i 7 8 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



can be disproved when judged only by the facts given by the promulgator ; as, for 

 instance, when a case of so-called partial red blindness, "2 red sensation, is 

 described, and it is stated that any amount of red can be added without altering 

 the appearance of an equation. If the theory were true a definite amount of red 

 should give a sensation similar to one-fifth of this amount to the normal sighted. 



F. W. Edridge-Green. 



Malay Poiaons and Charm Cures. By John D. Gimlette, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., 

 Resident Surgeon of Kelantan, one of the Protected Malay States. [Pp. vi 

 -f 127.] (London : J. & A. Churchill. Price 3*. bd. net.) 



The workings of the human mind have a perennial interest. Men form beliefs, 

 and change them for others, only to be discarded in their turn. And when we 

 weary of trying to fathom the humanity around us we turn to the contemplation 

 of men in far-off climes and in far-off times. It is this that gives the interest to 

 the book before us, which tells of the superstitions of the half-savage Malay. 

 What to him is of common and ordinary occurrence has for us the charm of the 

 fantastic, because it is so remote from our own experience. It shows how the 

 Malay physician, whom he calls " Bomor," seeks to cure his patients by the 

 recitation of spells set in rude verse and displays the cunning with which he manu- 

 factures from plant and fish subtle poisons for the purposes of crime. He seemingly 

 thinks nothing of using every art to introduce deadly decoctions into a neighbour's 

 food so that he can afterwards commit a petty theft. Some of the prescriptions 

 for medicines, used sometimes alone and sometimes as an accompaniment to the 

 all-important charm, have to our ears a spice of the ludicrous. To quote one of 

 these : — " Take the bones of a whale, the solid casque of a horn-bill, a sea 

 porcupine's spine, a stag's horn, and the horn of a rhinoceros, and rub them down 

 together in hot water ; the draught is then administered internally." Another 

 sovereign antidote for poison is " liquid opium mixed with the ashes of a cat's 

 whiskers " ! Fancy poor puss having to part with her most cherished ornament 

 for such a futile end. 



" Verily, I know Smallpox ! that in the beginning 

 Thou didst dwell formless in the depths of Hell, 



Whence issuing thou didst enter the children of Adam in visible form, 

 Seven brothers were ye in all," 



is the beginning of a lengthy charm to cure smallpox. But while one smiles at 

 the superstitions of the savage, one is sometimes tempted to wonder if civilisation 

 has progressed so very much after all, for it was not so very long ago that 

 doctors attempted to cure plague by laying pigeon's flesh on the buboes. Like 

 a kaleidoscope we produce ever-fresh forms by the clashing together always of the 

 same pieces. 



But however entertaining this little work may be to the ordinary reader, it is 

 primarily for the medical man that it is designed. As the author says in the 

 closing words of his Preface, "The witchcraft of the 'medicine-man' is always 

 of general interest, but the investigation of Malay medicines, poisons, and their 

 antidotes is of special scientific interest. It presents a large field for medical 

 research, the ground of which is hardly broken in the following pages." In spite 

 of the modesty of the last sentence, much has been compressed into the compass 

 of so small a work, and the author has classified his material admirably. After the 

 opening chapter in which he describes the work of the native medicine-man in 



