6.S2 



NATURE 



[August 21, 191, 



streets, turning right or left at will into the different 

 buildings. 



First amongst the greater buildings of the site is 

 the Sun Temple, which is designed in a series of 

 ascending ambulatories with stone-built cloisters, the 

 sanctuary being found on the highest platform, in 

 the middle. A contemporary representation of the 

 building upon its own walls has enabled Mr. W. S. 

 George, the able architect of the expedition, by com- 

 parison with actual measurements, to attempt a recon- 

 struction. In character and situation this temple 

 corresponded to the "Table of the Sun" mentioned 

 by Herodotus. An even larger building is the Temple 

 of Ammon, the main axis of which is 430 ft. in 

 length ; the high altar and the special enclosure for 

 sacrificing animals, and other interesting features of 

 the temple, are well preserved. Other monuments 

 excavated include an extensive palace presumed to be 

 of Roman period, two small temples, one of which 

 was dedicated to a lion-deity, an ancient temple of 

 I sis, later reconstructed, pottery kilns of Meroitic 

 times, and several hundred tombs of the necropolis. 

 All these features appear to have been outside the 

 chief, or royal enclosure, and it appears that there 

 is still untouched by the excavators' spades a much 

 larger area than has yet been attacked, including the 

 ancient township itself which abutted against the 

 walls of the royal city. The explorer is of the opinion 

 that without a substantial increase in the annual sum 

 available for this work, which up to the present has 

 been almost entirely privately contributed by a few- 

 generous benefactors, it will scarcely be possible to 

 complete the undertaking even in ten or fifteen years. 



For the last two seasons the excavation has been 

 almost entirely concentrated upon the royal enclosure, 

 in which remarkable discoveries have been made. In 

 one of the royal palaces a hoard of gold treasure and 

 ornaments was found ; and the royal baths adjacent, 

 which are on an extensive scale, illustrate in their 

 details the character of the Meroitic arts better than 

 any other features of the city. 



Under the threshold of another public building, 

 carefully buried in sand, amid the debris of a building, 

 there was found a beautiful bronze head of Augustus, 

 which is now permanently deposited in the British 

 Museum. A short distance from the spot are the 

 remains of a small temple of Roman style ; and the 

 lecturer believes that this bronze head of the divine 

 emperor had once formed the cult object in this temple. 

 Two passages from Pliny seem to have been over- 

 looked by those who have discussed the possibilitv 

 of a Roman occupation at Meroe. From these it 

 would anpear that the imperial soldiers under Petro- 

 nius had not only reached Meroe. but had passed up 

 the Nile a further 100 miles. During- the past winter 

 a bronze coin of Augustus and an increasing- number 

 of small obiects were discovered, all of which tend 

 to indicate that, for a brief time at anv rate, Roman 

 troops actually occupied the city. In this way the fact 

 and circumstances of the discovery of the bronze head 

 would be satisfactorily explained. When Augustus 

 commanded the Roman troops to withdraw, the head 

 was removed from the temple and carefully buried 

 out of dane-er of violation. 



Two main culture periods are traceable in the 

 historv of Meroe previous to the Roman occupation. 

 The first was that of its foundation under King 

 Aspelut and his contemporaries, about the seventh 

 centurv B.C. In this period Egyptian influence in art 

 is freelv apparent. The second phase be^an with an 

 influx of Greek ideas, which mav be roughly dated to 

 the third centurv B.C., corresponding to a record bv 

 the historian Diodorus of great reformations instituted 

 hv Ergamenes, who had himself been educated in 

 Greek thought in the srh.0^1- n f Alexandria. It is 

 NO. 2286. VOL. qil 



the second phase which is the most striking in the 

 historv of Meroe, and most of the visible buildings 

 and monuments of the site belong to this period. The 

 Roman occupation left little permanent impress upon 

 the civilisation of the locality, but previous and sub- 

 sequent to the expedition of Petronius there must have 

 been already some influence of Roman contact, which 

 manifests itself in various ways. 



Thereafter the history of Meroe became that of a 

 local and somewhat barbarous civilisation, reflecting 

 only faintly the Greek and Roman culture with which 

 it had been earlier infused. A record of the fourth 

 centurv a.d. tells us how it was sacked by a king of 

 Axum ; but as late as the seventh century it would 

 appear that invaders from the same district (Eritrea) 

 overran the city and threw the statues and pictures 

 of the gods into the river. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



London. — An important announcement was pub- 

 lished on Augusl 13, to the effect that the President 

 of the Board of Education has appointed a Depart- 

 mental Committee to inquire and report, after con- 

 sultations with the bodies and persons concerned, as 

 to the steps by which effect shall be given to the 

 scheme of the report of the Royal Commission on 

 Lmiversity Education in London, and to recommend 

 the specific arrangements and provisions which may be 

 immediately adopted for that purpose, and as the 

 basis for the necessary legislation. Sir George H. 

 Murray, K.C.B., who was formerly at the Treasury, 

 and later Secretary to the Post Office, has been ap- 

 pointed chairman of the Committee. The other 

 members are Sir Amherst Selby-Bigge, Secretary to 

 the Board of Education, Sir John Rose Bradford, 

 Sec.R.S., Sir William MacCormick, Dr. George 

 Franklin, Dr. Arthur Keith, Mr. John Kemp (one of 

 the secretaries to the Royal Commission), and Mrs. 

 Henry Sidgwick. Dr. Frank Heath, the other secre- 

 tary to the Royal Commission, is appointed secretary 

 to the Committee. 



Manchester. — The council of the University has 

 appointed Dr. A. D. Imms to the newly created post 

 of reader in agricultural entomology. Dr. Imms was 

 formerly professor of biology in the LTniversity of 

 Allahabad, and afterwards forest entomologist to the 

 Government of India at the Imperial Research Insti- 

 tute, Dehra Dun. He will be in charge of the re- 

 searches in agricultural entomology conducted under 

 the scheme approved by l,hf Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries. The council, - -> assistance of a gr~-it 



in aid from the Devc -, . Fund Commissioners, 



has provided special laboratory accommodation for 

 these investigations, and will undertake the necessary 

 provision for the work ,pf the department. 



A reuter message from Melbourne reports that 

 a pioneer colonist named Mr. W. Robbie has died at 

 Ballarat, aged ninety-one years, and has bequeathed 

 30,000/. to Aberdeen University to establish scholar- 

 ships. 



The vacancy in the directorship of the Agricultural 

 College at Cornell University, caused by the resigna- 

 tion of Prof. L. H. Bailey, has been filled for the 

 time by the appointment of Prof. W. A. Stocking, 

 jun., as acting-director for a term of one year. Prof. 

 Stocking is forty-one years of age, and has been a 

 member of the faculty of the college since 1899. 



The Governor of Pennsylvania has, we learn from 

 Science, approved the following State grants made at 

 the last session nf the legislature : — The Pennsylvania 



