DISCOVERY 



249 



The repressed functions are not, of course, abolished, but 

 are unable to play an adequate part in conscious life, 

 so that the " unconscious " tends to have (for all indi- 

 viduals) a compensatory function. This implies that, 

 where the personality has become one-sided owing to a 

 great predom.inance of one function, the balance may be 

 restored bj' bringing the unconscious elements to light 

 by a process of anah-sis. 



There is a further value to be gained from a better 

 understanding and appreciation of the different types, 

 for time and again the view has been brought forward, 

 a little helplessly, that the clash and bitter opposition 

 between people who " take a diflerent view " of the 

 same facts is due to some personal factor of which neither 

 party is aware. Dr. Jung explains the nature of this 

 personal factor and points the way towards a solution 

 of the barrier of misunderstanding. In a series of long 

 chapters he examines, with a fine sensitiveness and a 

 wealth of erudition, many of the liistorical conflicts in 

 religion, philosophy and literatm-e, explaining them in 

 terms of his psychological theory. This part of the book 

 is not very simple, but makes far easier reading if the 

 last chapter (of " Definitions ") is taken first and followed 

 by the penultimate (" A General Description of Types "). 



F. A. H.'VMPTOX. 



PREHISTORIC >L\N 



Ancient Man in Britain. By Don.\ld A. M.\ckenzie. 

 With Foreword by G. Elliot Smith, F.R.S. (Blackie 

 & Son, Ltd., I2S. 6d.) 



The Hornitnan Museum and Library, Forest Hill, S.E. 

 From Stone to Steel : a Handwork to the Cases illus- 

 trating the Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron. Second 

 edition. (S. P. King & Co., for the London Countj' 

 Council, 6d.) 



In two respects Mr. Mackenzie's Ancient Man in Britain 

 stands apart from the growing number of works which 

 deal mth the archaeology of this country. In the first 

 place, the author follows whole-heartedly in the footsteps 

 of the school of Professor Elliot Smith in holding that the 

 gro^rth of civilisation is not due to an independent dev"elop- 

 ment of culture in separate areas, but is the result of a 

 diffusion of culture from a common centre, and that this 

 centre is Egj-pt. Secondly, he reconstructs the men- 

 talitv of our prehistoric ancestors, as manifested in their 

 religious beliefs, not merely by the analogies afforded by 

 primitive peoples of to-day, but also by the analysis and 

 comparative study of the myths, traditions, and folk-lore 

 of the inhabitants of these islands. 



It would be out of place here to discuss the arguments 

 for and against the theory of the diffusion of culture. 

 Without entering into an examination of the conclusions 

 which have been put forward, it may be said that as a 

 method it has had a profound influence on the study of 

 European archseology along certain lines, and has at 

 least served to broaden the outlook of archaeologists. 

 Mr. Mackenzie is, however, something of an extremist, and 

 his readers must be prepared to adopt a critical attitude 



towards his conclusions. His enthusiasm is apt to out- 

 run his sense of logic. 



The scope and method of Mr. Mackenzie's book are well 

 indicated by Professor Elliot Smith in his foreword, when 

 he says : " The story unfolded by British finds is but part 

 of a larger story ; and if this larger story is to be re- 

 constructed, our investigations must extend even beyond 

 the continent of Europe"; and he also lays stress upon 

 the principle of the unity of anthropology, which the late 

 Dr. Rivers emphasised in his Presidential Address to the 

 Royal Antlrropological Institute shortly before his death. 

 Mr. ^lackenzie has kept both these aims in view, and his 

 wide knowledge of primitive beUefs and customs has 

 stood him in good stead. Among wxiters on British 

 archaeology it is now generally, if not universally, recog- 

 nised that Britain cannot be adequately studied apart 

 and that Europe must be taken as a whole. Less com- 

 monly, perhaps, it is realised that North Africa and Western 

 Asia must also be taken into account. In dealing with 

 the archaeological evidence, and with the physical types 

 of prehistoric man, Mr. Mackenzie, while keeping this 

 principle in view, has run to the other extreme. A more 

 systematic and detailed account of prehistoric types and 

 culture would have been useful to the reader who has 

 not all the details at his finger ends, and would have served 

 as an introduction to the evidence for racial and cultural 

 distribution and movement. This is all the more neces- 

 sary, as the author himself does not appear to have 

 digested his material thoroughly. 



Many of the arguments by which Mr. ilackenzie seeks 

 to demonstrate a connection between Britain and the 

 Ancient East are of a highly conjectural nature, and not 

 infrequently far-fetched. For instance, he identifies a 

 goddess of the Hebrides with a goddess of Egs-pt through 

 a shell and milk cult ; but to point out an analogy is 

 not necessarily to prove a connection. 



In dealing with trade relations, Mr. Mackenzie is on 

 surer ground, and although heignores well-founded criticism 

 of details of Mr. Perry's theories of the relation in distri- 

 bution of megalithic (large stone) monuments and the 

 occurrence of gold, pearls, and other objects of trade, his 

 summary of the evidence for trading activities in Europe 

 during the NeoUthic, or late Stone, Age and the Bronze 

 Age is one of the most useful in the book. 



Mr. Mackenzie's analysis of myths and traditions is 

 useful, and indeed valuable, as an account of primitive 

 British belief. But, as already indicated, his conclusions 

 on the comparative side do not convince. The treatment 

 is confused and suffers from over-condensation. Yet 

 the author has gathered together the material for a 

 valuable study. Professor Elliot Smith, to quote the 

 foreword again, says : " The physical character of a series 

 of skulls can give no reliable information unless their 

 exact provenance and relative age are known." The 

 same principle applies to the study of tradition. The 

 heterogeneous mass of material which Mr. Mackenzie 

 gathers together, valuable as it may be as an indication 

 of the character and mentality of primitive man in these 

 islands, is not likely to throw much useful light upon 

 racial questions, until it has been carefully analysed, its 



