NA TURE 



December 24, 1908 



From Gennanv the following names have been re- 

 ceived :— Prof. S'tumpt, Prof. Waldeyer, Prof. Diels, 

 Prof. Engler, Prof. Hertvvig, Prof, von Luschan 

 (Berlin), Prof. Schultze (Bonn), Prof. Kukenthal 



exists to-dav, without knowing something of his 

 history; and by that is not meant a catalogue of 

 kings' names, battles, and dates (the " history " that 

 is taught in most of our schools), but the story 



(Breslau), Dr. Roediger (Frankfurt), Prof. Verworn ! the development, the evolution of human civilisation 



and Dr. Berthold (Gottingen), Prof. Biitschli (Heidel 

 Ijcrg), Prof. Haeckel (Jena), Dr. R. Hertwig and 

 Pro'f. Goebel (Munich), Prof. Ballowitz (Mijnster), 

 Prof. Graf zu Solms-Laubach (Strassburg), Prof. 

 Boveri (Wiirzburg). 



Prof. Zeggelis will represent the National University 

 of Athens. The delegates from Holland include Prot. 

 de Vries, Dr. Kerbert (Amsterdam), Prof, van Bem- 

 melen (Groningen), Dr. Lotsy (Haarlem), Prof. 

 \osmaer (Leyden), Prof. Hubrecht (Utrecht). The 

 Italian Ambassador is to represent the Geographical 

 .Society of Italy; English delegates have been nomin- 

 ated by the University of Catania, the Societal der 

 Naturaliste of Modena, and the .\ccademia dei Lincei ; 

 the Universities of Siena and Turin have nominated 

 .Sig. Achille Sclavo, Dr. Fritze, and Sig. Renter. 



Prof. Kuwaki and Prof. Ishikawa are nominated by 

 the I'niversities of Kyoto and Tokyo respectively. 

 The University of Christiania is to be re- 

 presented by Prof. Brogger. The Portu- 

 guese delegates are Prof. Henrique- 

 (Coimbra), Dr. Telles (Lisbon), Dr. Lacerd.i 

 (Porto). The Russian delegates include 

 Prof. Kuznetsov (Dorpat), Prof. Timiriazeff 

 (Moscow), Prof. Simkcvic, Prof. Zalenskij, 

 Prof. Borodin (St. Petersburg). Prof. 

 Elfving is nominated by the Finnish 

 .\cademy of Ilelsingfors. The Swedish 

 delegates include Prof. Forssman, Prof. 

 Nordstedt (Lund). Prof. Theel, Prof, .-\uri- 

 viUius, Prof. Loche, Prof. Nathorst, Prof. 

 .Morner (Stockholm), Prof. Sven G. Hedin 

 (Upsala). 



The delegates from Switzerland are Prof. 

 I'schirch (Bern), Prof. Chodat (Geneva), 

 Prof. Beranock (Neuchatel), Dr. Sarasin 

 (Zurich). 



Delegates have been appointed also by 

 colonial universities and societies, and by 

 universities, colleges, and numerous societies 

 in the British Islands. 



It is expected that the Chancellor of the 

 Universitv (Lord Rayleigh, O.M.) will hold a receptio.^ 

 on the evening of June 22. On Wednesday. June 23, the 

 delegates will present addresses in the Senate House; 

 in the afternoon the master and fellows of Christ's 

 College (the college of Charles Darwin) propose to 

 give a garden party in the college grounds, and in the 

 evening the guests of the university will be invited to 

 a banquet. On Thursday morning, June 24, the Rede 

 lecture will be delivered in the Senate House by the 

 president of the Roval Society (Sir .Archibald Geikie, 

 K.C.B.). 



.\ list of British delegates and other invited guests, 

 containing additional names of foreign visitors, will be 

 prepared at a later date. \. C. Seward. 



It is only of late years that the history of Greece 

 and Rome, of the civilisation which is still our own, 

 has begun to be treated from this point of view; and 

 the impetus to the new way of looking at things 

 has undoubtedly been given largely by the scientific 

 study of the results of archaeological exploration in 

 Egypt, .Assyria, Greece, and Italy. The application 

 to these discoveries of the methods of study that 

 are, as a matter of course, used in dealing with 

 natural science has had the consequence of revolu- 

 tionising our views of ancient story ; and as most 

 of the spadework has been done in Egypt, it is Egypt 

 that has told us most of our new knowledge. 



In the present book Prof. Maspero has collected 

 a number of articles that have appeared over his 

 signature at various times, dealing with all the most 

 irnportant Egyptological discoveries, whether made 

 bv English or .American spades in temples and tombs, 



.V£ir LIGHT 0.\ ASCIENT EGYPT.' 



IT is impossible to understand the Present unless 

 one knows the Past." This aphorism, trite 

 enough, is in danger of being forgotten nowadays. 

 Yet there are some who reali.se that we cannot pro- 

 perly understand nature's highest work, man, as he 



1 "New Light on Ancient EgVDl." By G. Masperc. Trans'ated fnm 

 the French by Elizabeth Lee. Pp. .\ii + 3i5 ; illu'^trated. (London : T.Fisher 

 Unwin, 1908.) Price 12s. 61/. net. 



NO. 2043, VOL. 79] 



or by German ])airs of spectacles in p;ipyri and in- 

 scriptions, during the last fifteen years. 



No pen could describe them with more effect and with 

 more literary grace than .'i French one, especially 

 when it is wielded by the greatest master of Egypto- 

 logical science. 



The result, as Prof. Maspero says in his note at 

 the beginning of the volume, is a " living picture " 

 of Egyptian research during almost two decades. 



It is a kaleidoscopic picture that is presented to 

 us. We see temples, like Deir el-Bahari, white and 

 glistening against red cliffs and blue sky, or, like 

 Bubastis, ruined wastes of red granite chips amid 

 the sand dunes. We explore, candle in hand, and 

 with lowered head, the windings of tombs far 

 beneath the earth, half-stifled by heat and foul air, 

 until we at last reach royal interments four thousand 

 years old, but still shining with gold and colour. 

 VVe read the triumphal stela of Pharaoh Meneptah, 

 the son of Rameses II., who tells us how he smote 

 the mighty men of Israel in the hills of Mount 

 Ephraim ; this is the first mention of Israel in 

 " secular " history. We see the priest-worked statue 

 of the great god Khonsu-in-Thebes-Beautiful-Rest 

 nodding its head " vigorously, vigorously," when 

 Pharaoh Rameses asks if the god's smaller and port- 



