PART II. THE PRESERVATION OF ANTIQUITIES.

The object with which it is proposed to deal should first be photographed, and from different sides if necessary; for the external appearance is often changed during the process of preservation, and it is advisable that a representation of the specimen in its original condition should be kept in case any injury should befall the object, which however rarely happens if proper caution be observed. For this reason in the Laboratory of the Royal Museums at Berlin all bronzes are photographed before treatment, as also are all limestone blocks. Thus the 125 blocks from the Grave-chamber of Meten were each separately photographed. It is only in certain cases that this rule is not observed, as for instance in the case of the numerous Egyptian ostraca, i.e. fragments of earthenware showing inscriptions which had been previously copied.