i897. EXPEDITION TO CENTRAL AUSTRALIA. 263 



there signs of recent progress ? Even in counting the Australian has 

 advanced no further than the number four. 



It might be asked why the AustraHans should remain as the only 

 large race of human beings in the world, occupying a continental 

 island of great area, which shows but little signs of progress since 

 palaeolithic times ? It seems possible that in bygone days when the 

 Australian continent was, as the expedition proves, a well-watered 

 and fertile land, the human race which inhabited it was progressing on 

 lines comparable to those of the Negroes, American Indians, or even 

 Papuans ; but the gradual desiccation of the land in Quaternary 

 times led to splitting up of large social communities and consequently 

 to degeneracy as regards social organisation. 



It is only the possibility of living in large communities that has 

 allowed the development of arts and war and social organisation 

 towards a high standard ; and races that are obliged, from the nature 

 of their land, to live in small groups to obtain the necessary food for 

 mere existence, must have stood still or gradually degenerated. 



Before bringing this notice to a conclusion mention must be 

 made of the very important series of gesture signs that are given. 

 They form a most interesting and valuable chapter in the science of 

 gesture language and will be extremely useful to many students of 

 anthropology. 



Summary. 



Sixty pages of Part I. are devoted to an abstract of the results of 

 the Expedition and a statement of some conclusions to which they 

 lead. The Summary we have already attempted to summarise, but 

 this is almost impossible in the case of the chapter entitled " General 

 Conclusions " so concise is it already. It consists of a masterly and 

 suggestive discussion of the origin and relations of the present flora 

 and fauna of Central Australia from a geological as well as a bio- 

 logical point of view. The conclusion at which the author arrives, is 

 that the three sub-regions (Euronotian, Autochthonian and Eremian), 

 into which Prof. Tate divided Australia on botanical grounds, must be 

 modified and replaced by another division into three as follows : — 



(i). ToRREsiAN, including Papua and north and north-eastern 

 Australia as far south as the Clarence River. 



(2). Bassian, including the eastern and south-eastern coastal 

 strip, lying between the coast-line and the Dividing Range south of 

 the Clarence River, and also Tasmania. 



(3). Eyrean, including the whole of the interior, southern and 

 western part of the continent. 



In conclusion, it only remains for us to congratulate Prof. 

 Spencer on the manner in which he has seen these beautifully printed 

 and illustrated volumes through the press. Mr. Horn may justly feel 

 proud of them, for they are the crown and fruition of a work to which 

 he must have devoted not merely treasure, but much anxious thought 

 and consideration. 



