picturesque style which sometimes startles the reader' with its daring. We cannot do more than refer to a few of the interesting facts regarding Haeckel to which the author gives prominence. "Haeckel's genealogical tree spreads into the legal profession in a curiously complex way." This inheritance was expressed in Haeckel's imperious craving for clear lines and systematic arrangement, and in his fondness for formulating "laws." Apart from the influence of his teachers, such as Johannes Müller and Virchow, and of his friends, such as Gegenbaur, it was the sea-at Helgoland, at Nice, at Messina-that really won Haeckel for zoology. Regarding his pupillary period, the curious fact is mentioned that one of the theses he defended when taking his doctorate at Berlin was the impossibility of spontaneous generation. In 1860 Haeckel was "profoundly moved" by a first reading of "The Origin of Species," and conversations with Gegenbaur finally confirmed his conviction of the truth of Darwinism-a conviction which found its first, though not prominent, expression in his monograph on Radiolaria (1862). In 1863, at the Stettin congress, when Haeckel made his first open confession of the faith that was now in him, he won a laurel crown at the Leipzig athletic festival for the long jump (20 feet), and the translator justly remarks that we have here "the note of much in his character." What many zoologists, who neither misunderstand Haeckel nor fail to do him homage, feel, is that the impetuous, daring, pioneering evolutionist of Jena has taken many long jumps which scientific caution makes them refuse. A fine chapter of the book is devoted to what is perhaps Haeckel's best and most lasting work, the "Generelle Morphologie" (1866). It was written, partly as a relief from sorrow, in less than a year, during which the author lived the life of a hermit, sleeping barely three or four hours a day, with habits so ascetic that he wondered at his survival. But the great work was too difficult for the general reader, too philosophical for the biologists, too biological for the philosophers, and thus with a clearly defined mussion Haeckel set himself to the task, which he has so successfully accomplished, of making monistic evolutionism" understanded of the people." One of the many interesting incidents related in Boische's appreciation may be quoted. A stern theologian presented himself in person at the chateau of Karl Alexander, Grand Duke of Weimar, and begged him to put an end to this scandal of the professorship of Haeckel, the arch-heretic. The Grand Duke, educated in the Weimar tradition of Goethe, asked, Do you think he really believes these things that he publishes? Most certainly he does,' was the prompt reply. Very good,' said the Grand Duke, then the man simply does the same as you do.'" 4 As Prof. Bölsche closed his charming biographical sketch in 1900, the translator, who has done his work admirably, has added a chapter on the crowning years, dealing with the controversies over the "Riddle of the Universe," and other events. The whole work, helped by the excellent portraits, leaves one with a grateful impression of a remarkable personality who has all his life been a good fighter yet most lovable withal, who has done much for pure science and yet has never ceased to say "Das Leben ist schön." (3) In these three lectures, delivered last year in Berlin, Prof. Haeckel reiterated with wonted frankness and fearlessness his evolutionist and monistic convictions. He trounced the theologians and metaphysicians for ignoring or combating or misrepresenting the secure results of science, and he did not refrain from reproving some of his own craft-even his revered master, Virchow-for trying to sit on both sides of the fence. He is himself so well satisfied' with the naturalistic formulation of what goes on, and has gone on, in the wide world, that he has no patience with those who seek for explanations that science ex hypothesi can never give. 66 The law of evolution and the law of substance (the conservation of matter and energy) are irreconcilable with the three central dogmas of metaphysics, which so many educated people still regard as the most precious treasures of their spiritual life-the belief in a personal God, the personal immortality of the soul and the liberty of the human will." Not that these are to be driven out of the world. 66 'They merely cease to pose as truths in the realm of pure science.. As imaginative creations, they retain a certain value. in the world of poetry." To many this will seem a false antithesis, an opposition of incommensurables. It can hardly be pathologically that the human spirit has so persistently attempted to get beyond common sense and empirical science to a formulation of the efficient causes, the significance, the purpose of all becoming. As a matter of fact, Haeckel himself is a worshipper of "a Monistic god, the all-embracing essence of the world, the Nature-god of Spinoza and Goethe, identical with the eternal, all-inspiring energy, one, in eternal and infinite substance, with space-filling matter," whose "will is at work in every falling drop of rain and every growing crystal, in the scent of the rose and in the spirit of man." The lectures have been very successfully translated by Mr. McCabe. We may note that the date given for Weismann's theory of germ-plasm is 1844, which seems rather early, while that of Lamarck's "Philosophie Zoologique " (1899) is rather late. is sadly in want of a generally accepted definition fitted to give a clear idea of its scope. But though this definition is lacking, the handling of the subject is coming to be more and more in accordance with the idea that the governing function of geography is to indicate