26 



NA TURE 



[May 9, 1895 



long-headed African negroes, among whom they dwell, 

 that the small round-headed Negritos of the Indian Ocean 

 do to their larger long-headed Melancsian neighbours. 

 Scattered communities of these small negroes, all much 

 resembling one another in size, appearance and habits, 

 scarcely over four feet in height, and all great hunters, 

 expert with the bow, and living on the produce of the 

 chase, occur at various isolated spots across the great 

 African continent, within a few^ degrees north and south 

 of the equator, extending from the Atlantic coast almost 

 to the Indian Ocean. In many parts, especially at the 

 west, they are obviously holding their own with difficulty, 

 if not actually disappearing, and there is much about 

 their condition of civilisation and the situations in which 

 they arc found, to induce us to look upon them, as in the 

 case of the Bushmen to the south and the Negritos in the 

 east, as the remains of a population which occupied the 

 land before the incoming of the main body of the present 

 natives. If the account of the Nasamonians, related by 

 Herodotus, be accepted as historical, the river they came 

 to, " flowing from west to east," must ha\ c been the 

 Niger, and the northward range of the dwarfish people 

 far more extensive twenty-three centuries ago than it is 

 at the present time. 



The translator has given, in an appendix, a list of the 

 principal contributions to the literature of the little races 

 of man which have appeared since the publication of the 

 French edition of M. dc Quatrefages' book. It would have 

 been still better if he had given some epitome of the 

 considerable advances that have been made in our know- 

 ledge of the subject, especially of the recent researches 

 of R. C Haliburton and Kollmann, which tend to show 

 the former extension of dwarf races over a considerably 

 larger area of the earth's surface than was suspected by 

 our author, such as the whole of North .Africa, the 

 Pyrenees, Switzerland, and even Central .America. 



\V. H. Flower. 



AN ATTEMPT TO POPULARISE EVOLUTION 

 A Primer of Evolution. By Edward Clodd. (Long- 

 mans, Green, and Co., 1895.) 

 THE title of this little book is hardly justified by its 

 contents, since it nowhere defines or explains 

 evolution, or deals with it in a systematic manner. .\s the 

 author tells us in a prefatory note, the book is an abridg- 

 ment of his former work, " The Story of Creation " ; and 

 he docs not appear to have made any attempt to rearrange 

 his materials, or to introduce such new matter as was 

 required to constitute it a real introduction to the theory 

 of evolution for those who know little or nothing about it. 

 Such a book should give, at starting, a full statement of 

 what is meant by evolution in modern science and 

 philosophy ; should explain how it differs from previous 

 theories of the universe ; and should clearly mark out its 

 range of action and its limitations, showing in what 

 way it is supposed to have " evolved " the material 

 universe, and how much must be postulated as the 

 materials and the forces with which it works. 



Hut instead of any explanation of this nature, the first 

 half of the lx)ok is devoted to a general descriptive sketch 

 of the unix'crse, inorganic and organic, so brief and 

 NO. 1332, VOL. 52] 



elementary- as to be quite unnecessary, since any one pre- 

 pared to enter on the study of evolution would be already 

 acquainted with so much of the facts to be explained. 

 In all this portion, occupying more than half the book, 

 evolution is not once referred to. Then, in the second 

 part, which is headed " Explanatory," all the .yround 

 is gone over again, with explanations which assume 

 evolution, but do not often refer to it. Some of this is 

 interesting and well written, the chapter on " Proofs of 

 Derivation of Species" being one of the best ; and if 

 this part had been more fully developed, and had been 

 preceded by such an account of the principle of exolution 

 as has been suggested, the work might ha\e been useful 

 to beginners. 



But, besides these deficiencies of arrangement and of 

 subject matter, there are more serious defects in numerous 

 obscurities and misstatements, and in the adoption of 

 very doubtful theories as if they were universally accepted. 

 As examples of these faults, the very first sentence states 

 that — "The universe is made up of matter and motion," 

 as if they were things of the same nature. .\nd on turn- 

 ing to the " explanatory " part, we arc informed that the 

 " materials which make up the universe " are " matter 

 and motion." On page 3, we are told that " matter is 

 made up of chemical units or elements,' about seventy in 

 number, and that — " These elements are named atoms." 

 On page 91, we have force and energy defined as being 

 respectively " motion which draws the atoms together,' 

 and " motion which drives the atoms apart.' This 

 appears to ha\e been adopted from a well-known popular 

 writer, but as it is quite different from what is to be found 

 in the usual text-books it should not have been adopted 

 in a "primer." .\t page 95, the friction of the etlureal 

 medium in retarding the orbital motion of the planets, 

 is stated as if it were a demonstrated fact. The 

 abundance of the compounds of carbon are said to be 

 partly due to its having "an affinity for itself" (p. 102); 

 and among the erroneous statements of fact we arc told 

 I that, among the lower races the great toe survives "as a 

 I grasping organ ' (p. 127), and that there are in .\merica 

 I certain wandering tribes who use gestures as " the sole 

 mode of communication" (p. 157). Again, without a word of 

 doubt or reservation, we have the statements that — "The 

 origin of life is not a more stupendous problem to solve 

 than the origin of water " (p. 103); and that — " mind is the 

 highest product of the action of motion upon matter 

 (p. 174). These few samples are sufficient to show that 

 this little work requires very careful revision to render it 

 a safe guide for the elementary student. 



STEEL AND THE NEW IliON-Al.LOYS. 

 Steel Works Analysis. By J. O. Arnold. (London : 

 VVhittaker and Co., 1895.) 



CHEMIST.S engaged in steel works have long been 

 wanting a trustworthy manual adapted to their 

 special requirements, and this work is the latest attempt 

 to meet the want. The work is undoubtedly an advance 

 on its predecessors, for, while it retains the best of 

 the well-known processes, many newer operations are 

 now, for the first time, published in a comparatively handy 

 form. Everything ihal a steel works analyst may fairly 

 be called upon to examine, finds a place in this volume. 



