2 7 2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



profound investigations on pelagic life. Here again only ample quota- 

 tions from his pages would convey an adequate idea of their value and 

 importance. In his chapter on Louis Agassiz and George Berkeley he 

 gives this just tribute to Agassiz : 



" The writer was a man of transcendent genius for scientific discovery, 

 with intense earnestness and enthusiasm for the pursuit of truth, and rare 

 eloquence and literary skill. If any man was devoted to the cause of truth 

 and determined to accept it, whatever, it might prove to be, that man was 

 Agassiz; for while his impulses were notably devout and reverential, he 

 proved, on many occasions, that he was fearless and independent in the 

 search for truth. It is no disparagement to Buckland and Bell and Chal- 

 mers and the other authors of the Bridgewater Treatises to assert that 

 Agassiz far surpassed them all in acquaintance with the methods which 

 lead to success in the interpretation of Nature, and in ability to treat the 

 problems of natural theology from the standpoint of the zoologist." 



He dedicates his book to Bishop Berkeley, and throughout the lectures 

 his references indicate a thorough acquaintance with the writings of this 

 eminent scholar. 



Paley's old watch comes in for renewed consideration, and one wonders 

 if the mainspring of this device will ever be broken. His apt references 

 to classical authors indicate wide and judicious reading. The book is 

 overburdened with thought and clear, concise reasoning, and his final 

 advice should be followed when he urges his readers to do double duty by 

 reading the book again. 



IN the April number (1898) of this magazine we had occasion to review 

 the first two volumes of this work.* A perusal of the third volume does not 

 permit us to modify the expressions and criticisms there made. We then 

 said the work is " a compact storehouse of facts, a veritable ethnological 

 museum, and this feature alone renders the book indispensable to Ameri- 

 can students." The author " shows no evidence of ever having seen the 

 magnificent series of volumes issued by the United States Bureau of Eth- 

 nology." " The author in several instances confounds Japan and China." 

 " His treatment of the African races is by far the most exhaustive." These 

 extracts will apply most particularly to the present volume. The negro 

 races of the interior of Africa and those of West Africa, as well as the 

 cultured races of that continent, are exhaustively treated. In that portion 

 treating of the history of the civilization of eastern Asia the Japanese and 

 Chinese are considered together and many mistakes in generalization fol- 

 low as a result of this confounding. Long before we get to this portion 

 of the work an illustration is given of Japanese agricultural instruments, 

 in which only one plow of the many types in Japan is presented, and this 

 is evidently taken from a model. Not only has he confounded the Japan- 

 ese with the Chinese, but the southern Malays are brought in when he 

 speaks of the Malay and Japanese love of the cockfight a practice which 

 is unknown in Japan. He refers to the Japanese latrine as being built 

 over running water, whereas the record of this custom is found only in 

 an ancient Japanese classic -of the seventh century. He is in error in 

 stating that the stage is essentially the same in China and Japan. His 

 description of the music of Japan applies to China only. The statements 

 that pearls play a large part in the ornaments of the Japanese, that the 



The History of Mankind. By Prof. Friedrich Ratzal. The Macmillan Company. Vol. HI, 

 pp. 599. 



