52: 



NA TURE 



[September 27, 1894 



THREE GREA T EMPIRES. 

 Primitive Civilisations; or. Outlines of the History of 

 the O-Miiership in Archaic Communities. By E. J. 

 Simcox. Two vols. (London : Swan Sonnenschein 

 and Co., 1894.) 



THE two stout volumes which represent the work 

 before us cover so wide a field, that it is practically 

 impossible to enter into any detailed criticism of their 

 contents. All that it is possible to do within the limits of 

 a review is to give a summary of the facts and arguments j 

 which they contain, and to remark in general terms on 

 the views of the authoress. I 



Beginning in chronological order, Miss Simcox opens | 

 with a description of the civilisation of ancient Egypt, I 

 and no plainer evidence can be afforded of the great 

 strides which have of late been made in Egyptology 

 than that which is supplied by her book. Until quite 

 modern times Herodotus may be said to have been the 

 chief authority on Egyptian history; but the recent ex- 

 cavations, and the increased and increasing power which 

 the key of the hieroglyphics has placed in our hands, has 

 opened a new and wide knowledge of much that relates 

 to ancient Egypt. One primary point on wliich Miss 

 Simcox dwells has yet to be proved to demonstration. 

 This is the question — whence and by what route or routes 

 the earliest Egyptians reached the binks of the Nile ? It 

 is generally admitted that they were immigrants from 

 Asia, and three roads leading to the land of the 

 Pharaohs were therefore open to them. Some have sup- 

 posed that, having wandered to the south of Arabia, they 

 crossed into Egypt in the neighbourhood of the Straits of 

 Bab-el-Mandeb ; others hold that the route across the 

 Ked Sea to Kosseir was the one which they followed ; and 

 \et others are of opinion that they crossed by the Isthmus 

 of Suez. Against this last route there is much to be said ; 

 but one fact which Miss Simcox mentions appears to , 

 give it some support. As has lately been shown by Dr. 

 Terrien de la Couperie, the Chinese word for "north" 

 originally signified nothing more nor less than " back," 

 and the name of the "south,' "the front. ' In the case 

 of the Chinese these terms are peculiarly appropriate, 

 since having entered the country of their adoption from 

 the north, that point of the compass would be at their | 

 bic'-:, with the south fronting them. The early Egyptians, 

 Miss Simcox tells us, applied precisely the same terms, 

 " back' and " front," to Lower and Upper Egypt, and 

 these expressions would, at first sight, lend colour to the 

 theory that the Egyptians, like the Chinese, entered the 

 new country from the north. It is possible that some 

 fresh discovery may throw a new light on this problem, 

 and until it does wc must be content to possess our souls 

 in patience. 



We may say at once that .Miss Simcox's book is ex- 

 tremely interesting. The facts arc marshalled in good 

 order, and her literary style is clear and graphic. The 

 portion of her work which will probably attract ihegrcatest 

 share of attention is that in which she draws comi)arisons 

 between the early histories of Egypt and China. .Many 

 of the details of Egyptian history in the earliest times 

 find parallels among the primitive Chinese .States. The 

 hereditary prjnces of Egypt find their counterparts in the 

 feudal princes of China : while the book of Kaquimna and 

 NO. 1500. VOL. 50] 



the lessons of Ptah-hotep remind one irresistibly, both 

 in matter and manner, of the Chinese classics. Both 

 countries were essentially democratic in their institutions ; 

 in both high offices were open to all, and the voice of the 

 people was in matters of administration the ultiniale 

 court of appeal. These and many other points of agree- 

 ment are dwelt upon by Miss Simcox at some length ; 

 while, at the same time, she has reproduced from the 

 pages of Maspero, Lepsius, I'.rman, Birch, Eisenlohr, 

 Griffith, and others, a full and graphic account of the 

 manners and customsof the ancient dwellers by the Nile. 



The civilisation of Babylonia follows after that of Egypt, 

 and much that the authoress says about it points in- 

 evitably to a close connection between the two empires. 



.\s yet we are not in a position to say which is the 

 earliest ; and this is another point upon which it is neces- 

 sary to suspend one's judgment. Comparatively little at 

 present is known of that great centre of culture in Baby- 

 lonia. And it may be, as Miss Simcox seems to imply, 

 that the primitive civilisations all sprang from a common 

 nursery between Khotan on the east and the sources of 

 the Karun on the west. So far as China is concerned, 

 we have preserved in the literature of the country far 

 fuller and more complete information, and Miss Simcox 

 has therefore been able to till a whole volume with matters 

 pertaining to the people of the Flowery Land. Of course, 

 all her information is second-hand, and, fortunately, she 

 has for the most part consulted trustworthy authorities. 

 So much, however, cannot be said of some few of the 

 works from which she occasionally quotes, and the result 

 is that the picture she draws is on some points more 

 ideal than real. She has taken the Chinese too much at 

 their own estimate, and has accepted their high-sounding 

 professions as representing solid verities. In this way 

 she has succeeded in throwing a couleur dc rose over 

 everything Celestial. 



According to her, the people are everywhere well-to do, 

 justice is evenly administered, honesty prevails, educa- 

 tion is universal, and even girls up to a certain age 

 enjoy the same educational privileges as their brothers. 

 A practical acquaintance with the country makes large 

 inroads on these deductions. To anyone who has passed 

 beyond the neighbourhoods of the treaty ports into the 

 interior, it is manifest that the grc.it bulk of the people 

 live perpetually on the verge of starvation. The least 

 failure of crops or disturbance of trade produces wide 

 spread misery and destitution, and the want of inter- 

 communication, which Miss Simcox does not regard a^ 

 serious, is consequently one of the most pressing needs 

 of the empire. The administration of justice is an open 

 shame, :ind the provision, of which Miss Simcox approves, 

 by which criminals are compelled to confess their guilt 

 before punishment can be inllicted upon them, is pro- 

 ductive of great cruelty and tl.igrant wrong. As to 

 education, it has recently been officially staled by the 

 Commissioner of Imperial Customs at Chefoo,that in the 

 surrounding province— the province of Confucius and 

 Mencius — only about 30 per cent, of the men can read 

 and write; "of these, 2 per cent, can comiiose well, 

 S per cent, fairly well, and 10 per cent, conduct com- 

 mercial correspondence, while the knowledge of the 

 remaining 10 per cent, is very slight. Of the women, a 

 very few, belonging to the richest families [jcrhaps 500 



