SOME NEW BOOKS. 



The Native Tribes of Central Australia. By Professor Baldwin Spencer 

 and F. T. Gillen. Pp. xx. + 671, with 133 figures, 2 maps. London : 

 Macmillan and Co., 1899. Price 21s. 



If we may judge of the progress and vitality of a science by the nature of 

 the literature called forth in response to the demand for information, we may 

 ■assuredly regard the scientific study of man, hampered though it be by the 

 •cumbrous title of anthropology, as one of the most progressive of the sciences. 

 Anthropologists have certainly responsibilities of a serious kind, and it is one 

 of the most curious phenomena of research, that the scientific study of man 

 himself, a study of such great and varied interest, and of such wide practical 

 importance, should have to rank as almost the youngest of the sciences. 

 Fortunately its youthful age is now associated with a youthful vigour which 

 promises well for the future ; but, at the same time, it must be admitted that 

 •every year, every month in fact, lost in delaying the active prosecution of 

 scientific inquiry into the physical characteristics, customs, and arts of the 

 lower races of mankind, and their relation to their environment, renders the 

 task of the science more difficult, owing to the vanishing of the materials for study. 

 The " civilisation " of the savage not only means the substitution of the customs 

 and arts of the more cultured races for those of primitive peoples, but too often 

 implies the extinction of the lower race itself as a race, it may be by a gradual 

 process of absorption into a pseudo- civilised state, and the suppression of 

 normal racial characteristics, it may be by actual extermination. We may well 

 rejoice at the present signs of activity in the prosecution of anthropological 

 •research in Australia. The recent " Horn " expedition, carefully organised for 

 scientific investigation, was brought to a successful issue, and produced excellent 

 results, and the report on the anthropology of the districts visited contains 

 valuable materials brought together by Messrs. Stirling and Gillen. For some 

 while Brough Smyth's "Aborigines of Victoria" was the classical work upon 

 Australian native life, but later this" was followed by splendid work on the part 

 of Messrs. Howitt and Fison, work of a most painstaking and sterling character. 

 Quite recently Dr. Roth published his observations upon the natives of the 

 north-eastern regions, an excellent and most useful monograph, bringing to light 

 many new facts, and stimulating afresh the interest in Australian anthropology. 

 Now we have in our hands the volume recently produced by Messrs. Spencer 

 and Gillen. Of this work it is difficult to speak in terms of sufficient praise, a 

 volume of upwards of 650 pages, positively packed with information of a valu- 

 able kind. One may fairly regard this book as one of the most important 

 contributions to anthropological literature of recent years. Prof. Spencer has 

 brought to bear upon the subject his training as a scientific biologist and skilled 

 observer, and it is indeed fortunate that he has been able to devote so much of 

 liis time and energies to the study of man. Mr. Gillen has long been resident 

 amongst the natives of Alice Springs, as a protector of aborigines, and has had, 



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