the nature and relative importance of the influences exercised on the life of the globe, especially human life, by local conditions and place relations. It is evident that this idea has been implicitly in the minds of the authors in the preparation of some parts of the book, but it is equally evident that the idea has never been expressly recognised by them, and accordingly it has not been consistently acted on. One result is that a good deal is admitted into the book which has no place in geography, but a still more serious result is that again and again the practical guidance stops short of the goal to which the learners should have been led. Some examples may be given. Inevitably the work lays stress on map-making and the observations on which maps are based. Maps being necessary in the study of geography, boys and girls must be got to understand as clearly as possible how far those records of the facts which have to be studied serve in place of the actual facts, and in what points they are apt to mislead. Now, while there is much that is admirable in what is said, shown, and hinted on pp. 51-72 on hachures and contours, there is no hint of what hachures and contours respectively fail to represent. The subject of projections is rightly dealt with, for within due limits it is not beyond the reach of school children. But here the failure is more striking. The only reason for taking up this subject is to get the learners to understand how inevitably any projection must fail to represent the truth in some points, to perceive in each case the chief failures, and to discern the reasons for using certain projections in spite of their defects. But on these points no hint is given. The principle of the construction of what is called Mercator's projection is described, but, strangely enough, no question is put with the view of getting those who use the book to recognise its obvious faults, and no indication is furnished of its compensating utilities. This, indeed, would have been impossible, at least in the case of its utility for marine charts, inasmuch as the projection described is not Mercator's, but the useless central cylindrical. So, too, the projection described as the conical is not the conical, and is, in fact, no used projection whatever. To take another subject, under the heading of isotherms and parallels of latitude we have on pp. 227 and 228 a large number of average mean temperatures for the months of January and July, but for different places, thus failing to afford an opportunity for comparing ranges of temperature. Then again, under the heading of aspect and temperature, pp. 241-3, the important subject of the difference of temperature between the east and west of the northern oceans and land-masses is dealt with, but is illustrated only by certain figures from Hann presenting this difference in the least instructive light, in the manner which fails to bring out the difference which is of most practical importance to the inhabitants of the earth. The figures show only the difference in the mean annual range of temperature, and do not indicate that this difference is brought about in every case in a greatly preponderant degree by the varying range of the winter temperatures. Such defects are worth pointing out, chiefly because the book is on the whole so good that one cannot help earnestly wishing that it were better, and because it may be hoped that they will be removed in a future edition. Even as it is, it must be recognised that the immense pains taken by the authors have resulted in the preparation of a work which is full of suggestiveness, and ought to supply a countless number of useful hints to capable teachers of geography. GEO. G. CHISHOLM. FOLKLORE AND MEDICINE OF THE ZULUKAFIR. THIS Bantu Folklore (Medical and General). By Dr. Matthew L. Hewat. Pp. 112. (Cape Town : T. M. Miller; London: J. and A. Churchill, n.d.) HIS is an interesting little work. It will be of value to students of primitive races. It deals chiefly with the ideas of the South African Kafir tribes on the subject of magic, medicine, diseases, and initiation ceremonies. Incidentally it gives a great insight into the extraordinary mixture of superstition, quackery, and practical research in native medicine. The Kafirs are nearly always at fault in their guesses as to the origin of diseases. Some maladies are thought to be caused by the supernatural influence of snakes or of water monsters, half man and half animal, or by the strange bird called impundulu, which by some is thought to be the origin of lightning. Other diseases are attributed to direct poisoning-the word for poison, ubuti, being a very old Bantu root that means the 66 essence of the tree." This is a word that in many Bantu languages means medicine quite as much as poison, all the medicines of primitive man having been derived from the bark, sap, fruit, or leaves of trees. Some of the "snakes" alluded to by the author as the cause of intestinal diseases (in the native mind) are evidently distorted accounts of guineaworm or tape-worm. The king or chief of the tribe is theoretically regarded as the first amongst the local medicine men. Professional doctors, however, may be of either sex. They are often divided into the following classes: (1) Witch doctors-diviners, mesmerists, prophets, or secret service agents, "faith-healers," and masseurs. The last-named type of witch doctor is the only one that performs any good service. Like most negro races, the Kafirs believe greatly in the efficacy of massage. (2) The surgeon or bone-setter, who also practises cupping. (3) The physician or herb doctor. In addition there are two special classes of medicine men, who attend to the bringing of rain or the prediction