LITERARY NOTICES. 



703 



knowledge no authority outside of matter 

 and the mentality that is eoextcnsive with 

 it, reject faith, and rest content in the nice 

 processes of rationalization ; and the third 

 type, in a class between the other two, who, 

 satisfied with neither of the above positions, 

 " are rationalistic in method and in sympa- 

 thy with every negative result that has been 

 wrought out by the study of the facts, and 

 yet unwilling and unable to rest there. 

 With no fear of science, and all due re- 

 spect for its wonderful work of revelation, 

 they are conscious of something in them 

 more real in fact, and more satisfactory in 

 recognition, not yet accounted for. What- 

 ever the failure of current Christianity to 

 harmonize these two apparently antagonistic 

 positions, they are not wholly without hope 

 of a possible meeting-ground between faith 

 and fact." To those persons especially, who 

 constitute a large proportion of earnest, 

 thinking people all over the world, the book 

 is directed. 



TnE Land of the White Elephant : Sights 

 and Scenes in Southeastern Asia. A 

 Record of Travel and Adventure in Bur- 

 ma, SiaiD, Cambodia, and Cochin-China. 

 By Frank. Vincent, author of " Through 

 and Through the Tropics," etc. New 

 and enlarged edition. New York : Har- 

 per & Brothers. Pp. 375. Price, $3.50. 



The present edition is about one half 

 larger than the original work, which was 

 already fairly well known as a most agree- 

 able and life-like account of the countries 

 to which it relates, of their geographical 

 characteristics, people, governments, cus- 

 toms, and antiquities. The most valuable 

 part of the added matter is that included in 

 the third chapter of the supplement respect- 

 ing Cambodia, of whose ruins, attesting to 

 the former existence of a high civilization, 

 Mr. Vincent's was already the most satis- 

 factory and adequate, and the first account, 

 except a too brief reference in the book of 

 Mrs. Leonowens, that has been published 

 in the United States. Concerning the in- 

 terest attached to these ruins Mr. Vincent 

 says, in a private note, that " not even the 

 excavations which have shown to us the 

 buried cities of Greece and Cyprus have 

 thrown more light upon the perfection at- 

 tained by Eastern art than have the splendid 

 and stupendous ruins found in the interior 



of Indo-Cbina. But, though the degree of 

 Oriental art has thus been made plain, ab- 

 solutely nothing is known concerning the 

 people to whom the original structures are 

 due." Since he first made known to his 

 countrymen the character of these ruins 

 seven years ago, he has devoted much time 

 and study to the general subject of Indo- 

 Chinese antiquities, with special reference 

 to the solution of the problems when and 

 by whom the Cambodian cities were built ; 

 where the homes of the descendants of their 

 builders are now ; and to what form of wor- 

 ship their temples were dedicated ; and the 

 results of his researches are set forth, in a 

 condensed form, in the chapter we have men- 

 tioned. He assigns a late date (the four- 

 teenth century) to the building of the Nag- 

 kon Wat, believes that it was intended for 

 Buddhist worship, and suggests that the 

 Cambodian monuments and those of Yu- 

 catan, between which there is some resem- 

 blance, may have been contemporaneous, 

 and possibly the work of branches of the 

 same race. Other theories look for a con- 

 nection between Cambodian and ancient As- 

 syrian works ; and it is evident, from what 

 Mr. Vincent says, that, until further and 

 more exact explorations are made, there 

 will be no end to the conjectures for which 

 some plausible support may be found. This 

 only makes it the more desirable that the 

 works should receive immediate scientific 

 attention. 



The Honey-Ants of the Garden of the 

 Gods, and the Occident Ants of the 

 American Plains. By Henry C. Mc- 

 Cook, D. D., author of " The Agricultur- 

 al Ant of Texas," " The Mound-Building 

 Ant of the Alleghanies," etc. Illustrated 

 with Thirteen Plates. Philadelphia: J. 

 B. Lippincott & Co. Pp. 188. Price, 

 $2.50. 



Dr. McCook started in 1879 to observe 

 the honey-ants in New Mexico, but found 

 them in the Garden of the Gods, in Colorado, 

 and stopped and studied them there, ne is 

 able to extend the territory of their natural 

 habitat, so that it shall include Mexico, New 

 Mexico, and Southern Colorado. The char- 

 acteristic of the species is that, in one of the 

 castes or worker forms, the abdomen is dis- 

 tended to the size and form of a currant or 

 small grape, and is entirely filled with grape- 



