MAkcH 9, 191 1 J 



NATURE 



advanced on admission, 84 in number, only 6, or y'l 

 per cent., had been cured, that is, were well, in 1909. 

 Only four others were alive, while 74, or 88 per cent., 

 were dead. 



It should be noted that Dr. Bardswell deals rather 



with what may be called the "chances of survival" 



than with' the "expectation of life" as defined by 



actuaries. In regard to the capacity for work— that 



is, ability to work or to live an ordinary life— of the 



: patients now described as well, he g-ives some in- 



j teresting figures. Here, again, the incipient cases 



I afford by far the greatest percentage of workers. 



' Of those working at the above mentioned dates, it was 



j found that 59 per cent, were able to do full work, 10-2 



I per cent, could work short hours, io-2 per cent, had 



,! given up work, and 20-4 per cent, had died. From 



t amongst the moderately advanced cases, 32 per cent. 



were doing full work, 7-3 per cent, were working 



I short hours, and 245 per cent, had given up work 



• entirelv; 36-6 per cent, were dead. Of the advanced 

 :J cases only 4 per cent, were working short hours, 

 :( and 94 per cent, had died. The prospect of any 

 ' advanced case ever doing a normal amount of work 



is. therefore, very small indeed; but, as Dr. Bards- 

 ;. well puts it, the "outlook for the moderately advanced 

 ' cases is very fair and for the incipient cases good." 

 It is interesting to note that in a commentary on 

 these cases Dr. Bardswell states that there are few 

 morbid conditions that are so rapidly and markedly 

 , benefited by appropriate treatment as is tuberculosis, 

 but that this treatment must be prolonged there seems 

 to be little doubt, prolonged considerably beyond what 

 the patient, from his feeling of well-being, usually con- 

 siders necessary. At the same time, he believes that 



• the patient may remain too long under sanatorium 

 treatment. Some patients lose their self-reliance and 



< become nervous as to their condition, and develop 



'into "sanatorium hypochondriacs." These are 

 usually the patients who do not obey instructions or 

 who do not respond to treatment. Such patients, he 

 believes, should go home or be sent abroad, and be 



.encouraged to "get out of themselves" and find other 



I interests. 



Dr. Bardswell is also a great believer in the import- 

 ance, as factors in success, of the temperament and 



i character of the patient. He says : 



I "To the consumptive who possesses earnestness of 

 purpose, common-sense, courage, and patience, cure 

 IS much more probable than in one who lacks' these 



^characteristics. It has been well said that a fool 



^never gets well of consumption." 



\ Whatever else may be said, it must be admitted 

 'that the sanatorium treatment has prolonged by a 

 ,very considerable span the life of the consumptive 

 ipatient. Dr. Williams's estimate of the average dura- 

 tion of life of selected cases of consumption in the 

 i,pre-sanatorium days was eight years. Dr. Noel 

 Bardswell's figures indicate an improvement on this, 

 jfor he finds that of every one hundred cases of con- 

 jsumption, takings them as they come, and without any 

 {attempt at selection, fifty will die within a period of 

 ifrom fouc to nine years after admission to the sana- 

 torium, but the remaining fifty will be found for the 

 'Tiost part to be enjoying good health after the same 

 NO. 2 1X8. VOL. 861 



period. A study of the abstracts of Dr. Bardswell's 

 cases seems to bear out his contention. This work 

 may be commended to the attention, not only of those 

 who expect too much from the sanatorium treatment, 

 but also to those who are prone to belittle it. 



EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 

 The Book of the Dead. By H. M. Tirard. With an 

 introduction by Prof. E. Naville. Pp. 170. (Lon- 

 don : S.P.C.K., 1910.) Price 3s. 6d. 

 nPHIS little book will no doubt interest the many 

 A amateurs of Egyptology in this country, but it 

 cannot be said to be of any scientific value. For this 

 it is too conventionally "religious" in tone; a cult of 

 "one supreme God" is supposed to have existed 

 amid the chaotic polytheism of Egypt (there is no 

 proof of any such conception before the time of 

 Akhenaten), and the commonplace belief in the im- 

 mortality of the soul, which is shared by all mankind, 

 is credited to the Egyptians as a special virtue. Also 

 the book is not historical and archaeological enough 

 in treatment. We hardly realise from Mrs. Tirard's 

 pages that the Egyptian religion had a long history, 

 and that it was not the same at all periods; nor, to 

 take a concrete instance, are we told by her that the 

 ushabti figures, so typical of the interments of the 

 dead, were unknown until half Egyptian history had 

 been accomplished, their place being taken in the 

 earlier ages by those remarkable models of workmen 

 and boatmen which are among the chief treasures of 

 our museums. All the typical prayers from "The 

 Book of the Dead," about the ushabtis, the fields of 

 Aalu, and so forth, which we regard as so character- 

 istic of Egyptian religion, were not characteristic of 

 it for half its period of existence. 



The interest of the Egyptian spells and charms 

 relating to the souls of the dead, which we call "The 

 Book of the Dead," is to the anthropologist very 

 great, as he gains from it most interesting views of 

 the original savage state of the African ancestors of 

 the Egyptians. But a strictly scientific book on these 

 spells is yet to seek. A critical survey of the material 

 would separate the early magical incantation from the 

 later prayers and hymns of the civilised age. The 

 pious conservatism of the Egyptians preserved the 

 childish gabble of the primitive age side by side with 

 the later prayers. Both are habitually jumbled up 

 together in books on the Ancient Egyptian religious 

 writings, and to the primitive magical gibberish is 

 ascribed a hidden and recondite meaning- (on the 

 principle omne ignotum pro magnifico) which it never 

 possessed. It never was more than the " patter " of 

 the savage medicine-man. He was the spiritual 

 ancestor, no doubt, of the cultured priests who wrote 

 the hymn to Amen quoted by Mrs. Tirard (p. 157); 

 but this is very far removed above the average calibre 

 of "The Book of the Dead," of which it is no part, 

 and seekers after real religious feeling in Ancient 

 Egypt will go to these hymns and psalms, which 

 have nothing to do with the tomb, its ghosts, and 

 magical paraphernalia, the "clotted absurdities" to 

 which Mrs. Tirard has devoted such careful and pains- 

 taking labour, which, however, has, we fear, hardly 