and direction of warlike operations. Very great misery and loss of life were caused until quite recently by the witch-hunting practices of the medicine men. These priests often became petty tyrants, in troducing a tyranny as hateful as that of the Holy Inquisition by their witch-smelling practices. As regards the use of herbs, it is pointed out that the natives are in the possession of many valuable drugs. Amongst these they have been for generations in the habit of using a decoction of the leaves of the Cape willow for the cure of rheumatic pains, thus preceding Europe in an appreciation of the curative properties of salicin. A list of all the diseases to which Kafir man, woman, and child are liable is given, together with their native names, and the remedies which the natives so successfully apply. There is a chapter on midwifery and the rearing of infants, which leaves one surprised that the Kafir race has not long since come to an end by indirect infanticide. The extraordinary treatment of newly-born children may act as a kind of spur to the survival of the fittest; it most certainly kills out weakly children. The newly-born baby is "bled at the point of the fingers for luck; then held in the smoke of a slow fire till it sneezes or coughs, to show that it is not bewitched. It is then thoroughly rubbed all over with a solution of cow-dung," and so forth. Instead of being allowed to suck at the breast, it is fed at first on sour cow's milk, which is "forced down the throat of the poor little mortal by blowing into its mouth and compelling it to swallow." Notes are given as to the operations performed on girls in the initiation schools (the elongation of the labia minora), and also in regard to the circumcision of the males. The introduction to the book contains a useful summary of Kafir history, but is marked, like nearly all the writing that comes from South Africa, by a curious ignorance of Bantu history north of the Zambezi. H. H. JOHNSTON. OUR BOOK SHELF. Sociological Papers. Vol. ii., 1905. Pp. xiii+312. Published for the Sociological Society. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1906.) Price 10s. 6d. THOUGH hardly equal in interest to its precursor, the present volume contains some valuable contributions to sociology. First, and foremost in interest and importance, comes a paper on eugenics by Mr. Francis Galton. He argues that man, whether civilised or barbarian, has submitted to restrictions in marriage, and, therefore, that a new restriction in accordance with eugenics may be imposed. Mankind has borne the yoke of monogamy, endogamy, exogamy. He has recognised prohibited degrees of kinship. Why cannot a new taboo be started? Dr. Haddon adduces an argument that is much to the point: the world is becoming self-conscious and modern civilisation has at command great resources for bringing about a revolution in men's views and practice. Dr. Max Nordau thinks the proposals unpractical. Modern restrictions would have no religious Sanction, and would therefore fail. He would trust more to an improvement of the environment than to eugenics. There are many medical men who, like Dr Max Nordau, think that environment is everything. Prof. Tönnies fears that mariages de convenance and mariages de passion will continue in spite of eugenics. Lady Welby sees the difficulty of considering the interests of the race and at the same time making the most of the individual. Mr. Galton, whose enthusiasm compels admiration, answers the main objections forcibly. Among the other papers are the following:--Civics, by Prof. Geddes (he argues for evolutionary sociology and for a civics exhibition); The school in some of its relations to social organisation and to national life, by Prof. M. E. Sadler (he urges that scope be left for group effort and private enterprise in education "); The influence of magic on social relationships, by Dr. E. Westermarck; On the relation between sociology and ethics, by Prof. Höffding; Some guiding principles in the philosophy of history, by Dr. J. H. Bridges; Sociological studies, by Mr. J. S. StuartGlennie. F. W. H. The Heart of a Garden. By Rosamund Marriott Watson. Pp. 162. (London: Alexander Moring, Ltd., The De La More Press, 1906.) Price 7s. 6d. net. 66 The reader science is not THE title of this book is significant. is not led to expect cultural details or botanical technicalities. To use a vulgarism, in it." What we have is a record of musings, such as would suggest themselves at each successive season, to one more concerned with the poetry and standing this, the author shows herself a careful beauty of nature than with its philosophy. Notwithobserver and a skilful delineator. Take, for instance, this account of the winter aconite (Eranthis). The writer is descanting on the promise of early spring, and goes on to say: And even flowers are not wanting; multitudes of through the dark earth, wrapped closely about in their small, gold heads have shyly thrust themselves up green hoods which, as the sun grows warmer, they will fling back to do service as jaunty fringed capes. This is not a botanical description; nevertheless, there is no mistaking what flower the writer had in view. The lady, with most other people, has her likes and her dislikes, and her ideals are not those of her gardener. Still, that functionary is paid to do certain work, and it is difficult to see how he can fulfil his duties properly if "milk-white pigeons with the roseate feet " are allowed to gratify their proclivities among the sweet peas and the gooseberries, and other culprits are permitted to make havoc with the strawberries. Be this as it may, the author contrives to get a continuous feast of pleasure from the garden of which she writes, and