By Sir Philip Sassoon, Bart., M.P.

I thank the Society for the honour they have done me in asking me to preside upon so interesting an occasion. Professor Petrie needs no introduction; and I can but express the gratitude of the meeting to him for coming to lecture on an absorbing topic. We should have to go very far to find a more eminent Egyptologist. He is not limited to a discussion and criticism of other men’s discoveries; he is a most successful excavator himself. He has with his own hands unearthed many objects of the deepest interest to all students of the remote Egyptian past. He has been engaged in this work for forty years, during thirty of which he has occupied the distinguished position of Professor of Egyptology at this University, where he has spoken with peculiar authority on the significance of his own and other men’s discoveries, and has interpreted them to laymen such as myself. The late Arthur Davis, in whose memory these lectures are held, was a type of that rare and valuable man who, while engaged in business, is yet inspired by a studious ambition. He was a man above the average, who taught the lesson to the average man of affairs that the delights of learning are open to all those who are able to make use of the opportunities they can find and create. Such men are an honour to any cultured community.