Juke 12, 1SS5.] 



• KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



607 



semi-hunter and semi-agricultuval populiition, like that 

 which runy be ascribed to tlie ancestors or Indian predeces- 

 sors of the existing race, could not have executed." 



The state of relatively high culture which these races, 

 while still iu the Bronze Age, had reached, is described iu 

 a profusely-illustrated chapter on their tools and weapons, 

 and to this succeeds a striking account of the ruined bee- 

 hive-like pueblos or communal villages built in valleys 

 once fertile, but now barren and deserted, or on clitTs 

 accessible only by ladders or by steps cut in thtir sheer 

 sides. 



Such sites were obviously chosen, like those of the lake- 

 dwellers in Central Europe in the past, and in New G.iinea 

 and Central Africa to-day, for security against tierce 

 and dangerous enemies. But an enemy more irresistible 

 than these — diminished rainfall through destruction of 

 forests, and consequent barrenuess — gtt'ected the decay of 

 these energetic dwellers in the rocks. 



The ruins of Central America and Peru ; temples — 

 scenes of revolting rites — and palaces ob>cuied in the 

 densest vegetation, statues, idols, bas r.-liefs, rock-paintings 

 and sculptures, the grotesqueness of the art unredeemed by 

 any feeling of the beautiful, Nature alone festooning them 

 ■with her wild loveliness ; the rise of the famous dynasties, 

 Aztecs and Incas ; are the subject of copiously-illustrated 

 chapters, which narrate in eisy, flowing style the story of 

 these ancient civilisations. In the fiual chapter, which is 

 mainly the work of the American editor, the origin of man 

 in the New World is discussed, and the conclusion deduced 

 from the general laws of geographical distribution and 

 from the physical characteristics of the several races, is 

 that he is not anthochthoiious 



A copious index completes the usefulness of a book which 

 is indispen.sable to the anthropologist. 



Ed WARD Clodd. 



SOME BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. 



A Manual of Health Science. By Andrew Wilsox, 

 F.R.S.E., F.L.S., ifec. (London: Longmans, Gr^en, «t Co. 

 1885.) — Every one interested in hygiene — and who is not ^ 

 — who is desirous of obtaining the soundest opinion on 

 the results of the most recent investigations in, and an 

 ■eminently practical manual of all pertaining to it, will uot 

 fail to procure a work, the mere name of the author of 

 which affords an a priori guarantee of its excelleuce and 

 trustworthiness. Dr. Wilson treats in succession of the 

 general conditions of health and functions of the body, 

 food, diet and cooking, water, air, and ventilation, the 

 removal of waste, local conditions of health, shelter and 

 warming, and the care of the body. Then follows a most 

 useful and admirable chapter on " Ambulance work, or 

 first aid" to the injured; while the concluding one deals 

 with " Infectious diseases and disinfection." A series of 

 questions to test the apprehension of the reader, and a 

 good index, complete a volume the peru<al of which may 

 be confidently recommended to all who value their health 

 and wish to keep out of the doctor's hands. 



La Science Pratique : Journal den Procedes et Receltes. 

 (Paris: C. Delagrave. London: Barthes ife Lowell.) — 

 This journal is made up of a collection of receipts extractnd 

 from periodicals in every European language, and will be 

 found exceedingly handy by many who often regret that 

 they did not copy out some recipe at the time when they 

 first saw it. We, of course, pre-suppo.se the power of 

 reading French with tolerable ease, as it is in that language 

 that " La Science Pratique " is published. 



ChildrCMllure, Mental, Moral, and Pliysical. By T. M. 

 Madden, M.D., F.R C.S.E., io. (Dublin: Fannin A Co. 



18S5.) — Dr. Msdden treats, in a lucid and popular stylo, of 

 Infant Mortality, the Management of Infancy, Milk Foods, 

 the Hvgiene of E irly Childhood, the Nursery, E.xcrcise, 

 Sleep, Cbildhood, the Moral Culture of Children, and their 

 Mental Training or Education. His thoughtful and useful 

 little tract should be studied by every young mother. 



Land. By tiio P.\rli.\mentary Committee of the 

 LuiEKTY and I'roi'EUTY DEFENCE Leagle. (London : 

 Oliices of the League. 1885.) — Witty, .shrewd, argumenta- 

 tive, and incisive, this little book will afford as much genuine 

 a'liusement — and even fun — as it will instruction, which is 

 giving it high praise indeed. A gentleman named Fyffe 

 seems to have been lecturing at Oxford, last November, on 

 the Land question, and this brochure before us is a reply to 

 his allegations and hypotheses. "I do beseech you" wrote 

 Milton, " I do beseech you play upon this pipe." The 

 Committee have jilayed upon this Fyffe with a vengeance I 

 The temptation to make extracts from their answer to him 

 is very great, but we will not spoil the reader's pleasure 

 even by the smallest anticipation of the treat he has before 

 him in the perusil of the small volume which we heartily 

 commend to him. 



Magnetic and Electrical Laws. By E. Hurren Har- 

 ding. (London and Glasgow: Wm. Collins, Sons, & Co.) 

 — -There is a very large amount of information packed into 

 this thin little tract on the subjects on which it treats ; 

 and it will, we should think, form a capital cram-book for 

 examinees of the Science and Art Department. 



Academy Sketchett, includinfj various Exhihitionf. 

 Edited by Henry Blackburn. (London : W. H. Allen 

 i Go. 1885.) — The exhibitions of the principal pictures 

 of which illustrations are here given are the Royal 

 Academy, the Grosvenor Gallery, the Royal Society of 

 Painters in Water Colours, the Royal Institute of Painters 

 in Water Colours, and the Society of British Artists. The 

 illu-^trations vary from rough outline sketches to really 

 artistic renderings worth preserving for their own sake. 

 This volume must form a valuable souvenir of the works of 

 our leading arti-ts exhibited during the current year. 



2'he Royal Academy Illustrated. Edited by Henry 

 Lassalle. (London : Sampson Low, Mar.ston, Searle, and 

 Rivington. 1885.) — The reader whose acquaintance with 

 the pictures of the year is, or is to be, limited to those in 

 the Royal Academy, will find all that he needs, either as a 

 guide during a visit, or as an aid to subsequent reminiscences, 

 in Mr. Lassalle's work. As in the case of the volume pre- 

 viously noticed, the illustrations vary in artistic merit. 



The Child's Pictorial, iTo. 2. (London : Society for Pro- 

 moting Christian Knowledge. 1885); The Little One's Omn 

 Coloured Picture Book, xYos. 3, 4, and 5. (London : Dean & 

 Son. 1885.) — The commendation which we bestowed upon 

 the first numbers of the pretty and attractive coloured 

 books for children, whose titles we have joined together 

 above, may safely be extended to the parts before us. Both 

 magazines sustain their original promise of beauty and 

 intere.st for the small folk. 



We have also on our table Society, Bradstreei's, Tlie 

 Medical Press and Circular, The Christian Million (with 

 a report in extenso of an interview with Mr. H. M. Stanley, 

 the African traveller), L« Franklin, The Sanitary News, 

 The .Journal of Botany, The Tricyclist, Art and Dull 

 Trade, The Niiiety-Jourth Annual Report of the Stirling' s 

 and (llas'jow Library, Science, and The Proceedinys of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 



TiiK Engineer observes somewhat satirically that it is not; true 

 that the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company intends 

 converting its second and third-claga coaches into covered sheep- 

 trucks at present. 