by her cheery optimism and the of the gratification she herself experiences. Dainty elegance of her narrative affords the reader a share lyrics enliven the text. Even the pug-dog "Momotaro is immortalised, though the invocation to strikes us as peculiar. What sort of apricots can him, "Hued like the full moon of the apricot," they be that possess full moons? In a work of this kind, however, allowance must be made for poetic imaginings. The illustrations are numerous and well executed. The book throughout is pleasantly written, and attractive to the eye. Methods in Microscopical Research-Vegetable Histology. By Abraham Flatters. Pp. x+116. (Manchester and London: Sherratt and Hughes.) Price 215. net. THIS work is designed to give a course of instruction in the practical working out of the internal structure of a number of higher types belonging to the vegetable kingdom, and should admirably fulfil this purpose. The earlier portion deals with the general preparation of specimens, collection, fixation, and preservation; instruments and section cutting; staining and mount LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] The San Francisco Earthquake of April 18. THIS disastrous earthquake was remarkable for its long duration and the rotatory character of the movement. As observed at Mare Island the first sign was a very faint, gentle rustling, the waves being the merest tremors; but after about a minute's duration they had grown to such proportions as to be felt by everyone. The violent phase lasted about forty seconds, and then the shocks died out, the last feeble tremors vanishing about three and a half minutes from the time of the first perception. The writer was favourably situated for noting the slightest disturbance, and had been awake some time before the first tremors were felt, and he could see the clock face at the beginning and end of the disturbance, which read about 5h. 11m. and 5h. 14m. 30s. Two of the four astronomical clocks at the Mare Island Observatory were stopped by having their pendulums thrown upon the ledge which carries the scale for measuring the amplitude of the swing. The time of the violent oscillation thus automatically recorded was 5h. 12m. 37s., Pacific Standard Time, eight hours slow of Greenwich. The waves were mainly from the south and south-south-west, and they seemed to turn to the west, giving the movement an elliptical, clockwise rotation. The pendulums of the two clocks which kept moving had their points rubbed against the swing index of the ledge so violently that the metal of the index was brightened by the friction of the pendulum points, and the time thereby deranged more than twenty seconds. Except for the disturbance of objects on the ground, the earthquake seemed to be essentially noiseless. Other slight shocks have continued at irregular intervals for the past five days. T. J. J. SEE. U.S. Naval Observatory, Mare Island, California, Interpretation of Meteorological Records. I REGRET that, owing to absence from home, I have only now seen Mr. Lander's letter in NATURE of April 19; I have to apologise for my inexcusable carelessness in writing of the storm as being accompanied by rain in place of snow and hail. However, accepting Mr. Lander's correction, it does not appear that the change will produce any alteration in the interpretation of the records, as it does not matter whether the water fell in the liquid or the solid state; its presence in either form would check any rise of temperature due to compression in the downward moving air. Any difference in the effect of snow compared with rain in producing a downward movement of the air would be to make the current stronger, because the air offers greater resistance to the fall of snow than to rain. It is very interesting to know that at the place where Mr. Lander made his observations the barometer began to rise before the first hail arrived. But if the interpretation offered of the records be correct, this would only seem to indicate that his place of observation was not directly under the area where the storm began, and that the compression produced by the falling hail and snow travelled outwards and caused a rise in his barometer before the storm cloud brought the hail to him. Baveno, Italy, May 7. JOHN AITKEN. RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY.1 WE welcome the long-looked-for monograph on the C. Fletcher, the Thaw Fellow of Harvard University, Hako ceremony of the Pawnee by Miss Alice as upon her, so to speak, has fallen the mantle of Cushing. Not only has she a long and intimate acquaintance with certain tribes of the Plains Indians, but her affection for and sympathy with the Indians is so marked that the old and prominent natives have confided to her their sacred lore; and she was even able to induce Tahirussawichi to come to Washington, he being the keeper of the old and sacred objects, whose life has been devoted to the acquisition and maintenance of certain sacred rites. In 1898 he was taken to the Capitol and the Library of Congress. While the vastness and beauty of these structures gave him pleasure, they did not appeal to him, for such buildings, he said, were unfitted to contain sacred symbols of the religion of his ancestors, in the service of which he had spent his long life. He admired at a distance the Washington Monument, and when he visited it he measured the base by pacing, but he would not go up, saying, "I will not go up. The white man likes to pile up stones, and he may go to the top of them; I will not. I have ascended the mountains made by Tira'wa." The purpose of the ceremony was twofold: (1) to benefit particular individuals by bringing to them the promise of children, long life, and plenty; (2) to