Januabt 1, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



27 



Prehistoric Man and Beast. By Rev. Ji. N. Hutchinson, 

 B.A., F.G.S. With Illustrations by CecO Aldin. (Smith, 

 Elder, & Co.). lOs. 6d. The author of this book is 

 favourably known to readers of popular scientific literature 

 as a lucid interpreter of the language of specialists, and 

 one who can put life into the dry bones of science. He 

 has in previous volumes traced the course of development 

 of animal life upon the 

 earth, and now naturally 

 crowns his work with the 

 story of our prehistoric 

 ancestors, constructing 

 from the outline sketched 

 by geologists and ar- 

 chaeologists a striking 

 picture of living men 

 and conditions as they 

 once existed. To his 

 literary products may 

 thus very appropriately 

 be applied the words of 

 the late Poet Laureate : — 



First the monster, then 

 the man : 

 Tattooed or woaded, winter 



clad in skins 

 Raw from the prime, and 



crushing down his mate; 

 As yet we find in barbarous 



isles, and here 

 Among the lowest. 



The present work is 

 in every respect worthy 

 of the author. It com- 

 bines graphic description 

 with scientific accuracy, 

 and is an admirable ex- 

 ample of what a j udicious 

 use of the imagination 

 can achieve upon a basis 

 of established facts. 

 Even in this epoch of 

 rush and bustle, many 

 people find interest in 

 reading about the early 

 history of mankind, and 

 a number of excellent 

 works have been pub- 

 lished upon this subject. 

 Nevertheless, there is 

 ample room for the vol- 

 ume before us, and we 

 have no doubt Mr. 

 Hutchinson's latest con- 

 tribution to the literature 

 of general readers will 

 meet with the recognition 

 it deserves. If it succeeds 

 in increasing the interest 



in prehistoric man and remains, it may add to the number 

 of workers m anthropology, so that eventually the Anthro- 

 pological Institute, instead of being one of the smallest of 

 the British learned societies, would become the greatest 

 of them all. 



chapter of Genesis as to a science primer, but rather 

 regard it as a grand poetical account of the origin of 

 things, containing primitive interpretations of natural 

 appearances accommodated to the high type of religion 

 of the .Jewish people. The view that " the word ' day ' 

 may be understood to mean any period of time," in the 

 Hebrew record of creation, is another vestige of the period 



when forced interpreta- 

 tions were put upon a 

 majestic narrative in 

 order to adapt the Bib- 

 lical cosmogony to the 

 facts of modern science. 

 A large part of the 

 chapter on "The An- 

 tiquity of Man" is taken 

 up with a description of 

 the theory that the signs 

 of the zodiac originated 

 in Egypt, and that their 

 designations are derived 

 from the phenomena of 

 the seasons in the Nile 

 Valley. Here and there 

 Mr. Hutchinson ap- 

 parently confuses the 

 signs with the constel- 

 lations of the zodiac, the 

 result being conclusious 

 of very doubtful quality. 

 The sign Leo probably 

 owes its name to the ap- 

 pearance of lions on the 

 borders of the Nile when 

 the sun entered, or was 

 in the middle of, one of 

 the twelve equal spaces 

 into which the ecliptic 

 was divided for conve- 

 nience. The sizes of the 

 constellations could not, 

 we think, have anything 

 to do with the names 

 given to the signs, and 

 certainly not in the way 

 suggested on page 138. 



The views of Sir Henry 

 Howorth (who contri- 

 butes a preface to the 

 book) on glacial periods 

 and the causes of them, 

 find expression and sup- 

 port in the two chapters 

 on "The Myth of the 

 Great Ice Age and 

 Theories of the Flood," 

 and " Changes of Climate 

 their Causes." In 

 stars of the Mira 

 due to eclipses by 



The Warrior's Courtship, Denmark. 



All the Clothing, Weapons, Ornaments, taken from Actual DiscoTeries in the 



Peat of Denmark. Bronze Age. 



{Ffom " Preliistoric Man and Be.ist.'') 



and 

 the latter chapter the variability of 

 Ceti type is erroneously said to be 

 dark bodies revolving roimd them. Other chapters deal 

 with rude stone monuments, abodes of the living and 

 dead, the " little folk," or fairies and mermen, and ancient 

 cave-dwellers. 



The ten full-page illustrations have some hfe in them, 

 though one or two are rather comical ; the frontispiece, 

 representing a cave bear, sabre-toothed tiger, and a hyffina, 

 together at the entrance of a cave occupied by a man of 

 the Stone Age, being avowedly an incongruous picture. 



Attractive as the volume is, there are a few minor points 

 which invite criticism. In the introduction the view is 

 favoured that the account of creation in the opening 

 chapters of Genesis implies evolution. This was the 

 opmion about twenty years ago, but we believe the fore- 

 most thinkers in the Church to-day do not go to the first 



