260 7 Notices of Books. [April, 
The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man: 
Mental and Social Condition of Savages. By Sir Joun 
Lussock, Bart., M.P., F.R.S. Third Edition, with nume- 
rous Additions. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1875. 
Tus volume, which has already reached a third edition, is 
founded on the subject-matter of a course of lectures delivered 
at the Royal Institution in 1868. It embodies the result of ten 
years of study, and constitutes a considerable addition to our 
study of Anthropology. The great bulk of the work treats of 
the religion of savages, and this subject is treated very ably in 
some concluding remarks :—‘‘ Thus we see that as men_rise in 
civilisation their religion rises with them. The Australians 
dimly imagine a being,—spiteful, malevolent, but weak, and 
dangerous only in the dark. The negro’s deity is more power- 
ful, but not less hateful; invisible, indeed, but subject to pain, 
mortal like himself, and lable to be made the slave of man by 
enchantment. The deities of the South Sea Islanders are, some 
good, some evil; but, on the whole, more is to be feared from 
the latter than to be hoped from the former. They fashioned 
the land, but are not truly creators, for earth and water existed 
before them. They do not punish the evil, nor reward the good. 
They watch over the affairs of men; but if, on the one hand, 
witchcraft has no power over them, neither, on the other, can 
prayer influence them; they require to share the crops or the 
booty of their worshippers. . . . It appears, then, that every 
increase in Science—that is, in positive and ascertained know- 
ledge—brings with it an elevation of religion. Nor is this 
progress confined to the lower races. Even within the last 
century Science has purified the religion of Western Europe by 
rooting out the dark belief in witchcraft, which led to thousands 
of executions, and hung like a black pall over the Christianity of 
the Middle Ages.” 
Other chapters of the work are devoted to the art and orna- 
ments of savages, their marriage rites, and ideas of relationship, 
their morals, languages, laws. The Author considers, finally, 
that he has conclusively proved—‘ 1. That existing savages are 
not the descendants of civilised ancestors. 2. That the primi- 
tive condition of man was one of utter barbarism. 3. That 
from this condition several races have independently raised 
themselves.” 
The Protoplasmic Theory of Life. By Joun Dryspave, M.D. 
London: Bailliére, Tindall, and Cox. 1874. 
Tue object of this work is to prove ‘ that every action properly 
called vital, throughout the vegetable and animal kingdoms, re- 
sults solely from the changes occurring in a structureless, semi- 
fluid, nitrogenous matter, now called Protoplasm.” It lays 
