NATURE 



{May 2, 1889 



standpoint, especially in connection with the history and 

 literature of Greece and Rome. 



In any scientific history of civilization, the first stages, 

 in which from rough stone implements men passed to 

 the arts of drawing, sculpture, and the manufacture of 

 pottery, and so to the invention of bronze and the erec- 

 tion of megalithic buildings, are surely of too much 

 interest to be dismissed in a sentence or two, with an 

 illustration of a "flint spearhead" of very peculiar ap- 

 pearance. To. what races these men might belong we 

 do not learn from our author, who, after observing that 

 "modern science has also directed its attention to the sub- 

 ject of races and anthropology, and has issued in studies 

 which have not, however, yet resulted in a decisive con- 

 clusion," dismisses all other races in eighteen lines, and 

 springs on us the " white race," " whose first habitation 

 was the highlands of Asia." " It was there that, after 

 the deluge chronicled in the legends of all Eastern nations, 

 mankind dispersed, and formed the three chief branches 

 of the white race — the families of Ham, Shem, and 

 Japhet." Thus we learn nothing about the remarkable 

 and early civilization of the Chinese, on the ground that 

 " the information respecting it is not sufficient.'' We are 

 not, therefore, surprised that the author dismisses America 

 with the single sentence, " In America, the copper or red 

 race has continually receded before the Europeans, and 

 cannot be counted amongst the civilized races." He ap- 

 parently thinks there has never been but one race in 

 America, and forgets the ancient civilization of the Aztecs, 

 and that of the race which they themselves succeeded ; and 

 we cannot therefore hope that he will throw any light on 

 the home of that remarkable people who carved the 

 idols of Easter Island, or erected the megaliths of Tonga. 

 In the chapter on Egypt there is much interesting 

 though somewhat disconnected information ; but those 

 who think that the arts and sciences are amongst the 

 most important parts of civilization, will perhaps scarcely 

 be satisfied with the statement that " the scientific theory, 

 which would consider the pyramid a kind of observatory, 

 is quite unfounded." 



The materials for the description of the civilization of 

 the cities of Mesopotamia are so rich that the chapter 

 which deals with it cannot fail to be interesting ; it is 

 only to be desired that the relations of the Accadians, 

 Babylonians, and Assyrians, and their several conditions, 

 had been made more clear, and the great length of time, 

 as in the case of the Egyptians, over which the same type 

 of civilization continued, pointed out. Indeed, one of 

 the remarkable features of ancient civihzation, which has 

 an important bearing on the antiquity of man, is its slow 

 progress. 



The account of Eastern civilization, or that of the 

 Aryans and Hindus, is very defective. Indeed, we have 

 little more than a short account of the tenets of Brah- 

 manism and Buddhism, and no mention of their art, 

 though many of the Hindu stupas and topes date back 

 before the Christian era. There is some fair description 

 of Persian and Phoenician civilization, but there is nothing 

 about the Phrygians. The rock tombs of Asia Minor 

 are unnoticed, and Troy is only mentioned in relation to 

 the Greeks. 



In contradistinction to this, the treatment of Grecian and 

 Roman history is superabundantly full, as one sentence 



will show. " The * epithalamium ' of Malhus is probably 

 his best work, always excepting his charming lyrics to 

 Lesbia." If a notice of so little known a poet forms part 

 of the history of ancient civihzation, it is difficult to see 

 why the omissions above enumerated should occur. 



In a word, the whole subject is unequally treated ; 

 there is a bias towards classical learning, which, in spite 

 of the useful information given, prevents the book from 

 being in any sense a scientific history. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Board School Laryngitis. By Greville Macdonald, M.D. 

 Lond., Physician to the Throat Hospital, Golden Square 

 Pp. 31. (London : A. P. Watt, 1889.) 



Numerous as are the evils to which the Board School 

 system is alleged to have given rise, we have before us 

 yet another indictment to add to the list. This time, 

 however, it is the teachers, and not the scholars, who compel 

 our interest. Dr. Macdonald claims to have identified 

 certain changes in the vocal apparatus of Board School 

 teachers, of both sexes, of so definite a character as to 

 enable him to state with certainty from the appearance of 

 the throat that the patient belongs to that long-suffering 

 class. 



A varicose condition of the superficial vessels of the 

 vocal cords and a nodular hypertrophy of the free margins 

 are the conditions to which he calls special attention. Of 

 the latter condition he notes that it may occur without 

 obvious inflammatory surroundings, and quotes Stoerk's 

 reference to it under the name of " singers' nodules." 

 He does not, however, mention the Viennese laryngo- 

 logist's explanation of them, which, in the present con- 

 nection, is interesting. Stoerk claimed that these nodules 

 were the direct result of an improper use of the voice 

 whereby a part only of the vocal cords was set in vibra- 

 tfon. The nodules made their appearance at the spot 

 intervening between the vibrating and the motionless 

 parts of the cords, usually the junction of the anterior 

 third with the posterior two-thirds. 



Board School teachers, uninstructed for the most part 

 as to the use of the voice, depressed by the close and 

 often foul atmosphere of a crowded schoolroom, choked 

 with the chalk from their blackboards, and often com- 

 pelled to scream to make themselves heard above the din 

 of an unruly class, are beset with every condition which 

 predisposes to inflammation and over-straining of their 

 vocal apparatus. 



Dr. Macdonald suggests remedies for such a state of 

 things, for the consideration of the ruling powers, and 

 intimates that local treatment alone is of any avail in 

 dealing with the changes to which he calls special atten- 

 tion. The varicose vessels he would destroy with the 

 galvano cautery, and the nodules with the forceps. The 

 monograph is written in a fluent and readable style, and 

 treats of a subject which deserves the serious attention 

 both of lay and professional readers. Possibly the interest 

 of the latter class would have been more keenly aroused 

 had the author appended a little more information as to 

 the extent of his experience. He tells us that the Board 

 School teachers consult him in increasing numbers, and 

 that his success in treatment has been remarkable, but he 

 does not quote cases, or offer any statistical record, 

 by which his professional brethren may compare his 

 experiences with their own in the same line of practice. 



The pathological conditions to which he would affix 

 such an attractive title are not by any means unknown 

 as a consequence of chronic laryngitis in other walks of 

 life, and something more than mere assertion must be 

 offered before they can be generally accepted as the 

 peculiar product of the Board School system. 



E. Clifford Beale. 



