Aug. 1, 1867.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



m 



agency. The Greeks conquered Troy and Tyre ; 

 the Romans, Etruria, Carthage, and Egypt; the 

 Persians, Babylon; the American Indians, the 

 Toltecan Empire. The Chinese and Hindoos, being 

 to the eastward of the great westerly emigration of 

 the Japhetic races, escaped conquest, it is true, but 

 were completely isolated, and their valuable secrets 

 had to be re-discovered in the middle ages. This 

 theory explains, I think satisfactorily, the co-exist- 

 ence of an effete and decaying eastern, and a 

 vigorous and progressive western, civilization. In 

 every case in which the primitive races were con- 

 quered, the victors became in time leavened with 

 the civilization of the vanquished, and so far re- 

 cognised its superiority, as to partially adopt the 

 religious and social systems of their predecessors. 

 Thus arose the Aztec and Peruvian empires on the 

 ruins of that of the Toltecs ; the Roman empire 

 out of the Etruscan ; the dynasty of the Ptolemies 

 out of the Egyptian. In each of these cases this 

 second civilization was obviously and confessedly 

 inferior to the one from which it was copied; just 

 as the Saxons were far surpassed in refinement by 

 the Romanized Britons whom they displaced. 

 These remarks cannot be carried further in the 

 present essay, but will be suggestive, I doubt not, 

 to those who take an interest in the early history of 

 mankind. 



The southern origin of the Gael of Scotland is 

 curiously shown by the reverence which this people 

 pay in all their rites and ceremonies to the south. 

 They preserve, as was stated some time back in 

 Good Words, the Druidic custom of carrying the 

 dead round the churchyard the southern way, fol- 

 lowing the course of the suu ; also of sending the 

 bottle round the table in the same way. The Celts 

 all seem to highly respect the south, for they call 

 the right hand " Deus " (i.e., the south hand), the 

 same word signifying " being ready," " being ex- 

 pert," and " being handsome." 



The existence of two distinct races of men in the 

 archipelagos of Polynesia, the Negrittos (Papuans), 

 and Malay-Polynesians, has often puzzled ethno- 

 logists. I think, however, there can be no doubt, 

 if we investigate the legends and traditions of the 

 natives, as to which is the aboriginal race. It will 

 be found that whilst the Malay-Polynesians in-, 

 variably recount their arrival by sea at their present 

 homes, the Eijians (the most cultivated of the 

 Papuans) claim to have been created upon the soil. 

 This fact, taken in connexion with the argument 

 deducible from the fact that the Papuans appear to 

 inhabit the interior of the larger islands, and those 

 groups of volcanic, and therefore older, formations, 

 such as Papua, Eiji, &c, while the Malay-Poly- 

 nesians inhabit the coral islands of more recent 

 origin, such as Tongatabu, and the shores of the 

 larger islands, argues strongly in favour of the 

 hypothesis that the Papuans represent an old and 



widely extended race, which once inhabited a con- 

 tinent stretching from Australia or Malaya to South 

 America ; whilst the Malay-Polynesians are allied 

 to the Hindus or Burmans, and have come to the 

 South Seas by conquest only. The close resem- 

 blance observable between two races so widely 

 severed as the Maories of New Zealand and the 

 Hindus, is very remarkable ; with some curious and 

 interesting details of this likeness, 1 must close my 

 remarks. 



In Knight's work upon the " Hindoos," p. 370, 

 the following occurs:— "The Hindoos, especially 

 the Nairs of Travancore, a vigorous and athletic 

 race, drink by pouring water, from vessels with 

 spouts, in a stream into their mouths, it being con- 

 sidered indelicate to touch the lips with a vessel. 

 Thus wheu the Portuguese, under Vasco-de-Gama, 

 reached India, and were handsomely entertained by 

 the Zamorin at Calicut, having been informed that 

 this was etiquette, they strove to conform, and by 

 choking themselves, and deluging their clothes or 

 the table, threw the court into roars of laughter." 

 Curiously enough in the same series, in the volume 

 entitled " The New Zealanders," p. 133, a picture 

 is copied from Rutherford's work on the natives, in 

 which an aboriginal is represented, drinking from a 

 calabash, held at some distance from his mouth, and 

 this is stated to be a national custom ! 



The missionary, Taylor, also states that the 

 native name of the New Zealanders, "Maori," is 

 closely allied to our word "Moor," i.e., a "dusky 

 person." He states also that the figures in the 

 renowned caves of Elephanta (Bombay) much re- 

 semble the Maories. The resemblance between 

 the "caste" of the Hindus, and the "tabu" of 

 the Malay-Polynesians is too obvious to need 

 remark. E. A. A. 



BITTEN BY A VIPER. 



I~T appears still to be a disputed question as to 

 whether any one has been poisoned by a viper, 

 and the poison has directly proved fatal. I say 

 directly, for it no doubt may be, and has been, an 

 indirect cause of death ; as, for instance, where a 

 person has been bitten in the neck, and the swelling 

 has produced suffocation. But in such a case we 

 should not say the man was fatally poisoned by the 

 creature, although the poison caused his death in- 

 directly : similar consequences have been known to 

 result from the sting of a wasp : — A man was once 

 drinking from a vessel into which a wasp had fallen, 

 and the insect stung him on the tongue, which 

 swelled to such an extent that he was suffocated. 

 We are as yet without any well authenticated 

 instance of the poison of Pelias Berus proving fatal 

 from its own nature. Yet almost every country 

 churchyard has its grave pointed out to children 



