March 17, 1892] 



NATURE 



459 



author, one common to Asia and America, the other, 

 situated in some southern continent uniting Africa and 

 Oceania, for the negro. 



Whatever the origin of man may have been, the 

 author shows that two periods must be recognized in his 

 history, one before the acquisition of language, which 

 relates to his precursor, and the other after that, during 

 which man properly so-called was constituted. 



The author sums up respecting man, the Anthropoids, 

 and the monkeys, by comparing the order of the Primates 

 to a tree. The lemurs are the roots, and give rise to 

 one or several stems. One of these is the stem of the 

 monkeys, a branch of which sends out a bough more 

 elevated than the others — namely, that of the Anthro- 

 poids. Another, of which the point of origin or of contact 

 with the former has yet to be discovered, gives off the 

 human branch, which grows up parallel with that of 

 the Anthropoids, but without relation to it, and shoots 

 beyond it. 



The book concludes with a few words on the question 

 of whether or not man has attained his perfection. The 

 author's idea is that the volume of the brain cannot 

 increase much more, though it is possible for the anterior 

 lobes to become larger. One thing he thinks is certain, 

 that dolichocephaly will be replaced by universal brachy- 

 cephaly. Although the brain has probably attained its 

 limits in respect to size, the limits to which the quality of 

 its cells may improve are, as far as can be seen, uncircum- 

 scribed, and in this direction man may yet hope to 

 attain to still higher perfection by the development of 

 his intellectual faculties. 



From the critical sketch we have given, it will be seen 

 that the book is an important addition to anthropological 

 literature. Not only will it be useful to anthropologists, 

 but also to general readers who desire to obtain an 

 insight into anthropology and to follow what is being 

 done in that science. As an exposition of the subject, 

 we have no hesitation in stating that it is a work of much 

 merit, and worthy of the high reputation of its author. 

 There remains yet the duty to be performed by the pub- 

 lishers, of putting it within the reach of a much wider 

 range of readers than it is accessible to in its present 

 form, by the publication at an early date of the English 

 edition, J. G. G. 



FURNITURE WOODS. 

 The Art and Craft of Cabinet-making. By D. Denning. 



(London : Whittaker and Co., 1891.) 

 'T^HIS neat little volume purports to be "a practical 

 J- hand-book to the construction of cabinet furniture, 

 the use of tools, formation of joints, hints on designing 

 and setting out work, veneering, &c., together with a 

 review of the development of furniture." It is well 

 planned, and written in a pleasing and simple style, and 

 appears admirably adapted for its purpose in general. 



There is one drawback to this book, common to all 

 works of its kind, and that is the meagre information 

 given in the section dealing with the various kinds of 

 woods employed. These woods are mahogany, cedar, 

 oak, walnut, ash, rosewood, birch, beech, satinwood, 

 pine, and a few others. The author argues that the 

 NO. 1168, VOL. 45] 



amateur requires no information at all— or practically 

 none — about these woods, but recommends him to trust a 

 respectable dealer. We venture to remark that both the 

 dealer and the amateur stand in need of, and would have 

 been much interested in, a good description of these 

 various woods. 



It would at least have been worth mention that the 

 word mahogany, like most trade names of the kind, may 

 refer to very different woods : thus the Cuban or Spanish 

 mahogany {Swietenia Mahogani, L.) is a very different 

 wood from the mahogany of India {Ccdrela Toona^ 

 Roxb.), which goes more commonly, perhaps, under the 

 name of cedar (Moulmein cedar), another fallacious appel- 

 lation, since it has nothing in common with the cedar of 

 the botanist {Cedrus), or the pencil cedar of commerce, 

 which is a Juniper, while it is closely allied to the 

 '' Cuban cedar," also known as Honduras and as Mexican 

 cedar {Ccdrela odorata, L.). The author is partially alive 

 to this, as his remarks on p. 42 show ; but we think he 

 might have put the whole matter in a much clearer light 

 by giving good descriptions of these very different woods. 

 The African mahogany, from Sierra Leone, is a different 

 wood again. 



Under oak, the author, as elsewhere, begs the whole 

 question by the remark, " Oak, like mahogany, is 

 too well known to require any minute description." 

 Possibly so— it all depends on the meaning of the 

 word " minute " ; but we think that such a work as this 

 would ba very much more useful if a description of 

 the general distinctive characters of oak were given, and 

 that the reader is entitled to expect such a description. 

 He mentions that several kinds of oak are in the market, 

 but this kind of thing only confuses, instead of helps, the 

 reader. 



Then, again, what does the author mean by "rose- 

 wood"? The rosewoods of India — Dalbergia latifolia 

 (Roxb.) and Pterocai-pus indicus (Willd.) — are by no 

 means the only timbers which come into this country 

 under that name, and the author might have done much 

 more than merely remark that, " so far as mere appear- 

 ance is concerned, there is not much difference between 

 the various kinds." 



We think that the author has missed an opportunity of 

 compiling what is very much needed in this country, a 

 concise and practical chapter on the distinctive characters 

 of the various cabinet woods, on the lines, for instance, 

 sketched in Marshall Ward's httle manual on " Timbers, 

 and some of their Diseases." The expectation that 

 something of the kind might have been attempted is 

 the fairer, since the author, in this very chapter on 

 " furniture woods," goes out of his way to reinstruct 

 amateurs in the use of the multiplication table and super- 

 ficial measurements, which "may have been forgotten 

 since their school days." 



The statement on p. 57 that wood does not contract in 

 length requires modification ; and some of the remarks 

 on warping and shrinking would be more intelligible to a 

 reader who understood something of the structure of his 

 woods. 



The illustrations are numerous, and, on the whole, good 

 and decidedly useful ; and in spite of the omissions we 

 point out, we think the book admirably adapted in many 

 respects for the amateur's shelves. 



