350 



NATURE 



[December 4, 1919 



as to the true meaning and effect of some of its 

 provisions. Many of its terms are capable of 

 various interpretations, and cases are certam to 

 arise the equitable solution of which will tax the 

 judgment and wisdom of the Committee. But 

 the general sense of the House will, it is to be 

 hoped, perceive that the measure is based upon 

 the requirements and necessities of the times. 

 This consideration ought surely to mitigate 

 the factious opposition with which it is 

 threatened. 



No doubt the Bill will be modified in its passage 

 through Parliament. It is certainly capable of 

 amendment in some details. But it is to be hoped 

 that the Government will stand firm in its effort 

 to safeguard the key industries. The list of these 

 named in the Second Schedule is considerably 

 shorter than that drawn up by manufacturers' 

 associations, and much of it is too technical to 

 be within the comprehension of the average 

 member of Parliament, who has little or no know- 

 ledge of science. It may be that the events of 

 the last four or five years have made him 

 acquainted with a certain amount of chemical ter- 

 minology, but the list of articles enumerated in 

 the first two sections of the Schedule dealing 

 with synthetic colouring matters, drugs, " inter- 

 mediates," and "fine chemicals," is sufficiently 

 deterrent to the lay mind, and scarcely lends itself 

 to effective party debate. It is to be regretted 

 that at the present juncture no acknowledged 

 representative of chemical science is a member 

 of the House — no one of the authority and know- 

 ledge, perspicacity and breadth of view, for ex- 

 ample, of the late Lord Playfair or of the late Sir 

 Henry Roscoe. It is certain that, whatever might 

 have been the views of these distinguished men 

 concerning the fiscal policy of the Bill, they would 

 be in hearty sympathy with the effort to resusci- 

 tate and strengthen an industry which had its 

 rise in this country, and in all probability would 

 never have sunk into partial insignificance had 

 Parliament dealt earlier with the admitted defici- 

 encies in our system of national education. 



The Schedule may be said to have its origin in 

 the war, and to embody some of its lessons. It is 

 the direct result of the painful experience of our 

 shortcomings as revealed to us on its outbreak. 

 Some of the industries with which it is concerned 

 are at present not much beyond their initiatory 

 stage, but, as has been proved, they are all more 

 or less necessary to our national welfare, and in 

 the light of our recent experience it would be 

 the height of unwisdom not to do everything in 

 our power to place them on a permanent and 

 independent basis. We are at the parting of the 

 NO. 2614, VOL. I04I 



ways, and on the House of Conmions rests the 

 serious responsibility of choosing the right path. 

 To neglect the present opportunity, or to be blinc 

 to its significance, would be an irreparable 

 disaster. 



THE DRAGON OF MYTHOLOGY. 

 The Evolution of the Dragon. By Prof. G. EUioi 

 Smith. Pp. XX -f 234. {Manchester: M tht 

 University Press ; London : Longmans, Green, 

 and Co., 1919.) Price los. 6d, net. 



THE dragon may be regarded as the most 

 venerable symbol employed in ornainenta 

 art, and it has been the inspiration of much ol 

 the world's great literature in every age and clime 

 The dragon-myth also represents the earlies! 

 doctrine or systematic theory of astronomy anc 

 meteorology. The study of dragon-lore thus lead' 

 us back to some of the most primitive working; 

 of the human mind, and embraces many subjects 

 which at first sight seem to have little connectior 

 with the end in view. Prof. Elliot Smith's wort 

 on the evolution of the dragon, indeed, alludes tc 

 almost every aspect of primitive thought anc 

 myth, and the author discusses questions which 

 vary from the origin of embalming to the worship 

 of the cow, the elixir of life, the swastika, and the 

 reasons for wearing clothes. His volume consist; 

 of notes of three lectures delivered in the Johr 

 Rylands Library, Manchester, illustrated by beau 

 tiful reproductions of an appropriate series o 

 drawings. The chapters are entitled respective!} 

 Incense and Libations, Dragons and Rain Gods 

 and The Birth of Aphrodite. 



Prof. Elliot Smith maintains that the ciragor 

 was originally a beneficent creature, the personi 

 fication of water. The fundamental element in tht 

 dragon's powers was the control of water, whethei 

 rivers or seas, pools or wells, or clouds on the top; 

 of mountains. The substratum of its anatomj 

 usually consists of a serpent or a crocodile, witl 

 the scales of a fish for covering, the feet and wing; 

 (sometimes also the head) of an eagle or hawk 

 and the fore-limbs (sometimes also the head) of ; 

 lion. All the parts are symbols of the varioui 

 attributes and uses of water in Nature. Witl 

 various slight additions and modifications, thi: 

 composite wonder-beast ranges from westeri 

 Europe to the far east of Asia, and thence acrosi 

 the Pacific to America. It must, indeed, havi 

 had a common origin, and Prof. Elliot Smitl 

 particularly emphasises the interest of the Ameri 

 can version, which he regards as having gradual!; 

 evolved from several successive importations o 

 ideas from the Old World. He remarks tha 

 "one and the same fundamental idea, such as thi 

 attributes of the serpent as a water-god, reachei 

 America in an infinite variety of guises, Egyptian 

 Babylonian, Indian, Indonesian, Chinese, an( 

 Japanese ; and from this amazing jumble of con 

 fusion the local priesthood of Central Americ: 

 built up a system of beliefs which is distinctive!; 

 American, though most of the ingredients and th( 



