March 21, 1878] 



NATURE 



399 



and handles only remaining. Three and four handles 

 have been substituted, in some cases, for the double 

 handle of the earlier vessels. The cover, with the 

 dummy mouth and handles, of course occupies the 

 position previously occupied by the true neck and 

 handles on the top of the vase. As these crown-shaped 

 covers are found in the lowest stratum, the "earliest 

 city " discovered by Dr. Schliemann at Hissarlik, it fol- 

 lows, if the history of these forms has been correctly 

 stated above, that the whole of. the Hissarlik antiquities 

 are of comparatively recent protohistoric date, though 

 belonging, no doubt, to a people in a barbarous condition 

 of culture, which accounts for the number of rude stone 

 implements found from top to bottom throughout the 

 excavations. 



The so-called crest of the helmet of Athena (p. 283, 

 Hissarlik), is a further degradation of these crown- 

 shaped tops, and represents the dwarfed survival of one 

 of the handles, the connecting links being represented by 

 three specimens in the collection at South Kensington, 

 where the vestiges of all three handles are shown in their 

 proper places, and these were subsequently replaced by 

 one, transferred for convenience' sake from the position 

 formerly occupied by the three to the centre of the lid. 

 In short, the history of every form may be traced by 

 connecting links in the specimens exhibited at South 

 Kensington, the whole collection forms a continuous 

 sequence which, by judicious arrangement of connected 

 forms, is capable of demonstration, and it is to be hoped 

 that some such arrangement may be adopted before this 

 interesting collection leaves the place. To apply the 

 expression " Darwinism " to such a sequence of forms is 

 no mere figure of speech, it expresses the truth as fully in 

 its relation to savage art and ornament as to the forms of 

 nature. Conservatism, acquired habits, and incapacity for 

 improvement on the one hand, love of variety, economy 

 of time and trouble, and imperfect copying on the other, 

 combine to produce those slow and gradual changes 

 which are characteristic of all barbarous art. Every 

 object marks its own place in sequence by means of its 

 form, and it is the recognition of this principle which 

 supplies the place of written records in those prehistoric 

 and protohistoric phases of culture with which we are 

 dealing. Earlier forms are retained side by side with the 

 more advanced ones and are applied to those objects 

 and uses for which they appear fittest. If any evidence 

 were wanting to disprove the absurd imputations that 

 have been cast upon the genuineness of these antiquities, 

 these connected varieties would alone suffice to prove 

 that they were the work of a people in a very primitive 

 condition of civilisation. Whatever difference of opinion 

 may exist as to some of Dr. Schliemann's deductions no 

 reasonable archasologist will be found to dispute the 

 extraordinary merit of his discoveries. We are glad to 

 hear that he is about to resume his excavations at 

 Hissarlik. To the deep research and disinterested 

 enthusiasm which has already placed him in the front 

 rank of explorers, will now be added a large amount of 

 archaeological experience and knowledge of allied forms 

 that he has acquired since his first excavations were con- 

 ducted at this place, leading us to hope that his future 

 discoveries will exceed them all in interest and im- 

 portance. 



PROFESSOR BELnS " SELBORNE" 

 The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the 

 County of Southampton. By the late Rev. Gilbert 

 White, formerly Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. 

 Edited by Thomas Bell, F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c., 

 Professor of Zoology in King's College, London. 8vo. 

 2 vols. (London : Van Voorst, 1877.) 

 n^HE edition of this classic work for so many years 

 -L expected from the hands of Prof. Bell, has at length 

 appeared, and readers will regard it with much gratifica- 

 tion and a little disappointment. The former feeling will 

 arise from the large amount of new matter which it 

 contains, and the latter from the conviction which cannot 

 but force itself upon them that more was to be made of 

 the whole than the editor seems to have been aware of Yet 

 Prof. Bell's long life— it is more than fifty years since he first 

 won his spurs in the field of science— and his invaluable 

 services in so many departments of zoology, render us 

 very unwilling to say more than we are compelled in 

 detraction of this, his latest labour, and the child of his 

 old age. He writes now, as he always has written, plea- 

 santly enough, but he fails to give us the notion that' he 

 has done the best he could with the materials placed at 

 his disposal, and with his other unequalled opportunities. 

 It is evident that his task grew upon him, and that a 

 considerable portion must have been printed off before its 

 extent was determined. This, indeed, is not an uncommon 

 thing with yt)ung authors and editors ; but Prof Bell's 

 literary experience, and the long time he is known to have 

 had the present work in preparation, should have guarded 

 him from an error of the kind. We might almost infer 

 that when the memoir was written he had not mastered 

 all the details of the deeply interesting correspondence 

 which forms the bulk of his second volume, and certainly 

 that he had not decided how many, and which, of the 

 letters it contains should be given to the world. It is 

 sufficient for us now to say that there is not one of them 

 that could have been spared, for we must presently return 

 to their consideration. 



That any memoir of Gilbert White must, from 

 the scarcity of facts relating to him, give a meagre 

 account of that great and estimable naturalist, we 

 are ready to admit, and that Prof Bell's is at the 

 same time far more copious than any other that 

 has been published, will be obvious to all who are 

 acquainted with the subject. But we cannot help 

 regretting that the chief biographical facts have not been 

 set forth in a clearer light than they appear, and proper 

 as it is to tell us something of all the members of the 

 family, we unfortunately find least is told us of those 

 members of whom we should like to know most. Gilbert 

 White had three brothers who were distinctly men of 

 capacity above the average, beside two others much less, 

 or hardly at all, distinguished. Of the former, Thomas, 

 we are told, was successful in trade, and became a F.R.S, 

 but in what trade or when he died we are left ignorant. 

 Benjamin was the well-known publisher of natural history 

 books — among others of Pennant's — for whom Prof Bell 

 has some hard words, not, perhaps, wholly undeserved, 

 but it is very probable, to say the least, that had not Gilbert, 

 through his brother, become acquainted with Pennant 

 the "Natural History of Selborne" would never have 



