468 



NA TURE 



[March 15, 1906 



in order that their destination may be the better 

 traced. Further, the traffic in the finished mixture 

 has been somewhat checked by a number of prose- 

 cutions, undertaken by Government in the case of 

 imported products, and bj a fevs local authorities in 

 1 as< ■-. where the "blended" butter was sold in this 

 country. But to kill the snake instead of morel) 

 scotching it additional weapons arc required. I seful 

 measures for this purpose would be: (i) To adopt a 

 recommendation made by a departmental committee 

 some years ago, that a minimal limit foi vol ttili 

 acids should be fixed, below which a presumption 

 should be raised that the butter is not genuine; 

 this would strengthen the hands of the public analyst, 

 and though it would not altogether stop the adulter- 

 ation, it would restrict its amount and diminish the 

 profits accruing therefrom. (2) To enact that no sub- 

 stance shall be sold as I, utter if it contains less than 

 80 per cent, of butter fat; this would prevent the 

 " loading" of butter with curd or "solidified milk." 

 (3) To organise a system of strict inspection of butter 

 Factories. (4) To give the Commissioners of Customs 

 greater powers for regulating the admission into this 

 country of adulterated butter and of substances which 

 may be used in the adulteration of butter. (5) Most 

 effective of all would be for the Government of each 

 butter-exporting country to adopt some system 

 modelled on the Netherlands "control" plan of com- 

 bined inspection and analysis, and to furnish an official 

 voucher of purity, without which the buttei would 

 either not be admitted here at all, or only under 

 special conditions of marking. For this, however, 



we shall have to wait. C. SlMMONDS. 



.4 REMARKABLE DISCOVERY IN EGYPT. 



ON February 7 a most important discovery was 

 made by Prof. Naville at Thebes. 'I he excava- 

 tion of the eleventh dynasty temple at Deir el-Bahari, 

 discovered by Prof. Naville and Mr. H. R. Hall, of 

 thi' British Museum, in 1903, has since been carried 

 on lor the Egypl Exploration Fund by these gentle- 

 men, assisted by Mr. E. R. Ayrton. Mr. Ayrton being 

 unable to continue working for the Fund this year, his 

 place was taken by another of the Fund's excavators, 

 Mr. C. T. Currelly, who joined the expedition for the 

 first time this year. During this season work was 

 first carried on by Messrs. Hall and Currelly in the 

 southern court of the temple. Mere were discovered 

 some interesting priests' houses (?) of brick, dating 

 from the time of the twelfth to eighteenth dynasties, 

 and the south temenos-wall of the temple. This wall 

 was found to be of the same type as the south wall 

 of the great temple of Queen Hatshepsu, which was 

 thus shown to be in reality the north temenos-wall of 

 the eleventh dynasty temple. Later on Mr. Hall 

 began the excavation of the back part of the temple 

 to see how it ended. He discovered, Prof. Naville 

 says, "the enclosure wall and found that the enclo- 

 sure was interrupted by a court or wide avenue, lined 

 on both sides by a single row of columns, and directed 

 towards the mountain. The rock had been cut open 

 to make way for the avenue." 



Later on, when Prof. Naville reached Thebes and 

 Mr. Hall left for England, work was directed to the 

 exploration of the remains of an eighteenth dynasty 

 building, also in the back part of the temple, which 

 had been discovered In 1 Messrs. Hall and Avrton in 

 1904. At the end of this building was made Prof. 

 Naville 's splendid discovery, described by him in the 

 Times recently. It consists of a cell or chapel ex- 

 cavated in the rock, lined with coloured relief sculp- 

 tures depicting King Thothmes 111. making offerings 

 to the god Amen, and in the midst of it was found 



NO. 1898, VOL. 73] 



intact the original cult-image, a great painted and 

 gilded stone cow, of life size. The cow was the 

 emblem of Hathor, goddess of tin western desert- 

 hills, who was special!) venerated at Deir el-Bahari. 

 The image was dedicated by King Amenhetep II., tin 

 son and successor of Thothmes III. Tin- chapel 

 belongs really, not to the eleventh dynast] temple, 

 although placed at the end of it, but to the great 

 temple of Deir el-Bahari, with which it is contem- 

 porary, 'flic great interest of the figure ol the cow, 

 besides its importance as a work of art, lies in the 

 fact that this is the first time that an Egyptian cult- 

 image has been found intacl in its shrine. The whole 

 chapel and image will he re-erected in the Museum of 

 Cairo. Illustrations of tin find wen; published in the 

 Graft/lie and Daily Graphic ol March 2. 



This discovery is the latest proof of the remarkable 

 nature of Prof. Naville's work for the Egypl Explor- 

 ation Fund at Deir el-Bahari, which is one of the 

 mosl interesting sites for archaeological work in 

 Egypt, and one ol the mosl productive of interesting 

 small antiquities, chiefly votive offerings to Hathor 

 ol the time of the eighteenth dynasty. I hese often 

 are in the shape of little cows of blue glazed faience, 

 models of the great cult-images in the various cave- 

 shrines of Hathor, of which the newly di 

 1 hapel is one, the chief being the well known 

 I lalhor-shi inc. with the red painted reliefs, on (he 

 platform of the great temple, found by Mariette many 

 years ago. 



'fhe work of the Egypt Exploration Fund, which is 

 now being carried on by Prof. Naville and his assist- 

 ants alone, needs considerably more monetary support 

 than is at present being extended to it. It is to be 

 hoped that this discovery will act as an incentive to 

 those who are really scientifically interested in the 

 progress of archaeological knowledge, no matter 

 by what person that progress is effected, to give 

 their help to the Egypt Exploration Fund, which 

 discovered Naukratis .and the store-city of Pithom, 

 identified the route of the Exodus, excavated Tanis, 

 Bubastis, and Herakleopolis, scientifically explored the 

 tombs of the most ancient kings at Abydos, and is 

 now bringing successfully to tin end its most imposing 

 work - , the excavation of the two temples of Deir el- 

 Bahari at Thebes. 



NOTES. 



I 11 Bakerian lecture of the Royal Society will lie de- 

 livered by Prof. John Milne, F.R.S., on Thursday next. 

 March 22, on " Recent Advances in Seismology." 



Prof. O. Hertwig, professor of comparative anatomy, 

 University of Berlin, and Prof. H. O. Osborn, professor of 

 zoology, Columbia University, New York, have been elected 

 foreign members of the Linnean Society. 



I'm annua! general meeting of the Chemical Societj 

 will be held on Friday, March 30, when the president will 

 deliver his address, entitled " I he Living Organism as a 

 Chemical Agency : a Review ol some of the Problems of 

 Photosynthesis by Growing Plants." 



Ax unprecedented mining disaster occurred on March 10 

 at the Courrieres colliery in the department of the Pas 

 de Calais. An explosion of fire-damp resulted in the loss 

 ol mure than iioo lives. The causes of the explosion have 

 in 1 yel been (ally established. The colliery employed 

 6998 persons, and possesses forty-four seams ol coal ; the 

 annual output is about 2,000,000 tons. In [890 attention 

 was directed to this colliery by Sir C. Le Neve Foster or 

 account of the remarkably low death-rate from falls of 

 ground, and it was reported upon by a deputation of 

 II. M. Inspectors of Mines. The average death-rate from 



