DISCOVERY 



217 



biographies of Niebuhr and Mommsen, those Napoleonic 

 names in the world of scholarship. But the general 

 reader will perhaps most appreciate the spirit of genial 

 sympathy which pervades it, and which brings the world 

 of Rome, and the fears and hopes of a dead age, into close 

 touch with all that we feel and know to-day. 



R. J. v. PULVERT.^FT. 



When Buffalo Ran. By George Bird Grinnell. 

 (Newhaven, Connecticut : Yale University Press ; 

 London : Oxford Univ-ersity Press, los. 6d.) 



It is not often that a book like this one comes all the 

 ■way across the sea and reaches me. If all the books of 

 the Yale University Press are like this one, happy must 

 be the readers of them. It is a delight to handle, to 

 read, to behold. 



The publishers describe this book as a true story of 

 Red Indian life before it was influenced in any way by 

 the white man. It is wTitten from the recollections of 

 an Indian who was a boy seventy years ago, and the 

 experiences extend from the time of his youth until 

 his marriage. It is a genuine piece of writing done in 

 a light and easy style, not in the least sensational, but 

 interesting and instructive in a quiet way. It is not a 

 continuous piece of fiction, but a series of a dozen sketches 

 covering the most vital interests of the Indian as reflected 

 in his daily work. The titles of some of these sketches 

 are : " The Attack on the Camp " ; " The Way to Live " ; 

 " Lessons of the Prairie " ; "A Sacrifice " ; and " A 

 Warrior Ready to Die." As an example of the simple 

 but excellent style a portion of the chapter entitled " On 

 a Buffalo Horse " may be quoted : 



"It was not long after this that the buffalo were 

 found, and when the tribe went out to make the surround, 

 my uncle told me to ride one of his horses, and to keep 

 ■close to him. As we were going toward the place where 

 the surround was to be made, he said to me : ' Now, 

 to-day we will try to catch calves, and you shall see 

 whether you can kill one. You may remember this, 

 that if you shoot an arrow into the calf, and blood begins 

 to come from its mouth, it wiU soon die ; you need not 

 shoot at it again, but may go on to overtake another, 

 and kill it. Then, perhaps, after a little while you can 

 •chase big buffalo. One thing you must remember. If 

 you are running buffalo, do not be afraid of them. Ride 

 your horse close up to the buffalo, as close as you can, 

 and then let fly the arrow with all your force. If the 

 buffalo turns to fight, your horse will take you away 

 from it ; but, above all things, do not be afraid ; you 

 will not kill buffalo if you are afraid to get close to 

 them.' 



" We rode on, and before the surround was made we 

 could see the yellow calves bunched up at one side of 

 the herd. My uncle pointed them out to me, and said : 

 ' Now. when the herd starts, try to get among those 

 calves, and remember all I have told you.' 



" At length the soldiers gave the word for the charge' 

 and we all rushed toward the buffalo. They turned to 

 run, and a great dust rose in the air. That day there 

 were manv men on fast horses, but mv uncle's horse wais 



faster than all ; and because I was little and light, he 

 ran through the big buffalo, and was soon close to the 

 calves. When he was running through the buffalo I was 

 frightened, for they seemed so big, and they crowded 

 so on each other, and their horns rattled so as they 

 Itnocked together, as the herd parted and pushed away 

 on either side, letting me pass through it. 



" In only a short time I was running close to a yellow 

 calf. It ran very fast, and for a little while I could 

 not overtake it ; but then it seemed to go slower and 

 my horse drew up close to it. I shot an arrow and 

 missed it, then another, and did not miss ; the arrow 

 went deep into it, just before the short ribs, and a moment 

 afterward I could see blood coming from the calf's 

 mouth ; and I ran on to get another. I did kill another, 

 and then stopped and got down. The herd had passed, 

 and I began to butcher the last calf ; and before I had 

 finished my uncle rode up to me and said : ' Well, son, 

 did you kill anything ? ' I told him I had killed two 

 calves ; and we went and looked for the other. He 

 helped me to butcher, and we put the meat and skins of 

 both calves on my horse and then returned to the camp." 



The book is illustrated with eight photographs of 

 Indians. These photographs are apposite, and, on this 

 side of the Atlantic, unusual. I think anyone over the 

 age of fourteen would enjov this book. 



P. K. F. 



" Cursed Hehona " as Guaiacum officinale (or Lignum 

 vatae) in Shakespeare's Hamlet, I. v. 62. [Reprinted 

 from Proceedings of The Royal Society of Medicine, 

 1921, Vol. xiv. (Section of the History of Medicine), 

 pp. 23-26.] By Marshall Montgomery, M.A., 

 B.Litt. (John Bale, Sons & Danielson, Ltd.) 



It will be remembered that in the First Act of Hamlel, 

 his father's ghost appears to the hero of the play and tells 

 him how Claudius had poisoned him by pouring " in the 

 porches of my ears " the 



" Juice of cursed hebona in a viol." 

 I quote the version of the line used by ilr. Montgomery, 

 though the more usual version — that adopted from the 

 First Folio edition of 1623 — runs : 



" With juyce of cursed Hebenon in a VioU." 



Shakespeare scholars have for many years been divided 

 over the meaning of the word. One side identifies the 

 word with " Henbane" — a coarse, biennial herb, usually 

 found in marshy land, both in Europe and Northern Asia 

 (the common name given to the British species being 

 " Stinking Nightshade ") — whose juice, sometimes used 

 in small quantities as a sedative, antispasmodic, and nar- 

 cotic, proves fatal when taken in large quantities. One 

 of the strongest supports, which Mr. Montgomery has not 

 mentioned, of this theory is a passage of Pliny {Nat. Hist. 

 lib. XXV. cap. 4) in which we are informed that the oil of 

 the seeds of henbane dropped into the ears will injure the 

 understanding. Shakespeare, according to Grey, was 

 well acquainted with Pliny's works through Holland's 

 translation of them. Two other theories, the claims of 



