Evening star., 1923-05-15
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
THE GLORY OF THE PHARAOHS.
Arthur Weigall. u. +: Putnam's

THE GLORY OF THE PHARAOHS.
Arthur Weigall. u. +: Putnam's
Sons:
Arthur Weigall, Psychologist. Is one
thing. The familiar type Of archie
oIosist Is quite another. The major
ity of this particular order OF savant
have gone dead along with the mum
mics Of old pharaohs. WeigaI, In
happy contrast, has. instead, brought
the mummies to life again. The one
sets out from the graveyard and ends
with the museum-a dead march
from start to finish. The other evokes
from the tombs of old Egypt the
spirit and saver Of the ancient Egyp-
tian life itself. And this effect OF
vital essence Ia no accident. Rather
does 1t spring from a definite theory
worked out laboriousIy into practice.
The historians work, according to
Mr.. weigall, falls into two distinct
lines, each unlike the other in pur-
pose and. therefore. different in their
modes Of development. The first In
wolves a complete mastery Of the ma
terials Of history for the period under
consideration. The second re-creates
that period in its body and spirit.
The first calls into use the full equip
ment and technique Of modern inves-
tigation up to Its latest word. Hero
history In science. to be treated In the
impersOnal and exhaustive search for
truth that stamps all scientific re-
search. This done, the second line OF
work follows the creative line. Here
history is drama. Its agent Is imaRi
nation and the gift of forgetting
forgetting the years that lie in be-
tween the historian and tho period
which he seeks to project in it's own
integrity. Such. roughly. Ia Mr.. Wei
CALLS theory and such, in this study,
Is his practice
We are for the time being in Egypt
with Mr.. Weigall at the opened tomb
which proved. finally. to be the tomb
Of Ahknaton. king of Egypt four or
five thousand years agone. And. by
the way. Ahknaton turns out to have
been the father-in-law Of the imme-
diately popular Tutankhaman. who Is
at the moment providing new fash
ions In headgear for beauteous
houris of the modern movie. A
trifing item-and now we are back
at the tomb Of Ahknaton. Standing
"ltnln. the tOmD looks 10 US mucn
like house, better like a room. from
which the family has been absent for
season. 1t proves to have been the
long season OF forty hundred years-a
little more. trifle less. maybe.
Chairs. two or three, are set about in
orderly arrangement: over there a
chest OF drawers: flowers faded but
not crumbled; on a low table. cakes
dried but not broken. covered with a
glaze like that used by our confection-
ers: censer holding the ash Of incense
burned 5000 years ago. The walls
are warm and bright with colors that
time has not d!Inmed. The story Of
the kings life is recorded on these
walls. In the midst the splendid
saroophaEus protecting the king
Days go by in making photographs
OF each object as it stands, for posi-
ton. even, may have an Illuminating
part in this elaborate ritual Of death
that seeks to project so much Of life
out into the unknown of the long
future. Pictures are supplemented
by full body of explanatory notes
on every object and on every aspect
of the place. Not till all this has
been done may any object in the tomb
be displaced or otherwise disturbed
The body Of the king takes on un-
kingly intimacies of observation. The
stored walls are deciphered. And
this is what Mr.. Weigall designates
as mastering the materials of history.
1t Is the task of the pure scientist.
X
His work done, the scientist now
makes way for the creative artist
We recall Mr.. WeigaIrs contention
that to deliver over any period in
the truth and power Of its dramatic
content it is essential for the his
torian to slough off the years that
lie in between him and that period
To burden a simpler era with the
complexities Of a later one Is to
distort that era, to belle it-a clear
act of bad faith and blunt conscience
on the part of any historian. There
fore the gift Of forgetting is a vital
part of his power. Mr.. Weigan pos
sesses that gift. Therefore, he steps
back into old Egypt actively con-
those things that the world had
achieved up to that time. To be sure.
he adds to this knowledge those
body hungers and soul hungers that
have been the single common pos
session of man since he began to
be man. These provide the in
terpreting centers from which he
reaches out in complete certainty for
the life of that time. And from these
broken tombs he gathers the bodies
and hearts and minds of the old rulers
or Egypt. In their own setting of
time and place he teammates old
religions and philosophers. From
these relics he restages the old state
craft. and traces the rise and fall
Of kings to their sources and out
again to their consequences. And
from them he draws innumerable pic
~ ha 70 of
the influence of more than one wom-
an reckonable from this important
point or that. From these. too. he
re-creates the elaborate ceremonial Of
the life of the courts-religious
political, or merely recreative cere-
monial. Throughout, the high art of
trained and simplified Imagination
is applied here in an amazing realism
of effect
Mr.. Weigall is to all intents and
purposes a desert man. He has lived
off the desert-eaten and drunk and
slept it 1t has been his chief medium
OF productivity, not only as archeol-
ogist and historian, but as novelist
besides. Naturally he has deep feel
ing for 1t. feeling that is supported
by intimate knowledge. These are
the reasons why he is able to pro-
duce a book as vital as this one is.
And by way of 1t one is able to
enter, actively so to speak, into that
old life SO vividly set out here. Early
Impressions are hard to correct
Later education has to work over
time to rub out some of these first
mistakes With the majority of US
the ancient Egyptian has never sue