390 NATURAL SCIENCE. 



July, 



new engravings may, however, evoke some criticisms. It is doubtful, 

 for instance, whether the representation of Rana agilis will afford 

 much help in the recognition of this rare frog in Germany ; and the 

 new figure of Helodei-ma, the poisonous Lizard, which represents 

 H. suspectnm (not H. honiduin, as stated in the letterpress), is inferior 

 to the old one. The figure given on p. 146 as Lacevta agilis is surely 

 taken, magnified, from L. vivipara, as correctly stated in the former 

 editions ; the snake on p. 467 is apparently Vipera russellii, not 

 Ancistrodon rhodosioma ; and the representation of Ceratophrys boiei on 

 p. 690, stated to be of the natural size, is much enlarged, the frog, 

 so far as we know, not exceeding a length of 3^ inches. 



Property : Its Origin and Development. By Ch. Letourneau. (The Con- 

 temporary Science Series.) 8vo. Pp. xii., 401. London: Walter Scott, Ltd., 

 1892. Price 3s. 6d. 



If this work dealt with the origin and development of property 

 simply from an historical point of view, it would merit no notice in 

 this magazine. Professor Letourneau, however, is an anthropologist 

 of the modern school, fully alive to the value of the ethnographic 

 method, which, in the spirit of Natural Science, seeks to explain the 

 evolution of social institutions by an appeal to the manners and 

 customs of the lower races. What these races now are, such it may 

 be assumed in broad terms our ancestors once were. Those who 

 refuse adhesion to this fundamental tenet need not concern them- 

 selves with the study of the present volume ; since, disagreeing 

 radically with the author's method of enquiry, they will, of necessity, 

 refuse to accept his conclusions. Those, on the other hand, who 

 have faith in the simple method of seeking to interpret the unknown 

 past of our civilisation by a consideration of the present condition of 

 less civilised peoples, will find in Professor Letourneau's volume a 

 storehouse of information and suggestion on some of the most 

 interesting problems of sociology. 



The desire of appropriation, whence springs the origin of 

 property, seems referable to the imperious instinct of self-preserva- 

 tion, and is consequently common enough in the animal world. 

 Man is proverbially an acquisitive animal, but other animals are 

 largely acquisitive, and the naturalist will have no difficulty in 

 multiplying the instances cited in the early part of this volume. 

 When the shrike forms a collection of impaled victims, the creature 

 provides, with instinctive foresight, for the wants of the morrow, 

 much as a savage may hoard his food when fortune brings him more 

 than is required to supply his daily need. House property is also 

 common among birds and other animals, and even the possession of 

 landed property is recognised in a certain sense. A strong animal, 

 like a lion, may lay claim to a certain area as its hunting-ground, 

 and be prepared to defend his right, in truly leonine fashion, against 

 all intruders. Primitive man, on the contrary, would generally be 

 too weak, single-handed, to defend his own area against the invader ; 

 hence he was led to associate with his fellows for the defence of 

 common property. Isolation meant death ; weakness led to union, 

 and union to strength. Once in possession of conscious strength, 

 a man's egoism asserts itself, and, gradually becoming forgetful of 

 liis obligations to his associates, he grows discontented with com- 

 munal property and yearns for private possession. One man. 



