Supplement to "Nature" March 5, 1908 



beats uf the Pacific fleet with wireless telephone ap- 

 pnratus on' the De Forest system, one may note that 

 stations have been worlving successfully on the Fes- 

 senden system over a distance of 200 miles (more 

 ihnn half over land). 



A verv full descriptive account of the experimental 

 work which has been carried out on wireless tele- 

 phony is to be found in Prof. Ruhmer's book. The 

 volume is not confined to telephony by means of 

 Hertzian waves, the particular branch which now 

 occupies the most important and the most promising 

 position. In fact, near!}' one-third of the volume is 

 devoted to wireless telephony by means of light, in 

 which a speaking arc is utilised as transmitter and a 

 sensitive selenium cell as receiver. This method, 

 which owes much of its development to Prof. 

 Ruhmer, has attained considerable success, fair dis- 

 tances having been bridged over both water and 

 land. The volume is profusely illustrated by both 

 photographs and drawings, and should prove a use- 

 ful reference work for those directly or indirectly 

 interested in the subject. 



There can be no question that the successful solution 

 of the problem of wireless telephony will mark a 

 very considerable advance in the art of wireless com- 

 munication. It is true that the difficulties of inter- 

 ference and lack of secrecy have to be met with tele- 

 pliony as with telegraphy, but there are, at any rate, 

 the same compensating advantages which are to be 

 found in ordinary telephony over telegraphy. It is to 

 be remarked also that efforts to establish long-distance 

 wireless telephony, across the Atlantic, for example, 

 are not open to the same objection as applies to the 

 attempts to establish Transatlantic wireless telegraphy, 

 since in this case the field is not already occupied by 

 cables performing the same service more efficientlv. 



M. S." 



THE TABERNACLE AND THE TEMPLE. 



The Tabernacle : its History and Structure. By the 

 Rev. W. Shaw Caldecott. Pp. xxii + 236. Second 

 Edition. (London : Religious Tract Society, 1906.) 

 Price 5i. 



Solotnon's Temple: its History and Structure. By the 

 Rev. W. Shaw Caldecott. Pp. xiii -1-358. (London: 

 Religious Tract Society, 1907.) Price 6s. 



THE interest which Anglo-American Protestantism 

 has always taken in the prse-Christian Biblical 

 books, and in the land of Canaan, in which the events 

 of ancient Israelitish history, traditionally described in 

 >them, took place, has again been exemplified in yet 

 another addition to the long list of pious speculations 

 as to the appearance of the Israelitish Tabernacle and 

 of the Temple of Yahweh at Jerusalem. Mr. Calde- 

 cott is an enthusiast, like his forerunners, for none 

 l)ut an enthusiast would be bold enough to 

 explain the meaning of doubtful cuneiform signs to 

 cuneiform scholars, or to invite prefaces from a master 

 of cuneiform science. Prof. Sayce, in which the in- 

 genuous author of the book is publicly told that, how- 

 ever nice and interesting his discussion of the Taber- 

 nacle and the Temple may be, his cuneiform cannot 

 be accepted. 



NO. 2001, VOL. 77] 



^ 31 



Mr. Caldecott's naiveti in thus rushing in wher( 

 those who know the root of the matter fear to tread, 

 necessarily vitiates the credibility of the remainder of 

 his speculations in the mind of the scientific reader. 



Nevertheless, Mr. Caldecott is more critical than 

 most of his predecessors, which is an encourag- 

 ing symptom. His sketch of the history of 

 the Jewish Kingdom is very readable, and, though 

 conservative, contains little at which a imoderate 

 " higher critic " might cavil, though no doubt a 

 Jerahmeelite might consider it a sufficiently benighted 

 performance. The views of the Jerahmeelites do not, 

 however, any longer count among scientific archse- 

 ologists in England, although the Germans, swayed 

 by their quaint national delusion that no really 

 valuable work in archaeology or Biblical criti- 

 cism can possibly be done by anybody but Germans 

 (or non-Germans taught to perform the scientific 

 Parademarsch by German drill-instructors), no doubt 

 still believe in the wild " North-Arabian " theories of 

 Winckler in which Cheyne found support for the 

 Jerahmeel-cryptogram. 



We are glad that Mr. Caldecott has not adopted the 

 legend of the " second Musri," and that for him 

 Esarhaddon's " Sib'e, the Tariannu of Pir'u King of 

 Musri," is, as he is to every sane critic, "So 

 (Seve) the general of Pharaoh King of Egypt," i.e. 

 the King Shabak understood as an officer of the Ethio- 

 pian king, probably Kashta, who ruled in Upper 

 Egypt. But we think that Mr. Caldecott, in his note 

 on Sib'e ("Temple," p. 139), should have referred to 

 Winckler's Musri-theory, and given his reasons for not 

 accepting it. This would have been the scientific wav 

 of doing things. As it is, he lays himself open to the 

 suspicion of not having known anything about an 

 important theory, very germane to his subject, which 

 archseologists and " higher critics " have been debating 

 for years. And this possibility again makes one doubt 

 the real value of this sort of work, despite the 

 kind words of encouragement bestowed by Prof. Sayce 

 upon the present author in respect of every- 

 thing but his cuneiform. Whether, as he thinks, Mr. 

 Caldecott's speculations will excite new interest iii ^-. 

 cavations in Palestine is doubtful; unluckily, these 

 excavations have not always produced such " pat " 

 results as seem generally to be expected from them. 

 Those of the Austrians at Taanach seem to be the 

 most interesting hitherto. 



The identification of the modern Ramet el-Khalll 

 with the ancient Ramah near Jerusalem, where the 

 Tabernacle was set up, is, as Mr. Caldecott points 

 out, due to the late Edward Robinson, who proposed it 

 in 1838. The latter calls it quite correctly " er- 

 Rameh"; Mr. Caldecott should be careful not to go 

 on calling it, as he continually does, " Ramet " when 

 he does not add the suffix " el-Khahl "; the name of 

 the place is Rameh or Rama (usually with the definite 

 article prefixed), which becomes " Ramet " in the 

 construct state, as " Ramet el-Khalil." 



In conclusion, we would advise our autlior, before 

 he publishes new editions of his books, to consult the 

 articles "Tabernacle" and "Temple," by Dr. Benz- 

 inger, in the " Encyclopecdia Biblica"; thev mav 

 Igive him some novel information on certain points. 



