Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



165 



BARBARISM AND CIVILISATION. 



The Recurrent Ebb and Flow of Historv. 



Till'; law of untlulation, recognised in sound and 

 heat and light, is now being extended to the vicissi- 

 tudes of human history. In the Dublin Revinv Dr. 

 Harry reviews Professor Flinders Petrie's " Revolu- 

 tions of Civilisation," Of the Professor, Dr. Barry 

 says : — 



He is likewise a thoughlful critic of present-day phenomena, 

 which he views from ihe Mount of Vision, lifted beyond parties 

 and politics by sludics so independent. The conclusion at 

 which he arrives 15, in absolute formula, this — that what we 

 term civilisation falls under a law of recurrence ; that it is inter- 

 mittent, and therefcirc has definite phases, coming and going 

 like the seasons, in a Great Year, ihe length of which is fairly 

 ascertainable. Civilisation has its periods, and these by Ihe 

 comparative method we can now arrange as on a plan, the 

 points of resemblance being so manifest that error in deduction 

 is largely eliminated. 



History, then, proceeds by a rhythmical movement, and the 

 intervals known as Barbarism may be expected to occur 

 between returning periods of a higher type. .Such is Professor 

 Petrie's contention, founded on a comparative view Hhich 

 lakes in Kgypt, Crete, and Europe, as terms of likeness and 

 inference. 



Of continuous liistory the Professor would give altogether 

 >cven thousand years and more (from about 5,1500 B.C.). We 

 may add three thous^ind for his two prehistoric periods, bring- 

 ing the whole curiously near to Dr. Evans's estimate, which 

 reckons ten thousand from the first Neolithic settlement at 

 Knossos, in Crete. Thus we attain to the "Great Year," 

 during which civilismion arose about the Mediterranean orbit, 

 having its seasons of perfection and decline, until it shall 

 perish off the face of the earth, or survive oidy in its records and 

 ruins. 



It would appear lliat the average duration of a " Period " is 

 1,330 yeais, the shortest being about half that amount, and the 

 longest half as much again. 



The Golden Age never lasts. Fifty years or a little more, and 

 it becomes a reminiscence. 



Yet this unclulatory theory of history does not 

 necessarily exclude the idea that " through the ages 

 AW increasing purpose runs." Says Dr. Harry : — 



Human progress, though defeated again and again, recovers 

 itself by coming to .i wider outlook, creates something of a 

 reserve for the futun-, and enlarges not only the thoughts of 

 mankind, but their allictions, which, once domestic or merely 

 tribal, now tend tuwaids universal brotherhood. 



DECM'tNCE AND DEMOCRACY. 



Professor Petric finds that forms of government 

 ( orrcs[)ond, of necessity, to the various stages of 

 iiitermixiure among races : — 



W hen it is beginnin;.; by conquest and armed innnigralion, 

 the absolute thief, Alaric or Clevis or Charles the Great, is 

 demamtcd and must lie forthcoming. After it has reached a 

 certain degree, the feudal system, or an oligarchy in some shape 

 is indispens.ible. In the third epoch of a pretty uniform diffu- 

 sion by which these clemenls have Iwen assimilated, the inslintt 

 of democracy awakens. Then — we had better quote his very 

 words — " when democracy has attained full power, the majority 

 w ithoiit capital neccvstirily cat up the capital of the minority, 

 and the civilisation stc.idily decays until the inferior population 

 is swept away to mike room for a fitter people." He con- 

 cludes with astonishing calmness, ".Such is the regular 

 connection of the forms of government," and "the maxinr<ii|n 

 of wealth must inevitably lead to the downfall." 



iTHE AIRMAN AND ARCHITECTURE. 



How He Will Transfor.m- It. 



Adrl\n Hkrringtqn, in the Architectural Rniew 

 for January (which is an excellent number, by the 

 way), discusses the fact of aerial navigation upon 

 architecture. The airman, he says, " reverses the point 

 of view from which buildings will be reared :" — 



The resultant ch.inge in the future should be comparable to 

 nothing less in the past than the difference between the art of 

 one world-epoch and that of the next. 



SKY FACADES NO LO.NGER DISHONEST. 

 Tf one looks down, say, from the cross of St. Paul's, or from 

 the campanile of Westminster, upon the town below, one sees 

 a welter of makeshift and confusion which renders repugnant or 

 contemptible the hive from which one has arisen. The grimy 

 shifts for roofing and the escape of smoke, together with tanks, 

 penthouses, liftcovers, and skylights, all ominously mean, make 

 one feel as though the city were scalped, and all the ugly chaos 

 of its brain exposed. It is a sight intolerable to the gods ; and 

 the aeronaut, in this connection, w ill be as they. So we may 

 expect that honesty of design will flood the sky-facades, .-.nd 

 that the city of a hundred years hence will be no more dis- 

 graceful from above than were the cities of a hundred years .ago. 



HOUSE-INTERIORS REMODELLED. 

 But the new way of coming and going which an aeroplane 

 will provide must lead to a re-arrangement of the interiors of 

 our buildings to an even more remarkable degree than that to 

 which any readily conceivable alteration of the exterior could 

 attain. The roof becomes a terrace, as even now it sometimes 

 is a garden, and architects will be put to design a main entrance 

 on the analogy of a fore-hatch. 



SIOREVS A.ND SOCIAL GRADES. 

 Services of supply and the premises of labour will find them- 

 selves near, or nearer, to the ground according to the literal 

 weight of the goods they handle or the material employed ; and 

 the upper storeys, in towns at any rate, will be taken from 

 serving-maids or students and dedicated to the higher life of the 

 more fortunate. " High " and " low " socially, that is to 

 say, will be high and low literally in the surroundings of their 

 existence. 



TOW.N-I'LANNING FROM ABOVE. 



The town councillor will be enabled to learn more concern- 

 ing the main bounds, axes, contours, and routes of the town 

 whose efi'orls he controls, in one afternoon, than he might with 

 years of study of the place by crawling about and conning 

 plans. He who meditates a city in the w ilderness may, at one 

 comprehensive glance, gather up the physical essentials of his 

 problem. .'Vrchitccls even are not by any means always 

 equipped with this faculty, .is of the reminiscence of former 

 incarnation as a bird, so necessary if they are adequately to 

 fulfil their function as designers of tosvns as well as of single 

 buildings. When lay authorities are able with architects lo 

 appreciate and enjoy the symmetries, echoes, and resolved 

 coherence of a fine synthetic plan, great and new possibilities 

 will await the recognition of the Muse. 



Mechanics have been described a.s the Goths and 

 Visigoths of architecture. As out of Cloth and Visi- 

 goth sprang "the majesty of Durham" and the 

 " ecstasy cf Chartres," what, asks the writer, will not 

 mechanics by aid of aircraft yet develop in Llie art 

 of building? 



TiiE reading journey in the January Chaiitaiiquaii 

 continues to be one through South America. In 

 January Mr. H. \V. Van I )y. k deals with Uruguay, 

 I'araguay, and Holivia. 



