REVIEWS 377 



growth of scientific knowledge, which is ever adding new significance to old 

 material, and transmuting the dry technicalities of anatomy and geology into a 

 more or less intelligible story of Man in the making, or Nature's attempts at man- 

 making, that naturally appeals to all mankind. But fresh fuel, often of a highly 

 inflammable kind, has been repeatedly added to this flame of popular interest 

 within recent years as, one after another, surprising fragments of ancient types of 

 man and his handiwork have come to light. 



Naturally enough, with this rapid growth of knowledge and constant conflict on 

 the part of the pundits as to the meaning of each new fact that is brought to light, 

 there is a constant demand on the part of the intelligent public for information 

 concerning the progress made and for some light on the significance of the new 

 knowledge of our earliest human forbears and their relations. A host of small 

 books of a more or less expository nature have been issued to meet this demand 

 within the last few years. There have been new editions of such standard 

 treatises as those of Ranke and Haeckel, and smaller new books dealing 

 specifically with this problem of man's origin, such as those written by Leche, 

 Branca and this work of v. Buttel-Reepen's (" Aus dem Werdegang der Mens- 

 chenheit ") on the Continent, and the books by Sollas, Keith, Duckworth, McCabe 

 and others in this country. 



The English version of v. Buttel-Reepen's work has been brought right up to 

 date by giving a full summary of Dr. Smith Woodward's and Mr. Charles 

 Dawson's account of the Piltdown skull, perhaps the most surprising type of very 

 early man yet discovered. 



Every one who has read anything whatever of the recent literature relating to 

 early man must be aware that at the present time there are very considerable 

 discrepancies between the views of different scholars as to the relative values and 

 precise significance of the various remains of fossil men. 



Since characteristically human remains such as the Heidelberg and Piltdown 

 specimens must be referred back to the commencement of the Pleistocene period, 

 it seems quite certain that man must have lived in the Pliocene period. So much, 

 I think, will be granted by most scientific men who have given any thought to this 

 problem ; but what most of these authorities are not yet convinced of is whether 

 such traces of man and his works, the existence of which they do not doubt, have 

 actually been found, as Rutot, Verworn, Ray Lankester, and Keith, among others, 

 believe, each in his own way. 



In the little book before us, which is written in a delightfully clear and simple 

 style, the writers (there is no indication whether Prof. v. Buttel-Reepen is 

 wholly responsible or Mr. Thacker shares also in this result) display the utmost 

 catholicity in their acceptance, partially or wholly, of the views of those whom 

 other writers regard, collectively or individually, as extremists. They accept 

 Verworn's evidence of Upper Miocene man ; go the whole way with Rutot ; and 

 set forth Klaatsch's extraordinary speculations concerning the kinship of different 

 human races with the various species of anthropoid apes as quite serious contribu- 

 tions to the discussion, although they add at the end that " it would be well to take 

 the theory cum grano salts." 



The whole book, in fact, may be regarded as a pleasantly written, wholly 

 uncritical, and very credulous summary of recent literature dealing with early 

 types of mankind ; and the reader who enjoys this delightfully unfettered romance 

 should remember that he ought also, as a corrective, to refer to the original sources 

 of information which appear in the bibliography at the end of the volume. 



The book bears the obvious impress of its origin. There is hardly any 



