342 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



welcomed an opportunity of displaying their skill and technique in conquering 

 the difficulties that this class of objects undoubtedly presents, especially in the 

 case of opaque minerals with metallic lustre. These difficulties are naturally 

 still greater when the production of coloured plates at a reasonable price on 

 a commercial scale is in question, as in the present work. The illustrations in 

 a booklet of the Technological Museum, Sydney, on the Building and Oniamcfital 

 Sto7ies of New South Wales (second edition, 1909) are very successful, but 

 do not include any representations of metallic lustre. The same is the case 

 with the magnificent plates of the Investigatioiis and Studies in Jade privately 

 printed in New York, which was issued in a very limited edition. 



The plates of the work now under review are accompanied by readable and 

 instructive notes on the different minerals and the general principles of mineralogy, 

 for the accuracy of which Mr. Spencer's name is a sufficient guarantee. He is 

 somewhat handicapped by the text figures of the German edition, which show 

 the Naumann symbols, now obsolete in this country, and are otherwise open to 

 criticism. This, however, Mr. Spencer does not neglect to supply. Altogether 

 the work may be recommended to all who wish to familiarise themselves with 

 the appearance of the more important minerals and acquire some knowledge 

 of their characters, but have not access to a good collection. It should find 

 a place in every municipal library as well as in those of schools and colleges. 



John W. Evans. 



Handbook to the Ethnographic Collections in the British Museum. By 

 Charles H. Read, Keeper. [Pp. xv + 304.] (London : Printed by Order 

 of the Trustees, 1910. Price is.) 



The present work, the compilation of the Keeper of the Ethnographical Depart- 

 ment of the British Museum and of his assistants, Messrs. Joyce and Dalton, 

 aims, in spite of its title, at being something more than a mere handbook to the 

 collections under their charge. It contains in effect a compendious ethnographic 

 account of the more primitive peoples of the world (with certain exceptions), 

 considered with special reference to the exhibits in the British Museum, and 

 preceded by a short ethnology, in which the results of modern research are 

 summarised with laudable care and precision. Since the total number of pages 

 runs only to some 300, no small share of even this scanty space being allotted to 

 illustrations, it goes without saying that brevity and conciseness form the salient 

 features in the treatment of the subject-matter. It has thus been found possible 

 to compress within the above limits the more material facts concerning the 

 Geography, History, Dress, Dwellings, Food — an important item too often over- 

 looked — Ornaments, Weapons, Social Systems, Musical Instruments and Religions 

 of a large proportion of uncivilised mankind. Of course, all races are not 

 described in detail under these heads ; but information concerning them is 

 given for the larger ethnic groups and for many of the more important tribes. 

 The result is a very interesting and convenient manual, which may be usefully 

 read by many besides the visitors to the British Museum. 



The exceptions above alluded to are India, China and the countries comprised 

 under the head Indo-China. Thus the descriptive matter under " India and Ceylon " 

 relates mainly to Ceylon, the Andamans, etc., whilst Assam is almost the only 

 country dealt with under the third heading. Of the peoples of China practically 

 no account is given. These noteworthy lacitnce result from the poverty of the 

 ethnographic collections available, though some of the arts and crafts of India 