estabdistinct groups of people. It is intertribal, and not lish a bond of friendship and peace between two only serves as a means for the interchange of ideas through contact and through gifts, but represents one of the many powerful agencies which, by spreading tolerance and friendly feeling, tend to weld scattered warlike bands of men into great, peaceful nations. A desire for offspring was probably the original idea. The ceremony is very old, and has been modified in the process of time to adapt it to changed conditions of environment. For example, the substitution of the buffalo for the deer, and the transference of songs; thus one formerly sung while on a journey to the mesa is now sung within the lodge. "Each ritual contains one general thought, which is elaborated by songs and attendant acts. These songs and acts are so closely related to the central thought that one helps to keep the other in mind, and they all form a sequence that, in the mind of the Pawnee, can not logically be broken. The compact structure of the Hako ceremony bears testimony to the mental grasp of the people who formulated it. As we note the balancing of the various parts, and the steady progression from the opening song of the first ritual to the closing prayer in the twentieth, and recall the fact that the ceremony was constructed without the steadying force of the written record, we 1 "Hopi Katcinas." Drawn by Native Artists. Fewkes. By Jesse Walter "Iroquoian Cosmology." First Part. By J. N. B. Hewitt. Twentyfirst Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 1899-1909. (Washington, 1902.) "Two Summers' Work in Pueblo Ruins." By Jesse Walter Fewkes. Mayan Calendar Systems, II." By Cyrus Thomas. Twenty-second Annual Report. Part i., 1900-1901 (1904). "The Hako: a Pawnee Ceremony." By Alice C. Fletcher, assisted by James R. Murie. Music transcribed by E. S. Tracy. Nid. Part ii. (1904). "The Zuñi Indians; their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies." By Matilda Coxe Stevenson. Twenty-third Annual Report, 1901-1902 (1904). "Mexican and Central American Antiquities, Calendar Systems, and History." Twenty-four Papers. By E. Seler, E. Förstmann, P. Schellbas, C. Sapper, and E. P. Dieseldorff. Translated from the German under the supervision of C. P. Bowditch. Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 28 (pp. 682). (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904.) "Haida Texts and Myths; Skidegate Dialect." Recorded by John R. Swanton. Ibid. Bulletin 29, 1905. are impressed, on the one hand, by the intellectual power displayed in the construction, and, on the other, by the sharply defined belief fundamental to the ceremony." Miss Fletcher gives the music and exact translation of the songs, with a native explanation of their meaning. The ritual objects are illustrated by several coloured plates. This sympathetic interpretation of an ancient ritual deserves the careful study of those interested in comparative religion or in the beginnings of literary expression. Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt gives the first part of a careful study of Iroquoian cosmology; three texts, with literal and free translations, are given of Onondaga, Mohawk, and Seneca variants. A fact of great importance in these texts is that man-beings were in Iroquoian thought the primal beings; they belonged to a rather vague class of which man was the characteristic type. Beast gods appear later. In the development of obvious that it would be very difficult to give anything like an adequate account of this storehouse of data. The ceremonies are described with that commendable wealth of detail which characterises the work done by the best American students, and the book is a worthy extension of earlier studies of the Zuñi by the lamented Cushing and by Dr. J. W. Fewkes. The Pueblo Indians are the most interesting of North American aborigines, owing to the effects the wonderful desert-land has upon the social condition of the people, and to the intricate and symbolic ritual they have evolved, which also may in a real sense be said to be a direct result of their environment. It is therefore with great satisfaction that we welcome additions to the already voluminous literature concerning these charming people. Mrs. Stevenson FIG. 1.-The Kurahus in ceremonial dress. A Kurahus is the Iroquoian thought animals, plants, rocks, and streams, having human or other effective attributes or properties in a paramount measure, were regarded as the controllers of those attributes or properties, which could be made available by orenda or magic power. Thus began the reign of beast gods, tree gods, and their kind, but the native term usually translated into English as "god" really signifies "disposer" or "controller," and each received worship and prayers. In a profusely and beautifully illustrated memoir of over six hundred pages Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson has given us an elaborate account of the mythology, esoteric fraternities, and the ceremonies of the Zuñis, as well as brief sketches describing the everyday life, arts, and customs of the people. It is ever found, is the result of his desire and his efforts. to understand the mysteries of nature. These children of the human family are highly imaginative. The soul of the Zuñi expands with adoration toward the supreme mysterious power that controls all things, and toward the gods, whose forms are visible in the heavens above, in the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth, who are only less mighty than the supreme power, and who bless the good and punish the wicked." She admits it is yet to be determined what part clanship played in the dawn of the ritualistic life of the Zuni. |