January, 1907 ] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



21 



Huence that magic has had on the notions of social rights 

 and duties. This is seen in the increase of the parents ' 

 powers over their children, especially with regard to the im- 

 portance attached to the blessings or curses of a parent. It 

 is a fusion of magic and religion that has produced our con- 

 ceptions with regard to the duty of charity, " By niggard- 

 liness a person may e.xpose himself to supernatural dangers, 

 whereas liberality may entail supernatural reward." .Most 

 striking is the influence of magic in the treatment of the 

 stranger in early society, and his transformation from the 

 " hostis " to the honoured guest, .\lthough the rules of hos- 

 pitality are in the main based on egoistic considerations, 

 ■ (" Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some 

 have entertained angels unawares "), and although the 

 hospitality may be of short duration (as the S. Slavs tersely 

 express it, " A guest and a fish smell on the third day "), yet 

 the custom has been a most important factor in early society. 

 Professor Geddes urges the importance of concrete observa- 

 tion, " a first-hand experience, an impulse and message 

 from life and action ;" and a suggestive example of concrete 

 and applied sociology is given in the study of " Civics " (con- 

 tiimed from Volume I. "of the publications of the Society). 

 In the discussion that followed, .Mr. TomUins (of the Lon 

 don Trades CouncilJ sketched the advantages that would 

 accrue, '" if before any person was allowed to serve on our 

 different public bodies, he should be required to attend a 

 course of lectures such as those given by Professor Geddes 

 on Civics;" in the same way it would be well if all those 

 responsible for the disentangling of the educational problem 

 were to study Professor Sadler's paper on " The School in 

 some of its liclations to Social Organisation and to National 

 Life." Professor Sadler notes the three different influences 

 at work in English Educational policy, which, if pressed to 

 their logical conclusions, come in conflict. They are, briefly, 

 the belief in a unified school system ; the desire to develop 

 alert individualism and initiative ; and the belief in state- 

 encouraged groups of like-thinking people. He concludes : 

 " An educational system to be effective must be in harmony 

 with national sentiment, and English national sentiment 

 has for centuries shown a strong preference for allowing 

 great freedom in the utterance of personal conviction (and, 

 therefore, for permitting great freedom in imparting such 

 convictions through education), combined with an equally 

 strong preference for a sufficient measure of social order, 

 in order that the business of the nation may be effectively 

 carried on." 



ZOOLOGY. 

 The Life of Animals: The Mammals, by E. Ingersoll ; pp. 

 vii. and 555, illustrated (New York : The Macmillan Co. ; 

 and London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1906; price 8s. 6d. 

 net). — For those who do not care to be troubled with the 

 scientific names of the species and genera, this is, perhaps, 

 one of the best popular books on mammals that has ever 

 come under our notice ; the subject being treated in an at- 

 tractive and yet generally accurate style, with just enough 

 of description to enable the different species to be easily 

 recognised, even without the aid of the numerous illustra- 

 tions. As regards the latter, the author has been in the 

 main well served by his artists ; many of the attractive 

 coloured plates and of the photographs being excellent both 

 as works of art and as life-like portraits of the animals they 

 represent. While many of the illustrations are new, others 

 w'ill be recognised as old friends. In such a mixed series 

 all cannot be expected to be on the same platform of ex- 

 cellence ; and in one instance a cut does duty for an animal 

 for which it is obviously not intended, while a second omits 

 one of the most striking features of the species it is in- 

 tended to represent. In the text, amid the general excel- 

 lence of treatment, we may likewise recognise a few- 

 passages which might well be amended; as, for example, the 

 statement that the red .\merican lyn.x differs so slightly 

 from its Canadian cousin as not to be w'orthy of specific 

 distinction. In the main the work is thoroughly up-to- 

 date, including, for example, a summary of recent dis- 

 coveries relating to the ancestry of the elephant ; and the 

 accounts quoted ;ne mostly those of experts, either as field 

 or closet natunilists. The book may confidently be recom- 

 mended to all lovers of natural history — young or old. It 

 may be added that the scientific names of many species are 

 given in the index. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The Norwegian North Polar Expedition. Scientific Re- 

 sults. Edited by F. Nansen ; Xo\. V. (London : Longman's 

 Green, and Co. ; price 20s. net). — The contents of this 

 volume, which is as well illustrated and as handsomely got 

 up as its predecessors, includes three articles, forming Nos. 

