DISCOVERY 



81 



produce such similar results. For the beaker-folk and 

 roundhead type are both admittedly Central European 

 types ; and at both periods the two occur as exceptional 

 features in cultures with mainly southern affinities. 



The chief dif&culty in tracing migrations by means of 

 industrial types — always a dangerous proceeding when 

 not checked at everv' point by anatomical e\'idence — lies 

 in the difficulty of selecting the " key industries." This 

 is peculiarly difficult when dealing with the " Azilian- 

 Tardenoisean microlithic " industry, which ranges from 

 South Africa to Scandina%'ia and from Cornwall to India. 

 Only by a close study of selected unmixed type-stations 

 can results of any ethnological value be obtained. The 

 time is not yet ripe for generalities. 



Mr. Burkitt is seen at his best in his chapters on Art, 

 though he is apt to wander off into too many fascinating 

 side-issues. O. G. S. C. 



'Since the above was written Prof. R. A. S. Macalister has 

 published the first volume of his Textbook of Archeology 

 (Cambridge University Press, 50s.), which promises fulfilment 

 of our reviewer's requirements. — Ed.] 



The WUch-Ciilt in Western Europe. A Study in Anthro- 

 pology. By Margaret Alice Murray. (Oxford : 

 Clarendon Press, i6s.) 



This is, we believe, the most extensive study of the 

 subject yet made by a British anthropologist. Black- 

 magic and devil-worship have existed side by side with 

 estabUshed religion from the dawn of history. One is apt, 

 however, to imagine that such things did not hold a 

 dangerous sway in Great Britain after the introduction 

 of Christianity till the fifteenth century. Such is not the 

 case, and the reasons why we hear so much of witches in 

 the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries is due 

 to the destructive attention that post-Reformation 

 England and Scotland bestowed upon them at this time. 

 It is from the records of the vast number of trials of 

 witches during this period that most of our information 

 is gathered. 



Miss Murray has concentrated chiefly on the cult in 

 Great Britain. In a masterly introduction she traces its 

 origins to the ancient pre-Christian religion of Western 

 Europe — a religion belonging to a race which " had not 

 reached the agricultural stage," and whose deity either took 

 the form of an animal, or of a man as in Italy, "where he 

 was called Janus or Dianus," in Southern France and in 

 the EngUsh Midlands. In connection with the latter 

 form it is significant that the feminine equivalent of the 

 name Dianus, i.e. Diana, was throughout Europe given 

 to the " female deity or leader of the so-called Witches." 

 The authoress outlines the festivals, organisation, con- 

 nection with fairies, and the religious ceremonies of this 

 'Dianic cult, as she names it, and proceeds in Chapter I to 

 illustrate how strongly it existed in England for many 

 centuries after Augustine's mission and long after the 

 country had been Christianised. 



In the subsequent chapters a more fully detailed 

 account is presented of the God, Admission Ceremonies, 

 The Assemblies, The Rites, The Organisation, and The 

 Familiars and Transformation, while some interesting 



appendices are added, including notes on fairies and 

 witches, the trial of Joan of Arc, and a note by Professor 

 A. J. Clark on ointments used by witches for the purpose 

 of flying. One of these ointments contained both aconite 

 and belladonna. With regard to this preparation Professor 

 Clark says : " Irregular action of the heart in a person 

 falling asleep produces the well-known sensation of sud- 

 denly falling through space, and it seems quite possible 

 that the combination of a delirifacient like belladonna 

 with a drug producing irregular action of the heart like 

 aconite might produce the sensation of fljdng." 



We wish that we had more space in which to review 

 and extract illustrations from the mine of information 

 contained in this book. It should find a place on the 

 shelves of anthropologists, psychologists, and, last but not 

 least, novelists who are in need of " atmospheric " details 

 for mediaeval and supernatural stories. 



E. L. 



Correspondence 



PRIMITIVE ARCHITECTURAL CANONS 



To the Editor of Discovery 



SlR, 



There can be no doubt that the proportions of 

 primitive architecture were worked out on systematic 

 lines, and probably with the aid of such figures as those 

 suggested by Mr. Bowes in your January number. 



I have made many attempts to get results in this 

 connection, but have always been checked, firstly by the 

 difficulty of getting exact data, and secondly by the ease 

 with which apparent solutions can be found. There are 

 many possible unitary' figures, but even if we restrict 

 ourselves to the four mentioned by Mr. Bowes, very slight 



errors in the plan under investigation may lead us to wrong 

 conclusions. This difficulty is illustrated by the attached 

 diagram, which gives the four figures superimposed. It 

 will be clear that any rectangular cells whose corners lie 

 somewhere between the points a and b will in a large 

 number of cases approximate very closely to one of the 

 " unitary figures." When, in addition, we remember 



