192 



DISCOVERY 



that the two reasons are mutually exclusive and both 

 may well have been operative. 



• This Hera series had prev^iously given rise to difficulties 

 in arranging the sequence of Elean coins which Mr. Selt- 

 man's work removes. He has shown that they are the 

 product of a second mint belonging to the temple of Hera, 

 which for a century issued coins contemporaneously 

 with those minted at the temple of Zeus. There is there- 

 fore no longer any necessity to displace or telescope any 

 part of the continuous series of Zeus coins in order to 

 make room for them. 



The illustrations are excellently arranged, and it is not 

 necessary to be a numismatist to appreciate the beauty 

 of the coins represented upon the twelve plates which 

 accompany the text. 



W. R. Hallidav. 



A PRIMITIVE ISL.\XD RACE 

 The Andaman Islanders. A Study in Social Anthro- 

 pology. By A. R. Brown, M.A. (Cambridge 

 University Press, 40s.) 



This book embodies the results of research work carried 

 out in the Andaman Islands in the years 1906-1908 

 under the terms of the Anthony Wilkin Studentship in 

 Ethnology of Cambridge University. Previous studies of 

 the Andaman Islanders have been few, consisting of 

 E. H. Man's book On the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the 

 Andaman Islands (1882), M. V. Portman's Kotes on the 

 Languages of the South Andaman Group of Tribes (Calcutta, 

 1898), and his History of Our Relations with the Andamanese 

 (Calcutta, 1899). A general description of the islands 

 was given by Colonel Sir Richard Temple, at one time 

 Chief Commissioner of the Andaman and Xicobar Islands, 

 in the Census of India (vol. iii, 1901). 



The great value of this new work on the subject lies 

 in the fact that it employs the latest methods of social 

 anthropology in the study of an almost entirely primitive, 

 isolated people. It has indeed rescued a set of primitive 

 ideas, customs, and legends from obUvion, and only just 

 in time, for Western civilisation is already la^^ng its 

 destructive hands upon them from the Penal Settlement 

 at Port Blair. Research of this kind does not merely 

 serve a purpose in adding to our store of knowledge, but 

 in providing psychologists and psycho-analysts with a 

 new key to the " child " mind as reflected in that of 

 savage peoples, who have developed on lines almost 

 entirely untouched by extraneous influences. From this 

 source much elucidation of nervous afflictions brought 

 about by delayed maturity has already been gained. 



A glance at the map will show how isolated the Anda- 

 mans are. They lie out in the Sea of Bengal at an average 

 distance of 350 miles from the Malay Isthmus on the 

 east, and of 700 miles from that of India on the west. 

 " The balance of probabiUty," says the author, " is in 

 favour of the view that the Andamans were peopled, 

 either by sea or by land, from the region of Lower Burma." 

 The Andamanese have been in their present home for a 

 great many centuries, even if they did not reach it during 

 the period of land connections. They belong to the 

 Negrito race, the two other branches of which are the 



Semang, dwelling in the interior of the Malay Peninsula, 

 and the tribes inhabiting the interior of the Philippine 

 Islands. Both the other branches have come into contact 

 with other races for centuries back, and " the original 

 Negrito culture and language and even perhaps the 

 original physical type have been modified in these two 

 branches of the race." 



In the first four chapters a detailed description is 

 given of these Andamanese tribes' social organisation, 

 their ceremonial customs, their religious and magical 

 beliefs, and their myths and legends. Despite close 

 proximity the various tribes have retained much indi- 

 viduality in these respects, as also very distinct differences 

 in their dialects. In Chapters V and VI the author 

 interprets the psychological significance of these customs 

 and legends, showing how closely connected they are 

 with one another. A tribe is divided into so manylocal 

 groups, each of wliich has its own village of palm-leaf huts 

 arranged round a common dancing-ground. Communal 

 life is extremely powerful amongst these local groups, 

 and has been kept going by rigorous ceremonial in every 

 detail of life. In this respect the author demonstrates 

 the importance of the strange customs of painting the 

 body with various coloured clays on special occasions, 

 and particularly before or after the taking of certain 

 kinds of food ; of dancing ; of weeping ; and of the very 

 elaborate initiation ceremonies. The latter possess 

 similarities to some of those practised by Central African 

 tribes. During the period of adolescence rigorous absten- 

 tions, especially in the matter of food and partaking in 

 social life, are imposed on members of both sexes, and we 

 find, too, amongst the Northern tribes, the phenomenon 

 of the youth, before being admitted to the clan as a man, 

 having to submit to the cutting of horizontal rows on his 

 back and chest, and having to give proof of his virility 

 by remaining silent during these operations. 



In the short space at our disposal it has been impossible 

 to do more than touch on the fringe of the information and 

 ideas embodied in Mr. Brown's book. It is excellently 

 illustrated by original photographs, and includes, besides 

 the chapters mentioned, appendices on the technical 

 culture of the Andamanese, and the spelling of Andamanese 

 words. 



E. L 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



A Criticism of Einstein and his Problem. By W. H. V. 

 Reade, M.A. (Oxford : Blackwell, 4s. 6d.) 



What possessed Mr. Reade, a philosopher and an O.xford 

 don, to write this book we know not. In tackling the 

 relativists, not from the point of view of philosophy, 

 but on their own ground as mathematicians and physicists, 

 he has shown himself a sportsman, but, if he means this 

 work to be taken seriously, he has put himself into a 

 curious position. It must have occurred to ^Ir. Reade, 

 who is not a profound mathematician, that, if the errors 

 and fallacies he professes to expose really do exist in 

 Einstein's work, they would long ago have been revealed 

 by others. The scientist of to-day is not deficient in 

 critical power, and diffidence in e.xpressing unfavourable 

 opinions of bad work is rare. 