 XIV. -XVI. of the entire series. We can but regret that limi- 

 tations of .space prevent our giving a notice of the first and 

 second (which are of the most general interest) adequate to 

 their importance; both being e.xcellent pieces of work, 

 which afford evidence of the many-sided nature of the re- 

 searches undertaken bv the savants of this memorable 

 ey.pedition. The first article, by Mr. O. B. B^ggild, is 

 devoted to the bottom-deposits of the Polar Sea. One 

 of the results of the expedition was to prove the existence 

 of a large, deep North Polar basin, the bottom of which 

 has been found to be covered with deposits of unexpectel 

 fineness. An inference from this is that the ice, which 

 generally drifts from Bering Strait towards the sea between 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen must be mainly sea-ice, with 

 a small proportion of coast or river ice from Siberia and 

 North America. \'ery interesting is the second article 

 by Mr. V. W. Ekman on " dead-water," a phenomenon 

 met with in the Norwegian and .Arctic Seas. It is 

 due to a layer of fresh-water above the salt-water of th-.; 

 sea ; and a vessel passing through it generates large waves 

 at the plane of division between the two liquids which offer 

 an unexpectedly high resistance to her progress. In the 

 third article the editor describes the Protozoa, or animal- 

 cules, to be met with on the ice-floes of the North Polar Sea. 



Serials. — We have to acknowledge the receipt of Part 33 

 of the Transactions of the Y'orkshire Naturalists' Union, 

 which forms the concluding portion of the second edition of 

 "North Yorkshire; its Botany, Geology, Climate, and 

 Physical Geology," by J. G. Baker. The conclusion of the 

 account of the flowering' plants, together with lists of the 

 mosses and liverworts, constitute the contents of this fasci- 

 culus. We are indebted to the University of California for 

 a copy of a memoir by Mr. A. Hodlicka (published by the 

 University in its Archaeological and Ethnological serial) on 

 collections of skulls of the ancient and extinct natives of the 

 Californian peninsula. Excellent figures and elaborate 

 measurements are given ; so that the memoir should prove 

 of great value to anthropologists. Mr. H. R. Walkin has 

 favoured us with a copy of a paper on the " White winter 

 coat of certain creatures," in w-hich he refuses to accept the 

 view of Dr. Tronessart that the winter whitening of 

 mammalian hair is due to the action of phagocytes. In- 

 deed, he is somewhat sceptical in another way, seeing that 

 he is not assured that British park-cattle are semi-albinos. 



.\lso to hand is a copy of the Report of the Colombo 

 Museum for 1905, published as Part IV. of Ceylon Ad- 

 ministration Reports. FVom this it is satisfactory to learn 

 that it has been resolved to enlarge the museum buildings, 

 provided that the Colonial (iovernment sees its way to sup- 

 ply the requisite funds. Dr. Willey, the Director reports 

 that the ^Iuseum continues to make satisfactory progress. 

 The Committee of the Bristol .Museum and .\rt Gallery has 

 l)ublished a fully-illustrated pamphlet of 75 pages, detailing 

 till- history and progress of that Institutie)n since its founda- 

 tion in 1772. The illustrations display the imposing pro- 

 portions of the buildings, and likewise give a clue to some 

 of their contents. It is .almost unnecessary to state that 

 both in the matter of natural history and of art the In- 

 stitution possesses a number of very valuable and interesting 

 specimens. 



.\ Perpetual Calendar. — We have received from Messrs. 



Philip and Son a specimen of their Universal Perpetual 

 Calendar, which is the most ingenious and complete ex- 

 ample of its kind that we have ever examined. It is the 

 work, evidently a labour of love, of the Rev. J. P. Wiles, 

 M..\., and we may congratulate him especially on the 

 simplified form to which he has reduced the calendar. Many 

 such devices require elaborate manipulation before they will 

 give the desired results, but this calendar can bo adjusted 

 with the greatest ease to any year between i a.d. and 

 2,000 A.D., and will, in addition, furnish the New Moons and 

 the date of Easter, Ijoth new and old stvle, for those years. 



