ALBERT THIBAUDET
LEARNED SOCIETIES, Etc.
THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES
THE Near East has been opened up by the war, and reports are coming in. The Augustinian Priory of the Holy Sepulchre, a complex of buildings, including the Calvary, St. Helen's Chapel, and the Prison of Christ, has been described by Mr. A. W. Clapham, who, being on military duty in Jerusalem, recently surveyed the ruins, and succeeded in making an almost complete plan of the Latin monastery, founded in 1114. Architectural features, both Western and Byzantine, were noticed, and the hope expressed that cleaning and repair would soon be undertaken now that the Holy Places are under British protection. In Babylonia Mr. H. R. Hall has been excavating for the British Museum at Eridu and Ur of the Chaldees. Work on the former site was begun by Mr. Campbell Thompson last year, and buildings of the First Dynasty at Ur have been discovered, dating about 2400 B.C. Still earlier finds of Sumerian origin, dating from pre-Semitic times, have come to light at Tell el-Obeid near Ur, including heads of lions and panthers in copper, on a bitumen foundation, with inlaid tongues, eyes, and teeth of coloured stone and shell; and a lion-headed eagle in copper relief, flanked by stags, the group being 8 feet long and 4 feet high. Nearer home Mr. Reginald Smith has brought forward evidence to prove that flint daggers belong to the early Bronze Age in Britain, but to the last phase of the Stone Age in Scandinavia. The earlier daggers point to connection between the two areas about 2000 B.C.
THE SOCIETY OF GENEALOGISTS OF LONDON
Since Her Majesty the Queen graciously consented to become a Patron membership has considerably increased, and now stands at 377. During the winter papers have been read as follows: By Mr. Watson-Taylor on "Joan of Arc, Her Relatives and Descendants"; by Mr. Austen-Leigh on "Editing a School Register," Eton to wit; by Dr. G. C. Peachey on "Bookplates"; and by Mr. George Sherwood on "Pedigrees and Next-of-Kin Cases," all of which were well attended, and the papers recommended for publication. A paper is promised by the Rev. T. C. Dale on "Durham Records." The last Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records has been much discussed, and measures suggested for getting its recommendations put into practice. Recognition has been accorded by the British Museum authorities, with the result that the genealogical papers of the late R. W. Twigge, F.S.A., have been added, with the consent of Mrs. Twigge, to the Society's collection.
The Society's aim is simply to facilitate research: by making records more accessible, by forming a collection of printed books, documents, and MSS., and by making a great index on the card-index system to the less-known records of biographical fact. Application should be made for the latest Annual Report to the Secretary, at the Society's Rooms, 5 Bloomsbury Square, W.C.1.