LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
LIGHT IN THE EGYPTIAN TOMBS.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."]
S in,—Yoar correspondent, " G. V. S.," will see that his suggestion is inadmissible when I tell him that the tombs to which I specially referred—the tombs of the Kings at Thebes, and the tomb of Thi at Saklarah—are tunnelled out of the solid rock. They were never " covered in," for they were never roof- less. It is quite certain that the artist worked in the entire absence of a single ray of daylight. It is equally certain that he did not use any artificial light which gives out smoke. Each tomb is a spacious, many-chambered mansion, with long and winding passages. And in some tombs both walls and ceilings are literally covered with paintings and inscriptions, which must have cost the artist many months of labour ; and these are all so carefully and delicately finished that the light used must have been a very brilliant one. In some cases a master-hand had drawn an outline of the picture, and you can still trace the fine lines of his pencil under the painting of the inferior artist. There must have been a blaze of smokeless light. What was it ? I could not help wondering whether those old Egyptians had added a knowledge of the electric light to their other discoveries. On my broaching this idea to Mr. Flinders Petrie at Tel-el-Amarna, he told me he had no doubt that light was radiated into the interior of the tombs by means of mirrors. It seems almost incredible ; but Mr. Flinders Petrie is a careful and scientific investigator, and I must accept his explanation in the absence of a better.—I am,
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