A great deal of damage has been done to the prestige of the archaeologist by the ill-considered outbursts of those persons who have allowed this natural perturbation to have full sway in their minds.  The man or woman who has protested the loudest has seldom been in a position even to offer an opinion.  Thus every temperate thinker has come to feel a greater distaste for the propaganda of those persons who would have hindered the erection of the dam than for the actual effects of its erection.  Vegetarians, Anti-Vivisectionists, Militant Suffragists, Little Englanders, and the like, have taught us to beware of the signs and tokens of the unbalanced mind; and it becomes the duty of every healthy person to fly from the contamination of their hysteria, even though the principles which lie at the base of their doctrines may not be entirely without reason.  We must avoid hasty and violent judgment as we would the plague.  No honest man will deny that the closing of Philae for half the year is anything but a very regrettable necessity; but it has come to this pass, that a self-respecting person will be very chary in admitting that he is not mightily well satisfied with the issue of the whole business.

Recently a poetic effusion has been published bewailing the “death” of Philae, and because the author is famous the world over for the charm of his writing, it has been read, and its lament has been echoed by a large number of persons.  It is necessary to remind the reader, however, that because a man is a great artist it does not follow that he has a sober judgment.  The outward appearance, and a disordered opinion on matters of everyday life, are often sufficient indication of this intemperance of mind which is so grave a human failing.  A man and his art, of course, are not to be confused; and perhaps it is unfair to assess the art by the artist, but there are many persons who will understand my meaning when I suggest that it is extremely difficult to give serious attention to writers or speakers of a certain class.  Philae is not dead.  It may safely be said that the temples will last as long as the dam itself.  Let us never forget that Past and Present walk hand in hand, and, as between friends, there must always be much “give and take.”  How many millions of pounds, I wonder, has been spent by the Government, from the revenues derived from the living Egyptians, for the excavation and preservation of the records of the past?  Will the dead not make, in return, this sacrifice for the benefit of the striving farmers whose money has been used for the resuscitation of their history?