March 12, 1908] 



NATURE 



439 



dislant stars, surely it is not beyond credibility to assume 

 that the organic worlds may have a like relationship to 

 oach other when other circumstances are favourable. 

 Hove, March 3. W. AiNSLiE HoLLis. 



The a. Particles from Radioactive Substances. 



Till; experiments of Rutherford and Hahn have shown 

 that the ratio elm has the same value, 5x10'', for a. rays, 

 no matter from what source the rays are derived. They 

 iire, however, taken alone, incapable of deciding whether 

 the particles are hydrogen molecules carrying the usual 

 ionic charge, or helium atoms with twice that charge. 

 In a recent paper in Roy. Soc. Proc, Prof. Townsend has 

 >hown that the positive ion produced by Rontgen rays 

 has twice the ionic charge at the moment of formation. 

 If his further experiments prove this true generally, then 

 the question whether the a rays are hydrogen or helium 

 must be definitely decided in favour of the latter, and the 

 n>-;ociation of this gas with radio-active substances is 

 accounted for. R. S. Willows. 



Cass Institute, E.C. 



AXCIENT EGYPTIAX BURIAL CUSTOMS.^ 

 AITE have had to wait .some little while for Prof. 

 •' Garstang's publication of his ciiscoveries in 

 the necropolis of Beni Hasan during the years 

 1402-^-4. However, " better late than never." 

 The publication is issued under the auspices of 

 the I'niversity of Liverpool, in which Air. Gar- 

 stang now professes the methods and practice 

 of archccolog}-. \\'e must congratulate Prof. 

 Garstangon his appointment. As a professional 

 excavator of untiring industry and "go," he 

 has been known to the archteological world for 

 some years ; and he has been a lucky excavator 

 also. Nobody knows better than the digger 

 that luck, no less than a keen eye and " sense 

 of the probable," knowledge of the appearance 

 of disturbed and undisturbed land, &c., is an 

 important ally to him; and the discoverer of 

 the other half of the Menes tablet at Nagada 

 >hould gratefully admit his obligations to Dame 

 Fortuna. 



No such stroke of luck marked the ex- 

 cavations at Beni Hasan. The results were all 

 what might have been expected and predicted 

 of a necropolis of the eleventh _ and twelfth 

 dvnasties. Except for a few more than usually 

 elaborate models and some very fine cartonnage 

 mummy-coverings of a type not previously 

 noted, thev are not new. As always in tombs 

 of this date, we have little but the rectangular coffins 

 and models of workmen, slaves, boats with their 

 crews, granaries, and so forth, which are well known 

 in our museums. .'\ large number of tombs was dis- 

 covered, and the number of objects found in them 

 was enormous. How to publish this huge mass of 

 material, mostly of types already well known, was a 

 difficult question. 



To publish everything scientifically, in the manner 

 of the Egypt Exploration Fund, would have been 

 a most expensive task, as well as (since the anti- 

 quities found are mostly of a kind well known 

 already) an unnecessary one. A scientific publication 

 of similar type, but containing only the most impor- 

 tant finds, would have been the expedient which most 

 archaeologists would have adopted. Prof. Garstang 

 has, however, chosen rather to adopt a novel plan ; 

 he has written simply a description of the burial 

 customs of the Egyptians under the Middle Kingdom, 

 illustrated by typical examples of the objects found 

 at Beni Hasan. Whether this decision was wise or 



Egypt-" By Prof. J. Garstang. Pp. xv+ 

 id Co., Ltd,, 1907.) Price il. lis. 6d. net. 



not it is difficult to say. .% a matter of personal 

 opinion, the other alternative of a modified publication 

 on the lines of one of the annual volumes of the Egypt 

 Exploration Fund would seem preferable. The result 

 of Prof. Garstang 's decision is that we have here a 

 book which is at once a more or less popular work 

 on the burial customs of ancient Egypt, but only deals 

 with this subject in part, and a scientific report of 

 the results of the excavations at Beni Hasan which 

 is of unhandy form, and is written and illustrated 

 in an inconvenient way. The book is too heavy 

 as well as too expensive for a popular treatise, 

 while for a scientific work the larger format of 

 the Fund's publications is infinitely preferable. The 

 treatment of the subject-matter is too general and 

 scrappy for a scientific report, and the illustrations, 

 being scattered throughout the text instead of con- 

 centrated in plates, may be appropriately arranged 

 for a popular book, but are most ill designed 

 for reference by the scientific student. On the 

 whole, w'e think Prof. Garstang's decision unfor- 

 tunate, and we hope that in future he will publish 

 his discoveries in the admirable manner of his former 

 publications, with their large, thin format and 

 groups of plates at intervals throughout the 

 volume. Let him keep his strictly scientific publica- 



the Gallery. 



tions and his cvuvrcs dc vulgarisation entirely apart. 

 A popular book from his pen on the burial customs 

 of ancient Egypt which should really cover the whole 

 subject would be most welcome. 



In spite of its defects, however, the present volume 

 is a most interesting contribution to archaeological 

 literature. As specimens of the admirable photo- 

 graphs with which it is illustrated, we here reproduce 

 in Fig. I a view- showing the position of the pit- 

 tombs excavated by Prof. Garstang in relation to the 

 gallerj'-tombs of the princes of Beni Hasan, which 

 are so well known to every visitor to Egypt ; in Fig. 2 

 a view of the interior of a tomb as discovered and 

 after removing the dihris, which shows how the 

 coffins and models of boats, &-c., are found, and 

 incidentally shows hov:' thorough Prof. Garstang's 

 archaeological methods are in respect of complete 

 photographic recording; and Fig. 3, a model of a 

 group of two officers playing draughts on board 

 ship, showing the cabin against which are propped 

 their great shields and arrow-cases. This is a very 

 interesting specimen of the numberless models found, 

 which give us so complete an idea of what fhe 



NO. 2002, VOL. 77] 



