504 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



terms, and it is much better to use the single name Cainozoic for what is 

 essentially a single geological era. The anatomy is given only one chapter. 

 It is doubtless because the author does not see his subject from the anatomical 

 side, that he does not sufficiently emphasise the great break in the middle of 

 the so-called Palaeolithic period. He says (p. 120) that the division between 

 the Upper Palaeolithic and the Lower Palaeolithic " should be considered as 

 great as that between the Upper Palaeolithic and the Neolithic Ages." In 

 point of fact, the division between Lower and Upper Palaeolithic is much 

 greater than any subsequent break, and it is only by the use of Elliot-Smith's 

 term Neanthropic that this point can be brought out in classification. This 

 might have been more emphasised. 



The book has a preface by L'Abbe Breuil under whom Mr. Burkitt studied 

 in France ; and there is a long bibliography, containing references to a great 

 number of the most important books and papers, but with the singular 

 omission of one famous classic, namely. Lord Avebury's Prehistoric Times, 

 of which a new and revised edition was published as recently as 1913. The 

 plates include some representations of remarkable prehistoric engravings 

 on rocks in the region of Lake Onega, in North Russia. 



A. G. T. 



MEDICINE 



Arab Medicine and Surgery. By M. W. Hilton-Simpson, B.Sc. (London: 

 University Press, Humphrey Milford, 1922. Price los. 6d. net.) 



Mr. Hilton-Simpson need have no qualms about his lack of medical know- 

 ledge, as he has been most successful in presenting not only the medical 

 profession but the general reader with a most interesting book on an almost 

 unknown subject. Since the earliest times the Arabs have practised the 

 art of healing, and with the earlier proselytisers this knowledge penetrated 

 to the very heart of Africa. Few are the primitive native races which have 

 not their medicine man, who is, as a rule, the most powerful individual in 

 the tribe. What the medicine man of the negroid races lacks in knowledge 

 of herbs and their uses and in surgical skill he makes up with magic — the 

 latter usually preponderating. The more enlightened the tribe the less 

 magic enters into the medicine man's stock-in-trade. 



It is not surprising that even among the Arab practitioners of such remote 

 spots as the Aures Mountains, Mr. Hilton-Simpson found that magic still 

 plays a great part in the treatment of the sick. Here the skin of the viper, 

 the blood from the freshly-cut throat of the hoopoe, and the white portion 

 of the dung of a species of lizard, all have their uses. 



Among the pastoral tribes of Africa the fresh dung of cattle is very com- 

 monly smeared over ulcers and open wounds or used in the form of a poultice 

 over inflamed areas. Common articles of food such as milk, oil, dates, and 

 honey are used to render more palatable the herbs gathered from the hillsides. 

 Cautery is usually more common among the more primitive races than among 

 the Arabs generally. Among the Bantu tribes in particular it seems to be 

 the favourite panacea for every variety of internal and external ill, while 

 among certain tribes in Equatorial Africa the free use of this form of counter- 

 irritation has been used for the purpose of adornment, particularly on the 

 chest, abdomen, and back. The value of Mr. Hilton-Simpson's book is greatly 

 enhanced by the identification of all the plants used by the Arab physicians. 

 There appear to be few among them, however, which can be said to have 

 any real medicinal value. 



The author is to be congratulated on the very complete collection of 

 surgical instruments he made, while the amount of information he extracted 

 from the Arab practitioners themselves regarding their craft reflects the 

 greatest credit on his methods in deaUng with a race who are by nature 

 suspicious and secretive. 



