June i i, 1891] 



NA TURE 



123 



to a particular locality can never be really understood 

 unless they are brought into connection with kindred 

 facts in other parts of the world. This is constantly 

 borne in mind by Dr. Atkinson, and his ample learning 

 enables him to apply the principle in many different 

 ways ; so that, when he is talking about Danby, he is 

 often talking at the same time about wide regions of the 

 British Islands, and even about stages of culture through 

 which the greater part of the human race has passed. 



One of the most interesting of the sections into which 

 the book is divided is the one headed " Antiquarian." 

 In Danby, as in Cleveland generally, there are many pre- 

 historic burial-mounds, and a large number of these he 

 has carefully excavated. The only traces of bronze he 

 has discovered are " a it.'N mouldering fragments of very 

 thin plate, found with the unprotected bones of a cremated 

 body, and not sufficient to fill a very small pill-box half 

 an inch in diameter." Nevertheless, the contents of the 

 larger " houes " prove conclusively that they belong to 

 the Bronze Age ; and Dr. Atkinson is of opinion that 

 they date from the later part of the period. He has 

 found many vases of the Bronze Age type, some jet beads, 

 two polished axe-hammers, various bone pins, arrow- 

 heads and other objects of flint ; and by far the larger 

 proportion of these treasures may now be studied, along 

 with similar treasures recovered elsewhere, in the British 

 Museum. Dr. Atkinson tells with great spirit the story 

 of the more memorable of his explorations ; and he has 

 much that is amusing to say about the wonder excited 

 among his rustic neighbours by what seem to them his 

 mysterious proceedings, and about the interest aroused 

 in the minds of those whom he has from time to time 

 induced to help him. Across the ridges between which 

 lie the dales of the district are ancient earthworks, all of 

 which " are defensive against attack from the south, and 

 in no other direction whatever." Of these dykes, which 

 seem to be of the same period as the burial-mounds, Dr. 

 Atkinson gives a full and lucid account, and he offers 

 some suggestive hints as to their relation to other old 

 fortifications in the neighbourhood. He has also an 

 excellent chapter on various pits which have often been 

 described as the remains of " British settlements." 

 There can be little doubt, as he shows, that in reality 

 these pits are the remains of early mining excavations. 



Another valuable part of the book is devoted to folk- 

 lore. The belief in witches has not even yet wholly died 

 out in Cleveland ; and forty years ago it was still a more 

 or less potent factor in the lives of the people. The 

 author gives some curious instances of the power formerly 

 attributed to witches, and of the means by which their 

 devices were supposed to be thwarted by the " wise 

 men" of the district. He suggests that witches may not 

 always have been mere impostors, but that in some cases 

 they may have been able to exercise the kind of influence 

 to which the phenomena of hypnotism are believed to be 

 due. Even more interesting than the traces of faith in 

 witchcraft are the survivals of "fairy," "dwarf," and 

 " Hob" notions. According to a tale told to Dr. Atkin- 

 son by an old woman, there was a farm in Glaisdale 

 where Hob, so long as he was not spied upon, did much 

 excellent work at night. At last some one was curious 

 enough to watch him, and it was thought he would be all 

 the better for " something to hap hissel' wiv," Accord- 

 NO. 1 128, VOL. 44] 



ingly a coarse shirt, with a belt or girdle to confine it 

 round his middle, was made for him, and left in the barn 

 where he worked. When he found the gift. Hob broke 

 out in the following couplet : — 



"Gin Hob mun hae nowglit but a Hardin' hamp, 

 He'll coom nae mair, nowther to berry nor stamp." 



Dr. Atkinson was delighted with this couplet, for it 

 preserves three words which had become obsolete forty 

 years ago, and two of which— " berry " and "hamp" — 

 had no actual meaning to the speaker. " Stamp " was 

 the word for " the action of knocking off the awns of the 

 barley previously to threshing it, according to the old 

 practice." " Berry," meaning to thresh, he had been 

 " looking and inquiring for, for years, and looking and 

 inquiring in vain." As to " hamp," he had " never had 

 any reason to suppose that it had once been a constituent 

 part of the current Cleveland folk-speech." The hamp 

 was a kind of smock-frock, gathered in about the middle 

 and falling below the knee, and was at one time the 

 characteristic garment of the English peasant. The 

 word "seems to be clearly Old Danish in form and 

 origin." 



There are several chapters which will give pleasure to 

 students of geology and ornithology ; and in his notes on 

 weddings, burials, the harvest-home, and holy wells, the 

 author displays much ingenuity in detecting survivals of 

 what were in past times wide-spread customs. In the 

 interpretation of old historical documents, and in the purely 

 descriptive parts of the book, he is equally successful. 

 Some readers, finding so many things to lure them on 

 from the beginning of the work to the end, may be dis- 

 posed to think that Danby is a very exceptional parish. 

 What is exceptional, however, is not so much the writer's 

 subject as the knowledge and insight which enable him 

 to appreciate, and to make others appreciate, its true 

 interest and significance. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Anatomy, Physiology, Morphology, and Development of 



the Blow -fly {Calliphora erythrocephala). Part II. 



By B. Thompson Lowne, F.R.C.S., F.L.S., &c. 



(London : R. H. Porter, 1891.) 

 The general features of this study in insect anatomy have 

 already been noticed (Nature, vol. xliii. p. ']']'). Part 11. 

 describes the exoskeleton in considerable detail, and con- 

 tains many useful and elaborate figures. Plate v. and 

 the accompanying explanations give the author's views 

 upon the morphology of the insect-head. The pre-oral 

 part he regards as developed from three bladder-like 

 swellings, to which correspond three primary divisions of 

 the cephalic nerve-centres. The post-oral part is sup- 

 posed to arise by the fusion of three jaw-bearing seg- 

 ments. The terminal portion of the proboscis is 

 probably developed, according to Mr. Lowne, from the 

 first, and not from the second pair of maxilla:. The de 

 scription of the mouth-parts is very full, and the figures 

 are extremely good. 



The thoracic skeleton is also minutely described, 

 perhaps over-minutely, seeing that, in our author's words, 

 "a classification of the various sclerites indicative of 

 their morphological significance is not possible with our 

 present knowledge." Other careful descriptions by 

 special students show that it is easy to interpret the 

 complex thoracic structures in a different way from that 

 here adopted. 



Excellent figures are given of the legs, feet, and wings,^ 



