December 9, 1922] 



NA TURE 



783 



and dispose of the Hospital and Oratory for streets 

 improvements. The matter has yet to be passed, 

 however, by a town's meeting and afterwards by 

 the burgesses, before it can proceed. Several times 

 during the past twenty-five years the building has 

 been threatened, but every effort has so far been 

 counteracted by the local Preservation Committee 

 and the Croydon Natural History and Scientific 

 Society. The Royal Institute of British Architects, 

 which has now joined forces with the local scientific 

 society, has adopted the view that the widening of 

 the main road through Croydon can be achieved 

 without any interference with the buildings. In 

 mi 2 a scheme to this effect was accepted by the 

 Croydon Council, and approved by the Local Govern- 

 ment Board. At a conference of interested societies 

 called by the Institute, the local and national im- 

 portance of preserving Whitgift Hospital as a 

 valuable relic of Elizabethan architecture was 

 emphasised, and it was decided to support the 191 2 

 scheme as providing a practical and effective road 

 improvement which meets traffic requirements. 

 Steps are to be taken to place these views before the 

 proper authorities. It is to be hoped that the 

 principle of avoiding, wherever possible, interference 

 with historic and beautiful buildings may be in- 

 creasingly supported by public opinion. 



For nearly sixteen years Lord Carnarvon, with the 

 assistance of Mr. Howard Carter, has been engaged in 

 carrying out excavations in part of the site of ancient 

 Thebes on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor. Their 

 work has now been rewarded by an astonishing 

 success, the details of which are described by a corre- 

 spondent in the Times of November 30, while in the 

 next issue Sir E. Wallis Budge explains the import- 

 ance of the discovery. A sealed chamber has been 

 opened containing- the tomb of Tutankhamen, son- 

 in-law of Amenhetep IV., now better known as 

 Aakhenaten. The latter king, whose reign is dated 

 at the end of the 14th century B.C., became notorious 

 for his attempt to revive the ancient cult of the sun's 

 disc, a movement which met with such serious 

 opposition from the orthodox worshippers of Amen- 

 Ra, king of the gods at Thebes, that he was obliged 

 to retire to the place now known as Tell-al-Amarnah, 

 where he acted as priest of Aten, or the disc. The 

 tomb furniture of Tutankhamen is of extraordinary 

 interest and value, including his magnificent State 

 throne, one of the most beautiful works of art ever 

 discovered, and a mass of splendid articles which 

 have been as yet only imperfectly examined. Sir 

 Wallis Budge suggests with good reason that a mono- 

 graph containing a full account of this remarkable 

 discovery should be published ; " Such a book, 

 carefully planned and written by Lord Carnarvon 

 and Mr. Howard Carter, would crown a very fine 

 archaeological triumph, and earn the gratitude of 

 Egyptologists, archaeologists, artists, and others 

 throughout the world." It only remains to congratu- 

 late Lord Carnarvon and Mr. Howard Carter on the 

 success that has attended their long course of excava- 

 tion, and has produced one of the most remarkable 

 discoveries made fir Egypt in recent times. 



NO. 2771, VOL. I io] 



\ \ 1 ry remarkable and most valuable collection 

 of scientific instruments of historical interest is at 

 present on view in the Portrait Gallery of the Bodleian 

 Library, Oxford. This collection has been formed 

 by Mr. Lewis Evans and contains some two thousand 

 instruments, the oldest dating from the tenth century, 

 and among the youngest being some designed by the 

 great-grandfather of the present owner. Mr. Evans 

 has offered the whole of it as a free gift to the Univer- 

 sity of Oxford, on condition that suitable space and 

 situation, meeting with his approval, be found for 

 showing it. In the meantime the collection is to 

 remain for exhibition in the Bodleian till the end of 

 the summer of 1924 ; but it can scarcely be doubted 

 that this magnificent gift will be gratefully accepted. 

 By far the greater part of the collection consists of 

 astrolabes and sundials, many of the former being 

 of exquisite workmanship. Among them is a Persian 

 astrolabe made by Ahmad and Mahmud, dated 

 a.h. 374 (a.d. 984), suitable for finding the time of 

 the day by the sun or at night by 37 stars, for finding 

 the latitude of a place, etc. Another Persian astro- 

 labe, ornamented with gold and silver, is dated 

 a.d. 1227, while an equally beautiful one was made 

 at Toledo in a.d. 1067. Passing by a number of 

 astrolabes of European make, including one made at 

 Oxford about 1676, we find a great variety of pocket 

 dials, some of them having compass needles to be 

 sensitised with loadstones, in fine mountings ; also 

 drawing and surveying instruments, and finally a 

 library, numbering about a thousand volumes, 

 dealing with dialling, astrolabes, and other instru- 

 ments. Further particulars about this wonderful 

 collection will be found in the Bodleian Quarterly 

 Record, No. 35. 



A visit of members of the Circle of Scientific, 

 Technical, and Trade Journalists and representatives 

 of the technical press to the extensive modern repair 

 shops of the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., at 

 Chiswick, took place on November 27. These large 

 works, which cover more than 30 acres and deal 

 with the repair of a fleet of 3000 motor-buses, travel- 

 ling more than 100 million car-miles in a year, have 

 some most interesting features. The works can 

 handle 120 vehicles weekly. The whole process of 

 overhaul and repair is conducted on scientific lines, 

 each vehicle being stripped, the individual parts 

 distributed for repair, and finally reassembled on a 

 moving conveyor in a manner reminiscent of the 

 methods of the Ford Motor Co. One highly interest- 

 ing apparatus is the special washing-machine, capable 

 of accommodating five components such as gear 

 boxes at a time, a caustic washing solution being 

 pumped in at high pressure so as to wash out 

 thoroughly all grime and grit. Three such machines 

 are in use. There is a well-equipped canteen where 

 1000 men can be served with dinner in fifteen minutes, 

 and a model first-aid department. Following the 

 inspection of the works, an address on the " Safety 

 First " movement in England was delivered by 

 Mr. H. E. Blain, assistant managing director of the 

 London Underground Railways and L.G.O. Co. 

 group, and hon. secretary both of the London 



