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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1135 



At the time of the actual conquest and dur- 

 ing the immediately succeeding period the 

 civilization that appears at Mycenas and 

 Tiryns, at Thebes and Orchomenos, and at 

 other centers of mainland Greece, though 

 it seems to have brought with it some al- 

 ready assimilated Anatolian elements, is still 

 in the broadest sense Minoan. It is only at 

 a later stage that a more provincial offshoot 

 came into being to which the name Myce- 

 naean can be properly applied. But it is 

 clear that some vanguard at least of the 

 Aryan Greek immigrants came into contact 

 with this high Minoan culture at a time when 

 it was still in its most flourishing condition. 

 The evidence of Homer itself is conclusive. 

 Arms and armor described in the poems 

 are those of the Minoan prime, the fabled 

 shield of Achilles, like that of Herakles de- 

 scribed by Hesiod, with its elaborate scenes 

 and variegated metal-work, reflects the 

 masterpieces of Minoan craftsmen in the 

 full vigor of their art ; the very episodes 

 of epic combat receive their best illustra- 

 tion on the signets of the great days of 

 Mycenae. Even the lyre to which the min- 

 strel sang was a Minoan invention. Or, if 

 we turn to the side of religion, the Greek 

 temple seems to have sprung from a 

 Minoan hall, its earliest pediment schemes 

 are adaptations from the Minoan tympa- 

 num — such as we see in the Lions' Gate — 

 the most archiac figures of the Hellenic 

 Goddesses, like the Spartan Orthia, have 

 the attributes and attendant animals of the 

 great Minoan Mother. 



Some elements of the old culture were 

 taken over on the soil of Hellas. Others 

 which had been crushed out in their old 

 centers survived in the more eastern shores 

 and islands formerly dominated by Minoan 

 civilization, and were carried back by 

 Phoenician or Ionian intermediaries to their 

 old homes. In spite of the overthrow which 

 about the twelfth century before our era fell 

 on the old Minoan dominion and the onrush 



of the new conquerors from the north, 

 much of the old tradition still survived to 

 form the base for the fabric of the later 

 civilization of Greece. Once more, through 

 the darkness, the lighted torch was carried 

 on, the first glimmering flame of which had 

 been painfully kindled by the old Cave 

 dwellers in that earlier Palaeolithic world. 



The Roman Empire, which in turn ap- 

 propriated the heritage that Greece had 

 received from Minoan Crete, placed civili- 

 zation on a broader basis by welding to- 

 gether heterogeneous ingredients and pro- 

 moting a cosmopolitan ideal. If even the 

 primeval culture of the Reindeer Age em- 

 braced more than one race and absorbed 

 extraneous elements from many sides, how 

 much more is that the case with our own 

 which grew out of the Greco-Roman! 

 Civilization in its higher form to-day, 

 though highly complex, forms essentially a 

 unitary mass. It has no longer to be sought 

 out in separate luminous centers, shining- 

 like planets through the surrounding night. 

 Still less is it the property of one privi- 

 leged country or people. Many as are the 

 tongues of mortal men, its votaries, like 

 the Immortals, speak a single language. 

 Throughout the whole vast area illumined 

 by its quickening rays, its workers are in- 

 terdependent, and pledged to a common 

 cause. 



"We, indeed, who are met here to-day to 

 promote in a special way the Cause of 

 Truth and Knowledge, have never had a 

 more austere duty set before us. I know 

 that our ranks are thinned. How many of 

 those who would otherwise be engaged in 

 progressive research have been called away 

 for their country's service! How many 

 who could least be spared were called to 

 return no more! Scientific intercourse is 

 broken, and its cosmopolitan character is 

 obscured by the death struggle in which 

 whole continents are locked. The concen- 

 tration, moreover, of the nation and of its 



