International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences

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THE first International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, held in London on Aug. 1–6, must be counted completely successful. Foreign visitors seemed thoroughly satisfied with the arrangements for their instruction and entertainment; while the whole-hearted manner in which British archæologists supported the meeting both by their attendance and by the contribution of papers, as well as the ready enthusiasm with which they entered into the discussion of mutually interesting problems with their colleagues from other countries, ensured that this new undertaking should at least be launched tinder favourable auspices. The number attending the Congress was approximately six hundred, and just under two hundred papers were accepted for reading—too large a number perhaps; but the careful arrangement of subdivisions and the classification of papers reduced the inconvenience of clashing to a minimum. A high standard was maintained; and a number of papers, to some of which we hope to refer at a later date, dealt with topics of great importance. Some communications from foreign visitors were perhaps of a more highly technical character than those to which a British audience is accustomed; but this was to be expected with a membership of which a considerable proportion was professional. It is only in Great Britain that that interesting and valued survival, the amateur as archæologist, flourishes to any appreciable extent.