370 



NATURE 



[November i8, 1920 



the outer man, the vigour and sportsmanship and 

 grace and sheer physical beauty, there lay as the 

 inward source of all these things a beautiful 

 nature. One of his friends has described his per- 

 sonality as "radiant," and perhaps no word is 

 better suited to convey the secret of his shining 

 manliness. He touched nothing that he did not 

 strike fire from, and this was because something 

 clean and strong, like fire, burned within him. 



The story of his life is written with a simple 

 directness that enables the unfolding of his char- 

 acter to be observed, as it were, objectively and 

 in the light of the accessory conditions. Enough 

 is said to reveal a happy and populous home as 

 the most fundamental of such formative influ- 

 ences. Next we see him as one of that band of 

 "dragons" who grow up at Oxford under the 

 genial and wisely tolerant rule of Dr. C. C. 

 Lynam, and note that his talent for games, had 

 already been discerned by sympathetic experts. 

 Then he goes to Rugby. If life in the English 

 public school needs sometimes to be painted in 

 darker colours, it is at least certain that, wherever 

 Ronald Poulton was, vice could not show its face. 

 He found at Rugby what the normal healthy- 

 minded boy may surely expect to find in any of 

 our great schools — the opportunity for an educa- 

 tion in which the physical, mental, and moral 

 sides of young humanity are cultivated together. 

 The threefold result is seen in his increasing skill 

 as an athlete ; in the winning of a science scholar- 

 ship at Balliol; and in a capacity for helping 

 others that at the university, in his various boy- 

 clubs, in business at the factory, and finally in the 

 Army, was destined to render him, unassuming 

 as he was, a supreme leader of men. His sub- 

 sequent career, from his Balliol days onwards, 

 shows a steady maturing of many-sided powers of 

 social usefulness that the word "leadership " serves 

 best of all to sum up ; and, indeed, the interest 

 that one is led to take in this aspect of his develop- 

 ment quite overshadows the stirring tale of his 

 football, sketched as it is by Mr. A. C. M. Croome 

 with many fine touches. One wonders how much 

 he might have done for England had he been 

 spared to give the full support not merely of his 

 wealth, which was to be great, but of his lucid 

 intellect and nobility of soul, to the public cause 

 which he had most at heart — the provision of a 

 libera! education for the masses. 



Of a loss that touches so many it is hard to 

 speak fittingly, but perhaps the following passage, 

 taken from a story by Mr. G. F. Bradby, will 

 seem not wholly beside the point : " We say to 

 each other, and do, no doubt, in part believe, that 

 it is not length of days, but service, that gives 

 NO. 2664, VOL. 106I 



to life its value, and that to die cheerfully in a 

 great cause is perhaps the noblest use to which 

 any man can put the life that has been given him. 

 And all the time we are conscious of the great 

 blank that has fallen on our own." 



R. R, Marett. 



Our Bookshelf. 



An Ethno-geo graphical Analysis of the Material 

 Culture of Two Indian Tribes in the Gran 

 Chaco. By Erland Nordenskiold. Pp. xi-f295. 

 The Changes in the Material Culture of Two 

 Indian Tribes under the Influence of New Sur- 

 roundings. By Erland Nordenskiold. Pp. 

 xvi + 245. (Comparative Ethnographical Studies,. 

 Nos. I and 2.) (London : Humphrey Milford, 

 Oxford University Press, n.d.) Price 205. net 

 two vols. 



Consul-General Axel Johnson, of Stock- 

 holm, managing director of the Johnson 

 Line to South America, supports in every 

 way Swedish exploration of that continent,, 

 recognising the advantages which are sure 

 to result from purposely conducted com- 

 mercial and scientific interchange between the 

 peoples of the respective countries. In other 

 words, systematically gained knowledge will 

 benefit trade. Mr. Erland Nordenskiold is by no 

 means the first Swedish pioneer. The first volume 

 comprises a sifting of the present economic con- 

 ditions of two still primitive tribes, the Choroti 

 and Ashluslay of the Gran Chaco. The second 

 volume deals in a similar way with the Chiriguans 

 of the great Guarani group, and with the Guaran- 

 ised Arawaks, both on the border between Bolivia 

 and Argentina. Many other tribes had also to- 

 be considered as the many implements, customs, 

 games, etc., have been traced, sometimes all over 

 the continent, their distribution being well shown 

 by sixty maps. The more sporadic a certain tool, 

 the older it is, and its discontinuous occurrence 

 is generally caused by whole tribes having died 

 out. 



The less civilised tribes copy from the richer and 

 more advanced, not vice versa. The very common^ 

 practice of the rape of women is one of the main 

 influences upon the adaptation and spreading of 

 implements and industries, since the women 

 naturally cling to what they have been brought 

 up with. 



The chapters on the influence of the whites con- 

 tain some remarkable conclusions. The positive, 

 advantageous effect of the white culture is greater 

 where the Indians live far away from the whites- 

 — for instance, domestic animals and things con- 

 nected with them. Direct contact brings loss of 

 independence, which ultimately spells irretrievable 

 poverty. There is an apparently exhaustive 

 and critically consulted bibliography. An index 

 may be forthcoming in the contemplated third 

 volume. 



