"We must recognize the zeal with which the Egyptian Government, especially the department of Egyptian Antiquities, with its Director-General, Professor Maspero, came to the rescue of the ill-fated edifice. To prevent further catastrophe, they first proceeded to remove the architraves from five of the endangered columns, and to reduce the height of the columns to about twenty feet. This was accomplished by filling with sand that portion of the hall in which the columns stood, and then rolling the separate parts down the inclined plane formed by the sand. The north portion of the pylon terminating the colonnade toward the east—that is, toward the Nile—had badly suffered by the disaster. There were cracks in it so large as to cause the fear that it might some day collapse. After prompt and thorough work this danger also was obviated. Later on the ruins of the eleven fallen columns are to be removed, and the foundations of the hall examined. Then everything possible will be done to make the ground solid, and the attempt will be made to erect again the ruined columns. But whether the beautiful colonnade will ever resume its former appearance, whether it will ever again make upon the visitor such an overpowering impression as formerly, may well be a matter of serious doubt. Ancient Thebes has lost one of its most beautiful monuments.'" _Sunday School Times, December 1, 1900._ ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: Egypt: Discovery of the Serapeion at Alexandria. "The excavations by Dr. Botti, the Director of the Alexandrian Museum, in the neighborhood of Pompey's Pillar, have resulted in the discovery of the Serapeion, where the last of the great libraries of Alexandria was preserved. An elaborate account of his researches, with an admirable plan, has been given by the discoverer in a memoir on 'L'Acropole d'Alexandrie et le Sérapeum,' presented to the Archæological Society of Alexandria. … Dr. Botti was first led to make his explorations by a passage in the orator Aphthonios, who visited Alexandria about A. D. 315." _American Journal of Archœology, January-arch, 1896._ {23} ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: Crete: Recent explorations. Supposed discovery of the Palace of Minos and the Cretan Labyrinth. Fresh light on prehistoric Greece and the origin of the alphabet.