342 



NA TURE 



[August i i, i; 



their hands the better for the progress of Assyriology. 

 Another want is students to work at the Accadian, 

 Sumerian, and Semitic inscriptions which are now avail- 

 able in abundance, and it is much to be hoped that 

 Mr. King's book will induce young men of means and 

 leisure to devote themselves to these most important 

 subjects. 



About thirty years ago, when the late Sir Henry 

 Rawlinson and Mr. George Smith were working through 

 the masses of inscribed clay fragments from the Royal 

 Library at Nineveh, it was commonly thought that the 

 originals of the early portions of Genesis would be 

 found among them, and the identification of the Story of 

 the Deluge which Mr. G. Smith published in 1870, 

 greatly stimulated the hopes of the theologian and 

 historian. As a result the most absurd expectations 

 were formed, and for some years after this date, the 

 study of cuneiform was cultivated by many solely with the 

 view of discovering parallelisms and " proofs " of the Bible 

 narrative. Attempts were made by Oppert, Schrader, 

 Sayce, and others to formulate a grammar of the cunei- 

 form inscriptions, and their works were instrumental in 

 setting the subject on a firm base. Semitic scholars in 

 general were somewhat sceptical, but that is hardly to be 

 wondered at when we consider the colossal ignorance of 

 general Semitic grammar which some of the early 

 Assyrian " scholars " displayed in their publications. 

 Since that time, however, the knowledge of the cunei- 

 form inscriptions has increased greatly, and Mr. King's 

 book is a proof of this fact ; to some who have gone on 

 crying persistently that Assyriology is "uncertain" and 

 " nebulous " it will come as an unpleasant surprise. 

 Roughly speaking, it may be divided into three parts : 

 (i) Grammar ; (2) cuneiform texts ; and (3) vocabulary. 

 In the first part Mr. King describes briefly the origin 

 and rise of our cuneiform knowledge, and gives a toler- 

 ably full sketch of Assyrian grammar, with sign lists, lists 

 of ideographs, &c. In the second part we have a series 

 of forty-two complete extracts from cuneiform com- 

 positions of all periods from B.C. 2200 to B.c 600 ; these 

 comprise historical, mythological, religious, 'magical, 

 epistolary and other texts, including the Tell el-Amarna 

 tablets. In the third part are a number of cuneiform texts, 

 specially arranged to enable the beginner to test his own 

 knowledge and to gain experience and confidence in 

 deciphering new compositions, and a complete vocabu- 

 lary to the whole book. From beginning to end cunei- 

 form type is used, and as the fount is of the same size as 

 that employed by the late Sir Henry Rawlinson, it will 

 not be found troublesome to the eyes. The full trans- 

 literations and translations will materially help the be- 

 ginner, and even the more advanced student will, at 

 times, be glad of them ; and, as far as we can see, Mr. 

 King is abreast of all the modern readings and render- 

 ings adopted by American and German scholars. We 

 notice that he follows those who read the name of the 

 plague-god Ura, and has no doubt good reason for so 

 doing ; it seems, however, that Father Scheil has found 

 the name spelt Dibbara, syllabically, which reading 

 agrees with that suggested by Harper, Delitzsch and 

 others. 



It is to be hoped that Mr. King's book will attract new 

 workers to the field of Assyriology, and that it will lead 

 NO. 1502, VOL. 58] 



them eventually to the unravelling of the meanings of 

 the difficult texts, which were written in the most complex 

 of characters by Semitic and non-Semitic peoples alike 

 at the dawn of civilisation. 



THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS. 

 Essai synthetique sur la formation du Systeme Solaire ; 

 premiere pariie : formatioti du systeme. Par M. le 

 General Lafouge. Pp. ix -|- 226. (Chalons sur Marne : 

 Martin Freres, 1898.) 



THE nebular hypothesis of the origin of the planetary 

 system, presented by Laplace "avec la defiance 

 que doit inspirer tout ce qui n'est point un rdsultat de 

 I'observation ou du calcul," is now just over a century 

 old. At the time of its conception weak points must 

 have been apparent, probably to none more clearly than 

 to Laplace himself, although the main points of his 

 theory are displayed with a concise lucidity, which is 

 unfortunately rarely to be found in the works of later 

 writers on the same subject. And now, after years of 

 criticism and counter suggestions prompted by specula- 

 tions both rational and irrational, the hypothesis stands 

 very much in its original position. Its inadequacy in 

 some special directions has, it is true, become more 

 fully realised as fresh facts have arisen to be explained. 

 We are not concerned here in mentioning the particular 

 directions in which the original hypothesis stands in 

 need of support, further than to point out that the author 

 has not given particular attention to these difficulties. 

 Without entering into objections, which Lord Kelvin 

 and others have raised from purely theoretical con- 

 siderations, it will be sufficient to mention that the 

 symmetry which is found to exist in the arrangement of 

 the planetary system offers a difficulty to which no 

 adequate answer has been found. No mathematical 

 proof has yet been given, nor is it given in this book, to 

 show that a ring of vapour surrounding the sun or 

 central mass could condense into a single planet of con- 

 siderable mass. The conditions supposed by Laplace 

 seem more favourable to the formation of a swarm of 

 small bodies more resembling the asteroids, or bodies 

 of even lesser bulk, than that of a system of planets, 

 encircled by satellites. Nor does the simple observation 

 of nebute in the sky contribute any material support to 

 the original theory. Those nebulas whose construction 

 can best be studied in the telescope do not present that 

 regularity of outline or condensation, which would seem 

 to be demanded by the construction of such regular 

 mechanism as the solar system possesses. But the 

 fundamental principle contained in Laplace is that the 

 formation of the planetary system is the result of a 

 process rather than of an act, and this suggestion 

 remains practically undisputed. If the details and facts 

 by which Laplace sought to maintain his hypothesis 

 have received little confirmation since his time, it is still 

 safe to say that his generic thought has not been refuted 

 after a century of research. Indeed research has had 

 little direct bearing on the subject, with the exception of ' 

 two most remarkable investigations : the one, that of 

 M. Poincare on the possible forms of equilibrium of a 

 rotating fluid mass ; the other, the great work of Prof. 

 G. H. J^arvvin on the effects of tidal action. 



