74 



KNOWLEDGE. 



February, 191 



would be quite possible for it to disintegrate when 

 sufficiently contracted. Unfortunately, we cannot be 

 at all certain that the rotation of the Earth has ever 

 been much more rapid than at present ; although, 

 could any evidence be advanced in its favour, it 

 would remove one of the greatest objections to the 

 fission theory. It might be expected that the earth 

 would still show some signs of the distortion of its 

 surface which a more rapid rotation would involve ; 

 but it is rather significant that no facts of any convinc- 



ing nature exist to testify to this either in physics or 

 geology. It is, of course, possible that time may have 

 obliterated any evidence that has been left us, but it 

 is by no means certain to have done so. 



Although this is not a very conclusive argument it 

 is nevertheless unfavourable to the idea of a rapid 

 rotation, and if we examine the other members of 

 the solar system for any evidence regarding the 

 original length of our day, the result is equally 

 unsatisfactory. 



(To be continued.) 



REVIEWS. 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Malta and the Mediterranean Race. — By R. N. Bradley. 



336 pages. 1 Map, 54 Illustrations. 9-in.X6-in. 



(T. Fisher Unwin. Price 8/6 net.) 

 Mr. Bradley's book is crammed full of interesting facts, 

 contentions, and suggestions, and bears out Professor Sergi's 

 theories to a very considerable extent. From a glance at the 

 title one might think 

 that the work had little 

 relation to our own 

 country, but it would 

 seem that English 

 people are largely of 

 the Mediterranean race, 

 though by no means of 

 so pure a type as the 

 existing Maltese; but it 

 is said that judging only 

 from the looks of the 

 men and women with 

 grey or blue eyes, one 

 might imagine oneself 

 in Ireland instead of 

 Malta. The chapter 

 showing the traces of 

 the Semitic language 

 which are to be found 

 in our own is particu- 

 larly important, and 

 the illustrations given 

 by no means exhaust 

 the results of Mr. 

 Bradley's researches. 

 The " ash " tree has 

 the same name in 



Arabic and comes from the word ash, meaning " to nest," 

 as it is a favourite nesting tree ; " dally " is from the 

 Arabic " dall " to be coquetish with ; " merry " is not much 

 changed from the Arabic " marih," to be lively. The Arabic 

 " silak " meaning spun thread, by the loss of the "a" becomes 

 " silk," and in the same way "atan," to macerate hides, becomes 

 " tan." Mr, Bradley goes carefully into the monuments of 

 Malta, the dolmens, which he looks upon as imitation caves, 

 and the secondary burial of human bones after the removal of 

 the flesh, common to Malta, Sicily, Crete, and Ancient 

 Egypt. There is also much attractive matter with regard to 

 designs, to ladies' dress, to the characteristics of the ancient 

 and the modern Maltese, and that in times gone by. as at 

 present, stout people were admired is shown by the discovery 

 of steatopygous figures. The connection between Kaffirs and 

 the more northern peoples which gave rise to the Mediter- 

 ranean race is discussed, and allusions made to the votive 

 axe in stone and copper, which is common throughout the 

 Mediterranean. The examples of polished axe amulets seen 

 in Figure 68. which we have borrowed, are from Malta. 



Mr. Bradley shows, from an examination of old and recent 



By the courtesy oj 



Figure 68. 



Polished Axe Amulets of Hal Safliena, Valletta Museum. 

 (From "Malta and the Mediterranean Race.") 



skulls, that the Maltese were and are very pure examples of 

 the Mediterranean race. Many of the subjects dwelt upon 

 are illustrated, and after a short account of Maltese folk-lore, 

 short heads are compared with long. It is common knowledge 

 that these two types exist side by side in this country, and we 

 quote the following observations which Mr. Bradley has made 

 on two of his friends: "I call to mind my longest-headed 

 friend, now no longer living ; a man of generous emotions 



and strong sympathies 

 and antipathies, his 

 fancy led him to lengths 

 from which extrication 

 was difficult, and his 

 changeableness, depen- 

 dent on his nioods. 

 made his conduct 

 alarmingly inconsistent. 

 Yet, when once you 

 knew him well, he was 

 the most loveable of 

 men. Moreover, he 

 was a genius and a 

 poet. I have studied, 

 too, a short-headed 

 acquaintance with much 

 interest ; he has no 

 pretentions to brilliance, 

 and never launches 

 forth into enthusiasms 

 or ecstasies. But he is 

 perhaps the most 

 punctual, conscientious, 

 trustworthy person I 

 know. He is, above 

 all things, a safe man, 

 and his greatest merit 

 is his efficiency." 



ASTRONOMY. W. M. W. 



The $>tory of the Heavens, Part I. — By Sir R. S. Bail, 



M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. In 14 monthly parts. 48 pages. 



18 illustrations. 9|-in..X 6-in. 



(Cassell & Co. Price 6d. net.) 



The parts received initiate a new edition of this already 

 well-known book, which first appeared about twenty years ago 

 in a very similar form. 



The part before us consists of forty-eight pages with plates 

 and a large frontispiece or chart, in blue, of the northern 

 heavens ; so that we may expect a book of about seven hundred 

 pages. From our experience of the early edition, the book 

 was much too thick for convenient handling, by day or by 

 night, so we had it bound into two volumes of about one and 

 a quarter inches thick, and they form books that can be used 

 by a child or when reclining in a chair. May we express our 

 wishes strongly to the author and publishers that they will 

 consent to adopt the plan of dividing the book into two ; 



