BEST SELLING BOOKS.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18569, 19 December 1925, Page 15

BEST SELLING BOOKS.

We bare been mppßed bjr fbe local boc&> tellers with the toWamng list of books most in demand: — X3CTXOH. Siropwm and 'WilUams, Ltd..Dell—"The MwTtfndar Anthoriftß.'".; P»ok»rd— •"Jtiaaaiag SpeeW." Seltaer —"Last H<»pe Bftacb." Pedlar —"ToHßJorrow's Taaafk*.*' Rlnehart—"The Hystery limy." Hull —"Son* ol the Shett.'* L. M. leitt. Ltd.:— Gr»yßo»—"Adventures in Understanding." Gibbd —"tfnehanging Quest." Lewis—"Martin Arrowamitb." Arien—"Ma7fair."i Wodehonsa —'' Sam the. 9nd*Bn.'' GonoMi—"Suapenae." ' fItKH Ifn%T.. L. 1L laht, JVtd.: — Do Sandrar —"Henotrs of Monsieur D'Artagnan" (3 vplaju Letters of Abelard and Halone, translated by Xoncrieff. „ Banwnde—"Hunting' Memories of many Lands," Afostth—"Flaees and Fcrsens. Parry—"The Overbniy Mystery. wiotcher-T-"A ffistory of Arebiteetere.** Bhnpaon and wniiamv Md.;—. Oaaendowskl —'*»roin PresiAent to Prison*" MJJtoo— "A GWlery ci Children/* Cijrlfr—"The Shadow Show.** TomUnaon —' Tidenarica,*' MCler —"Modem Polo." , , . yrancia—"A Book oa Jmimc-

Inarecent Beview* Mr Alfred Sutro published a translation of M. Maetertinck'B articles onAnciefct Egypt, The most intereating poant of the final instalment was the suggestion that the hiexogdyphio writing to which the celebrated Rosetta Stone gave Chjfflr pollion and his successors the key, may not convey to us the meaning it origin; ally conveyed to the ancient Egyptia* priesthood. M. (Maeterlinck says: . We must bear in wind that tihas stone dates from the Ptolemies; from a time, therefore, when, the J%yp* of the Pharaohs, which was the »W Eaypt, had long ceased to be, and •the priests, who had ever since tie XXlsfc dynasty really governed the country and become the depositories of all its •traditions, were either banished or massacred. Now it waa the priests alone who knew tbeeecret meaning of the hieroglyphM script; and the usurping priests of the time of the Ptolemies, who may wery possibly not have been initiated, will have dealt with the symbols without realising their inner or hidden significance, which they were unable to convey, being ignorant of it themselves. It may, very well be that this famous key of the Rosetta stone only unlocks n> very small door which merely gives the clue to material matters; and that Cftampolliort and his pnocessors have translated thousands of texts without i over once divining the real thought of the ancient priests.

On -the secret roßgrai of Egypt K. Maeterlinck writes: In tho midst of the incoherence and inconsistency that pervade Egyptian theology we come across traces at times of a secret religion, txaoea that the parasitic growths of the popular religion ha*e not been able entirely to hide. We find, then, that these innumerable gods with the everchanging names are in troth only one god, who was at tho eeme time all the others; one god whoso nam© and form varied with locality or temple, with his pow.ers and functions, with dynasties and The Pharaoh is a god daring his lifetime; all men are gods after their death and whichever god they choose to be. God is all and all is god, consequently there is only one god and he cannot be explained because be is all. Thus we arrive at a pantheism eo farreaching that it becomes monotheistic, and then of necessity turns into absolute agnosticism, became wc cannot know tho Great AJB.