June 20, 1907J 



NATURE 



179 



of the Corporation. The principal Council schools 

 will also be open for inspection. 



Sectional meetings will be held on four or five days 

 of the meeting at carefully chosen centres. The presi- 

 dents of the various sections are as follows : — A 

 (Mathematical and Phvsical Science), Prof. A. E. H. 

 Love, F.R.S. ; B (Chemistry), Prof. A. Smithells, 

 F.I'i.S. ; C (Geolocv), Prof. J. W. Gregory, F.R.S. ; 

 D (Zoology), Dr. \\". E. Hoyle; E (Geography), Mr. 

 G. G. Chisholm ; F (Economic Science and Statistics), 

 Prof. W. J. Ashlev; G (Engineering), Prof. S. P. 

 Thompson, F.R.S.'; H (Anthropology), Mr. D. G. 

 Hogarth; I (Phvsiolo.o-v), Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S.; 

 K (Botany), Prof. J. B. Farmer, F.R.S. ; L (Educa- 

 tional Science), Sir Philip Magnus. M.P. 



Every care is being taken in order to ensure the 

 comfort and convenience of all attending the various 

 meetings, and when the arrangements are completed 

 it is anticipated that the accommodation generally 

 will compare most favourably with that provided else- 

 where. The various local secretaries are enthusias- 

 licallv working with headquarters in the endeavour to 

 make the Leicester meeting one to be long remem- 

 bered for real usefulness and importance. The ladies 

 of the town have formed a special hosnitality com- 

 mittee, and are working to make, as they hope, ample 

 provision for the large number of expected guests. 



THE .45Tr.hV RESERVOIR. 

 T^HE Egyptian Government has lost no time in 

 ■'■ arranging for the archaeological survey of that 

 portion of the Nile ^'alley which will be submerged 

 bv the Aswan reservoir when the dam has been raised 

 seven metres above its present height. 



The archaeology of Nubia has not so far been very 

 thoroughly studied, so that a comprehensive scheme 

 of work must include: — (i) The consolidation of the 

 foundations of ancient structures; (2) such repairs as 

 are necessary to ensure their safety ; (3) the copying 

 of all inscriptions, and a complete photographic record 

 of these buildings ; (4) complete plans of each build- 

 ing, showing all structural details; (5) systematic 

 excavation, together with the preparation of plans 

 and photographs of all ancient sites, cemeteries, &-c., 

 which will be damaged by the increased level of the 

 reservoir; (6) a complete topographical survey of the 

 valIe^■, which will also indicate all sites, buildings, 

 &c., of archcEological interest. 



Under the arrangements w'hich have been made bv 

 Sir William Garstin, G.C.M.G., Adviser of the 

 Ministry of Public \\'orks, the first three of these will 

 be carried out bv the Department of Antiquities ; the 

 last three sections, which constitute a survey, both 

 topographical and archaeological, will be carried out 

 bv the Egyptian Survey Department. 



.As the dam in its present condition admits of the 

 water-level being raised i'5 metres if necessary, the 

 investig'ation of the area which would be affected by 

 this will be undertaken at once, and preparations 

 have been made to commence work in the early 

 autumn of this year. 



The recent cadastral survey of Nubia, i : 2500 

 reduced to the scale of i : 5000, will be utilised as the 

 basis of the topographical survey in order to record 

 the position of all ancient settlements, cemeteries, and 

 structures as they are taken in hand, while the slopes 

 of the vallev will be surveyed and contoured. 



The Egyptian Government has secured the services 

 of Dr. G. Reisner, who will commence the systematic 

 excavation of ancient sites at the end of September 

 next at the southern limit of the area now submerged. 

 From this point work will be carried on southwards 

 so as thoroughly to examine the valley lloor on either 



bank up to the future level of the reservoir (113 

 metres above sea-level), and as much above that as 

 may be necessary on account of the water soaking 

 the ground for some distance above it. 



The Egyptian Government has included in the 

 estimates tor raising the dam a sum of 60,000/. for 

 this work, which should suffice both for a 

 thoroughly scientific study of the reach which is to 

 be submerged, and for the necessary work of con- 

 solidating the foundations of temples. Facilities will 

 be given to any archaeological institutions which may 

 wish to undertake the study of any site, and will thus 

 facilitate the work. All other parts which have not 

 been systematically explored by such institutions will 

 be examined in due course by Dr. Reisner and his 

 staff, and the results will be published so as to form 

 a complete archjeological record of this reach of the 

 river. 



PROF. ALFRED NEWTON, F.R.S. 



AXZHILE zoological, and more especially ornith- 

 ' • ological, science has been deprived of one of its 

 most illustrious students and exponents by the death 

 of Alfred Newton, Cambridge has sustained an even 

 more severe blow, both scientifically and socially. 

 For not only has she lost in the late occupant of the 

 chair of zoology a distinguished professor and work- 

 ing zoologist, and a great benefactor to her zoological 

 museum, but likewise a social figure, whose place can 

 never be exactly filled. For the past forty years or so 

 the informal receptions held in term-time by Newton 

 on Sunday evenings at his well-known rooms in 

 Magdalene formed a unique feature in the scien- 

 tific life of the university. To these gatherings 

 not only were resident zoologists and the more ad- 

 vanced scientific students from all the colleges in 

 Cambridge constant and welcome visitors, but older 

 alumni re-visiting their ahna mater, as well as 

 zoologists educated at other seats of learning, were 

 received and greeted by their host in that genial 

 manner peculiarly his own. Reunions such as these 

 must, unhappily, die with the man to whom they 

 were due ; but those in the smoky atmosphere of the 

 old rooms at Magdalene will linger long in the memo- 

 ries of all the kindly old professor's former pupils and 

 friends. 



Born in Geneva on June 11, 1829, Alfred Newton 

 belonged to an old East Anglian family, being the 

 fifth son of William Newton, of Elveden, Suffolk, 

 sometime M.P. for Ipswich, by Elizabeth, daughter 

 of R. S. Milnes, of Fryston, Yorkshire, who repre- 

 sented his county tow^n in Parliament. As a boy he 

 was educated privately, but in due course he entered 

 ^L^gdalene College, Cambridge, as an undergraduate, 

 and took his B..\. degree in i<S^3. In that year, as 

 well as in 1852, he gained the English essay prize at 

 Cambridge; and in iS;^4 he was elected to a travelling 

 fellowship at his college, which he held until 1863. 

 During the time that he held the travelling fellow- 

 ship, Newton visited Lapland, Iceland, the West 

 Indies, and North .America, while in 1864 he accom- 

 panied Sir (then Mr.) Edward Birkbeck to Spits- 

 bergen, then but little known zoologically. To these 

 travels may in all probability be attributed a large 

 proportion of his unrivalled knowledge of the distri- 

 bution and habits of European birds. At a later 

 period, during a visit to Heligoland, Newton sus- 

 tained an injury in landing from a boat, which seri- 

 ously increased a lameness due, we believe, to an 

 accident in childhood. Ornitholocical observations 

 were, however, continued for many years subsequently 

 during summer yachting cruises, undertaken in com- 



NO. 1964, VOL. 76] 



