Moreover, while the older books gave too much 



1 " Nature through Microscope and Camera." By Richard Kerr ; with 

 65 photomicrographs by Arthur E Smith. Pp. 197. (London : Religious 

 Tract Society, 1905.) Price 6s. net. 



NO. 1883, VOL. 73] 



, from Bori, Hungary, 



: through Microscope and 



tin- most part, on 12 by 10 plates, and have been 

 somewhat reduced in the process blocks. Mr. Smith 

 contributes a useful chapter of practical hints on 

 photomicrography. 



Mr. Kerr is an enthusiastic photographer, who 

 believes in his " intellectual pastime " as helping, in- 

 directly, to remedy some of the ills we are heir to, 

 such as "the amusement fetich." But he is more, 

 he is a student of the beautiful things which he 

 delights in, and he can tell their story in a plain, 

 straightforward way. The moral that adorns his tale 

 is expounded by Prof. G. Sims Woodhead in a finely 

 conceived introduction ; but we shall only say this, 

 that the whole spirit of this beautiful book is well 



