June 20, 1895 J 



NATURE 



He admits, in a note, that it is not likely that any one 

 could be found to espouse the cause of what he calls 

 materialism. The most effective answer he has to 

 give to " monistic spiritualism," that if consistently 

 argued out it would lead to solipsism, applies rather 

 to idealism than to the animism against which the 

 rest of his argument is directed. To his polemic 

 against monism it might be objected, as to that against 

 materialism, that no one would be found to defend the 

 \ iews attacked — at least, surely no one who belie\cd, 

 not only in body and mind, but in a third entity also, 

 which is neither (even if this entity is "unknown and un- 

 knowable"), could call himself a Monist. Monism, as 

 ordinarily understood, is the view, or hypothesis, that 

 the Triiger of conscious states is just the brain, and 

 nothing else, and conversely that consciousness is a 

 manifestation or aspect of certain brain activities. No 

 third being is required where not even two are postulated. 

 The rest of the argument against monism is to the effect 

 that the supposed psycho-physical parallelism is not com- 

 pletely proven — which may be admitted — and even that in 

 some cases it can be shown not to e.xist, a point on which 

 Prof. Ladd's arguments hardly seem conclusive. The 

 weakest part of the argument, however, is the implied 

 idea, so common in philosophical discussions, that a meta- 

 physical theory to be accepted ought to be capable of rigid 

 demonstration, instead of being of the nature of an hypo- 

 thesis postulated to explain the facts of consciousness, 

 which can never be absolutely proved, but may be belie\ed 

 in with greater or less strength of conviction. It is therefore 

 no argument against the monistic hypothesis to say we 

 cannot yet, and probably never will be able to, trace the 

 psycho-physical parallelism everywhere. 



The most curious thing in the book remains, however, 

 to be told. In its last pages the author admits not only 

 that " this dualism is not the Hnal word," but that " it must 

 undoubtedly be dissolved in some ultimate monistic 

 solution ' ! .\nd it must be a little annoying to the 

 monists, whom he has so bitterly attacked, to find that this 

 is a problem which " this treatise hands over to the larger 

 and all-inclusive domain of philosophy." 



Edw.ard T. Dixon. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Slory of •' Primitive' Man. By Edward Clodd. Pp. 



206. (London: Cleorge Xewnes, Limited, 1895.) 

 A HOOK such as this forms a useful stepping-stone to 

 higher knowledge; it creates interest, and develops a 

 desire for further information, therefore it possesses the 

 chief qualities that go to make a good book for the 

 average man. For the reader who wishes to know more 

 about the subject than can be compressed in two 

 hundred small pages, a list of books is gi\cn at the end 

 of the volume. The illustrations are numerous, but some 

 of these are badly printed. The text is very attractively 

 written, scarcely a sentence being beyond the compre- 

 hension of the popular mind. Though the story is briefly 

 told, we have no douljt it will prove interesting to a 

 WMdc circle of readers. It may be well to point out 

 that the remarks with reference to the chipped flints 

 found in what was believed to be an Upper Miocene 

 <leposit in Further India (pp. 23, 24), will need modifi- 

 •cation when the book comes to a second edition, the 

 bed in which the flints occur having been shown to be 

 1 liocene (see N.vture, vol. li. p. 608). 



NO. 1338, VOL. 52] 



Britain's Naval Power. By Hamilton Williams. (Lon- 

 don : Macmillan, 1894.) 

 This little volume ought to prove very useful to those 

 who wish to know the chief events in the rise of Britain's 

 naval power, without having to plod through details 

 of little consequence. All the great battles are described, 

 and plans of the actions are supplied with them. Cele- 

 brated single actions are also mentioned, and although, 

 as the author himself states, some parts require revision 

 and slight corrections, the volume is altogether a light 

 and readable history of the first line of defence, to be com- 

 mended to ever)' one who desires to know something 

 about na\al battles without undertaking a systematic 

 study of the subject. 



Portraits beriihmter Naturforscher. (Wien und Leipzig : 



.K. Pichler's Witwe and Sohn.) 

 Thk forty-eight portraits which, with short biographical 

 sketches, make up this album, represent well-known men 

 of science of the past and the present. With one or two 

 exceptions, the plates are finely engraved from good por- 

 traits. .Among our own countrymen in the collection are 

 Darwin, Faraday, Sir William Herschel, Xewton, Lord 

 Kelvin (who is given his old and better-known name), 

 and Tyndall. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



The Editor does not hold liimself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond -with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



Discovery of Aboriginal Indian Remains in Jamaica. 

 The island of J.imaica, at the time of its discovery by 

 Cokimbus in 1494, is estimated to have been inhabited by about 

 600,000 natives, belonging to the race of the .-Vrawaks — a people 

 of simple habits and of a peaceable disposition. The barbarous 

 and cruel treatment of these Indians by their Spanish conquerors, 

 so rapidly decreased their numbers, that in 1655, the date of the 

 conquest of the island by the English, it is probable that not a 

 single specimen of the original type of inhabitant remained alive. 

 \ery little was left behind as a record that ever such a race 

 existed here. .-V few pieces of earthenware showing very primi- 

 tive ornamentation, and a few flint implements and beads, are 

 practically all that remain to represent their arts and manu- 

 factures. Parts of the interior of the country are formed of 

 Miocene limestone, and in this, many caves are to be found. 

 Most of them have, however, yielded little of interest. In 

 one, at Pedro Blufl', the only two aboriginal skulls hitherto 

 known were found. These were submitted to Sir William 

 Flower, and show a frontal conqiression with corresponding 

 lateral expansion, a deformation produced artifically during 

 infancy by the former inhabitants of the West Indian islands. 

 A kitchen-midden at Xorthbrook, investigated by I^dy Blake, 

 has yielded pieces of ancient pottery, flint implements, shells, and 

 bones of the Jamaica coney, Capromys brachyurus, Hill. 



Great interest has been aroused in the island within the past 

 few weeks by the disco\ery of a cave containing the skeletons of 

 at least twenty-four individuals ; the .tges varying from that of a 

 child with the permanent dentition not yet apix.'aring, to that of 

 aged persons with the teeth-sockets obliterated. Maiiy of the 

 skulls in their depressed frontal region resemble those from 

 Pedro Blufl', and are, no doubt, aboriginal in type. There is, 

 however, considerable variation in the amount of compression. 

 Four of the skulls have been taken to England by Mr. 

 Cundall, the Secretary of the Jamaica Institute, to be submitted 

 to .Sir William Flower. 



A somewhat shattered canoe, about 7 feet long and I J feet 

 wide, made of cedar-wood, was lying above many of the 

 skeletons. .\n outer p<jrtion of the trunk of an arbor-vittc, pro- 

 bably serving at one time as a "mortar," scarcely shows any 

 signs of decay, as a result of the three or four hundred years it may 

 have been in the cave. .Among the remains were also obtained 

 the perfect skulls and other parts of the skeleton of two 

 coneys ; two large marine shells (Fusus and Afurex), soft 

 parts of which are still eaten by the natives ; numerous land 

 shells (Hc/i.\), and insect remains. 



