SH 



NATURE 



{Sept. 12, 1878 



increased demand for them, it must be now many yeai's 

 before the necessary library can be provided, even if 

 there is an unlimited grant of money provided for 

 the purpose. In the meanwhile, how is the scientific 

 work at South Kensington to be carried on ? In 

 the first place the " Banksian Library," as it is called, 

 which originally came to the British Museum along with 

 the natural history collections, should be transferred 

 along with them bodily to South Kensington. This will 

 provide a good set of the older publications on natural 

 history for the new institution. In the second place for 

 the modern publications, which are of still greater im- 

 portance, we venture on a suggestion — which will, we fear, 

 make the principal librarian's hair stand on end — 

 namely, that all the works and periodicals habitually 

 used in the four departments of natural histoiy should be 

 temporarily sent on loan to the new institution at South 

 Kensington. They should be returned to the British 

 Museum by degrees so soon as duplicates of them can be 

 obtained by purchase out of a fund to be annually devoted 

 to the purpose. In this way the work at South Kensington 

 might be carried on without interruption, and the National 

 Library at Bloomsbury would at the same time suffer no 

 jiermanent loss. It would be no doubt an occasional in- 

 convenience to the readers at Bloomsbury to find that 

 some of the books they require for reference are at South 

 Kensington. But this inconvenience will diminish year 

 by year, as the new set of books is purchased, and by this 

 plan alone, as far as we can see, can the whole of the 

 important scientific work performed in the natural history 

 departments be prevented from coming to a standstill. 

 In point of economy also there can be no question of this 

 plan being the best, as the attempt to purchase at once 

 all the books required for the new Natural History 

 Museum would raise the value of them twenty-fold. 

 Convenience and economy are therefore alike on the side 

 of our suggestion, although we fear that it will be bitterly 

 opposed by the principal librarian and his satellites, who 

 object strongly to see the Banksian Library being re- 

 moved from the hallowed precincts of Bloomsbury. 



THE FENLAND 

 The Fenland, Past and Present. By S. H. Miller and 

 S. B. H. Skertchly. (Wisbeach : Leach and Son. 

 London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1878.) 



THIS book is practically the joint production of 

 several, many chapters being contributed by writers 

 whose names do not appear on the title-page, though 

 given at the head of their respective chapters. The 

 work contains about 650 octavo pages and is therefore 

 cumbrous ; it is divided into fifteen chapters, very unequal 

 both in length and merit, which embrace a wide range of 

 subject, including, among others, dissertations on History, 

 Geology, Botany, Zoology, Archaeology, Biography, En- 

 gineering and Sanitary Problems, &c. The printing 

 done at Wisbeach has not been carefully revised, as shown 

 by a long list of corrections, which however call attention 

 to but a very small proportion of the errors. Many of 

 the illustrations are presented by patrons, and these are 

 fairly good, except the chromo-lithographed frontispiece 

 which is very inferior either in workmanship or drawing. 

 The book, whatever its excellence may be in other 



respects, is certainly objectionable in its treatment of 

 those subjects on which discussion is far from closed 

 among men of science. A vein of dogmatic infallibility is 

 particularly apparent in dealing with geological problems. 

 The book, including so wide a scope, is evidently in- 

 tended to pass into the hands of readers the majority of 

 whom are quite unacquainted with geology, and to bid for 

 support in this manner from the general public, instead 

 of appealing to those who from their own experience 

 would be able to estimate its real value for views 

 and claims not yet recognised by fellow-thinkers and 

 workers, seems unworthy of science. When original 

 work is laid before specialists, the theories built upon it 

 may be stated boldly and decidedly ; but in a popular 

 book, intended for the general reader, that which is 

 accepted as fact and that which is still under discussi^on 

 or not yet argued, should be distinctly separated, and in 

 the latter case the relative value of each kind of evi- 

 dence should be clearly defined. Too frequently of late 

 the result of others' work has been incorporated by 

 writers and set forth as their own and in a positive 

 manner not claimed by the discoverers themselves. In 

 this case we have not an account of the geology of the 

 Fens, but an exposition of the opinions of Mr. Skertchly 

 and others on geological questions, introduced as undis- 

 puted fact. It is questionable whether the readers to 

 whom the book appeals care for or expect individual 

 opinion, but would not rather desire an easy "coach" to 

 the ascertained facts of Fen-geology. 



To illustrate, we select first the treatment of Pre- 

 historic Man. We are told that the "Old Stone Folk" 

 — the term is preferred in the book to Palaeolithic — are 

 concluded to be related to the living Esquimaux, and 

 that Prof. Boyd Dawkins is of opinion that they are 

 lineal descendants. This inference, based as it is on 

 very slender grounds — is the only foundation for the 

 following positive assertion, made a few pages further 

 on : — "The Old Stone Folk, on the other hand, belong 

 to the Mongoloid class of Leiotrichi, of whom the Lapps 

 and Eskimos are modern examples ; hence we see that 

 even in the Old Stone age there were no signs of the 

 fusion of the crisp-haired Ulotrichi and smooth-haired 

 Leiotrichi; and it is from such striking facts that we are 

 justified in ascribing to mankind an antiquity far greater 

 than that of the earliest relics at present known." It is 

 needless to point out that so far from there being any 

 reason to suppose that Palaeolithic man was differentiated, 

 the sameness of type — differing only where different 

 material is used — of all the oldest stone implements is 

 evidence against it. Where so much is predicated of the 

 "Old Stone Folk," it is not surprising to find the 

 "Newer Stone Folk" are minutely described even to 

 their complexion and eyes as if they were still a living 

 tribe. They are termed Iberian, which, as explained 

 not to mean a people indigenous to or even coming 

 directly from the Iberian peninsula, is a misleading term, 

 and has no advantage over that of Black Kelt. The 

 Basque people may be descendants of Neolithic man, but 

 Neolithic men were not Basques. To say that they were 

 a Turanian people means nothing more than that they 

 were not Aryan. 



The third chapter, by Mr. Miller, is devoted to a historic 

 sketch of the Fenland people from the time of the Kelts 



