21 MAY 1927, Page 2

On Monday the King of Italy inaugurated the n excavations

at Herculaneum. Now that it is the ha of Italy "to get things (lone" it may be assumed the neglect of many generations will be remedied. The minor and intermittent excavations at Herculaneum have already given high promise of what may yet be found. Herculaneum was a richer city than Pompeii and that fact encourages hopes for the discovery of special treasures. But that is not all. As the Times reminds us, Sir Charles Walston cherished the belief that Herculaneum may yield, what has not been dis- covered elsewhere in Italy, a large library. As the dry sand of Egypt has kept paper from perishing, so may the mud (not lava) under which Herculaneum is buried eighty feet deep have preserved the fragile papyrus.