May 2, 1907] 



NATURE 



13 



young American artist. The library contains special 

 rooms for the reference collection, for the lendino- 

 library, and for children, and at present consists of 

 nearly 1,500,000 volumes, 800,000 of which find place 

 in an eleven-story book -stack. There is a very large 

 music-hall with a fine organ and a magnificent foyer. 

 The fine arts department contains nine galleries, with 

 a floor space of more than 4^,000 square feet, and m 

 nddition a hall of sculpture and a hall of architecture. 

 The galleries contain a good permanent collection, 

 specially rich in the works of modern artists, with a 

 special section for an annual international exhibition. 



The museum, to which there is attached a fine 

 lecture hall, an e.Kcellent special librarv, and a well- 

 equipped series of research rooms, has a floor space 

 of more than 100,000 square feet, arranged in three 

 tiers, of open courts and galleries. On the ground 

 floor there are special collections of gems and coins, 

 particularly rich in specimens from China, India, 

 and Korea, the gifts of John J. Lewis, William 

 Thaw, and Mr. Carnegie. The main hall of the 

 museum is devoted to mineralogy and geologv. 

 There is an almost complete collection of local 

 minerals, and a fine series of huge relief maps of the 

 district. The pateontological department is domin- 

 ated by Diplodocus, but contains manv other interest- 

 ing specimens, in particular a very fine series of 

 Oreodont mammals. The second floor contains 

 galleries devoted to economic botany and to general 

 zoology. There is a large and well-mounted show- 

 case of Steller's sea-lions, and a capital group of 

 Rocky Mountain goats. The bird series is as yet 

 disappointing, but the arrangement of the galleries 

 has only begun. The third floor is devoted to 

 entomology, and Dr. Holland's fine collection of 

 Coleoptera and Lepidoptera has now found a home 

 worthy of its zoological importance. The chief 

 assistants of Dr. Holland are Mr. Douglas Stewart, 

 in the department of mineralogv; Dr. \. E. Ort- 

 mann, with P. E. Raymond, Earl Douglass, and 

 O. \. Peterson, in paleontology; Prof. C. V. Hart- 

 man, in ethnology; Mr. O. lennings, in botanv; Mr. 

 W. E. C. Todd, in ornitholoary ; and Mr. H. Kahl, 

 in cntomologv. The chief assistant in the setting up 

 of fossils is Mr. A. S. Coggshall, whilst Mr. F. S. 

 Webster is the taxidermist and Mr. Th. .'\. Mills the 

 modeller. With such a staff and the ample endow- 

 ments at his disposal, Dr. Holland has a magnificent 

 opportunity of which he mav be expected to take 

 full adv'antage. 



A full description of the technical schools would 

 require many pages. In equipment and staff they 

 are magnificent, and are adapted for the teaching of 

 almost everv form of the mechanical arts. 



ARCHMOLOGY AND THE ASSOUAN DAM. 

 A DESPATCH from the Earl of Cromer, just issued 

 -^*- as a White Paper (Cd. 3397), deals with the 

 question of increasing the water supply of Egvpt bv 

 constructing a new dam or raising the present dam at 

 Assouan. Notes are included by Sir William Garstin, 

 Sir Benjamin Baker, Mr. A. L. Webb, and Captain 

 Lyons, in which the various plans are considered. 

 .\fter examining all possible sites, the opinion ex- 

 pressed is that no alternative exists but that of rais- 

 ing the .Assouan dam. L^nfortunately, this means 

 the almost complete submersion, during a portion of 

 the year, of the temples at Phils; and it is there- 

 fore important to know what the Egyptian Govern- 

 ment intends to do with regard to the Nubian monu- 

 ments affected by the proposed works. 



Captain Lyons points out in his note that since in 



NO. 1957, VOL. 76] 



an and climate the flood plains are almost the onlv 

 region where civilisation has been able to develop, a 

 thorough investigation of the monuments in the dis- 

 trict to be afl'ected should be made before the water- 

 level is raised. His principal suggestions are sum- 

 marised as follows : — 



An archaeological survey of Nubi.i should be carried 

 out, at the expense of the Government, and every effort 

 should be made to render it as complete as possible. The 

 different archaeological societies in Europe should be in- 

 vited to cooperate with the Egyptian authorities in this 

 work, by sending representatives to assist in these re- 

 searches. Wherever possible, the foundations of the 

 monuments submerged should be reconstructed and con- 

 solidated, as was done in the case of the Phila; temples. 

 Such repairs as may be considered necessary to insure 

 the stability of their superstructure should also be under- 

 taken. A thorough and complete examination of all the 

 ancient sites, settlements, and cemeteries which will fall 

 within the limits of the raised water-levels should be 

 carried out, and drawings or photographs sufficient to 

 preserve a complete record must be made by competent 

 artists. Lastly, the results of these investigations must be 

 published to the world. 



Sir William Garstin does not hesitate to say that 

 this programme will be adopted, and that " the funds 

 necessary for such an object will not be grudged bv 

 the Government." If the raising of the dam is pre- 

 ceded by an exact scientific survey, archaeology will 

 benefit by an increase of knowledge, while Egypt 

 will gain by an increase of water supply. There 

 ought, however, to be a definite undertaking that the 

 work will be carried out bv the Egyptian 

 Government in a reasonable tiriie. We should 

 be glad to know what has been done with 

 regard to the complete archaeological survey of the 

 region already submerged. When the proposal was 

 made in 1894 to build a dam at Assouan with its 

 crest 114 metres above mean sea-level, the 

 archaological societies of Europe protested against 

 it in the strongest terms, and the result was the 

 adoption of a modified scheme in which the crest of 

 the dam is eight metres (26 feet) lower than that of 

 the original project. This was of the nature of a 

 compromise, and the Egyptian Government on its 

 part undertook " to carry out an archaeological and 

 scientific investigation of the whole of Nuf)ia." 



From Captain Lyons's note in the present White 

 Paper we understand that a topographical basis for 

 such a survey has been prepared, but the systematic 

 study of the submerged portion of the Nile 

 valley, from an archasological point of view, has 

 still to be made. As this is a matter for the Egyptian 

 Government, the responsibility for the survey must 

 not be thrown upon archaeologists (who not only are 

 not paid, but have to pay for their exploration), but 

 should be borne by the Government. 



By the scheme now proposed, the future maximum 

 water-level will stand seven metres (very nearly 

 23 feet) higher than is the case at present, so that 

 the dam now contemplated will have practically the 

 same height as that of the original project against 

 which archaeological societies strongly protested. It 

 is therefore desirable to insist that the promised in- 

 vestigations should be undertaken seriously by the 

 Egyptian Government without delay, and that 

 adequate provision be made for the systematic survey 

 of the region. LTnless all records of the earlier civili- 

 sation of the region are carefully and accurately col- 

 lected and studied, as suggested by Captain Lyons, 

 the claims of archaeology are likely to be forgotten 

 when the engineering scheme has been approved and 

 the works are in progress. 



