242 



NA TURE 



[January io, 1895 



from the standpoint of modern science it is incompre- 

 hensible thit, if such an immense amount of energy was 

 diverted from the conservation and development of the 

 social organism and devoted to aesthetic creation and 

 enjoyment, Natural Selection would not step in, and long 

 ago have rejected those peoples who wasted their energy 

 in so unproductive a manner, in favour of other and more 

 practically endowed folk. The conclusion is therefore 

 arrived at that, from the very beginning, primitive art, 

 besides its immediate aesthetic significance, must also 

 possess a practical advantage for the hunter-folk. 



The primitive arts operate in very different ways on 

 primitive life. Ornament demands technique above 

 everything. Ornament and the dance play an important 

 part in the intercourse of both sexes, and through their 

 influence on sexual selection probably serve for the im- 

 provement of the race. On the other hand, some of the 

 arts increise the power of the social group in its resist- 

 ance to hostile attacks ; for example, certain decoration 

 is employed to frighten opponents ; poetry, dancing and 

 music stimulate and encourage the warriors. The most 

 important and beneficent effect which art exercises on 

 the life of the folk consists in the consolidation and 

 broadening of (he social relationship. Not all arts effect 

 this to an equal degree. While d.ancing and poetry seem 

 predestined to this through their innate peculiarity, 

 music is, from the same cause, almost quite excluded from 

 it. But the effect of the two former varies according to 

 the stage of culture of the people ; for example, dancing 

 loses its influence as soon as the social groups become 

 too large for them to be united in one dance ; and, on the 

 other hand, poetry has to thank the printing-press for its 

 incomparable power. Among the hunter-folk, dancing is 

 the most important social influence ; for the Greeks, 

 sculpture enbodied the social ideal in the most effective 

 form ; in the middle ages, architecture united souls and 

 bodies in the halls of their gigantic domes ; in the 

 Renaissance, painting employed a language which is 

 understood by all the cultured peoples of Europe ; and 

 in recent times, the reconciling voice of poetry rings amid 

 the clash of arms and the conflict of classes and peoples. 

 As science enriches and elevates our intellectual life, so 

 art enriches and elevates our emotional life. Art and 

 science are the two most powerful means for the educa- 

 tion of the human race. No pastime therefore, but an 

 indispensable social function is art, one of the most 

 effective weapons in the struggle for existence, and con- 

 sequently it must develop it-elf always more richly and 

 powerfully through the struggle for existence. Art is 

 a social function, and every social function must serve 

 for the conservation and development of the social 

 organism. But it is wrong to demand of art that it should 

 be moral, or, more correctly, moralising, for then one 

 demands that art shall no longer be art. Art serves social 

 interests best when it serves artistic interests. 



From the foregoing account it will be seen that this 

 book deals largely with the sociological aspects of 

 .esthetics ; and it is not only a study of primitive art in 

 the widest sense of the term, but it is also a study of 

 some of the f.ictors of social evolution. It is certainly a 

 book which should be translated into English, in order 

 that it may obtain a wider circle of readers. 



Alfred C. Haddon. 



NO. f3I5, VOL. 51] 



FORBES' S HANDBOOK OF MO.\KEYS. 



A Handbook to the Primates. (Allen's Naturalists' 

 Library ) By H. O. Forbes. Svo. 2 vols, illustrated. 

 London : \V. H. Allen and Co., Limited, 1894.) 



OF the series of which the present work forms a 

 part, five volumes have now made their appearance, 

 namely, one on Marsupials and Monotremes, one on 

 British Birds, a third on Butterflies, and the two now 

 under consideration ; while a sixth, on British Mammals, 

 is now in the press. In the three volumes previously 

 issued, it was found practicable to make use of the 

 original plates (with the addition of a few new ones) 

 from the old " Jardine's Naturalists' Library "; but those 

 in the volume in that series devoted to monkeys were 

 such grotesque caricatuies, that both editor and publisher 

 were soon convinced that their reissue was impractic- 

 able. Consequently, the plates (twenty-nine in number, 

 in addition to several maps) in Mr. Forbes's volumes 

 have all been prepared from entirely new sketches 

 from the pencil of Mr. Keulemans. Whether the 

 lithographers have been quite as successful with some 

 of these as they might have been, we think is 

 doubtful ; the colours in some instances being decidedly 

 too bright, while in others the execution is too coarse, 

 and not sul'fi riently detailed. .\s a whole, however, they 

 are very creditable, while some, such as the portrait of 

 the .Vyeaye, forming the frontispiece to the first volume, 

 are admirable specimens of artistic work. 



In a series of volumes like those under consideration, 

 it can scarcely be expected that their respective authors 

 should undertake a detailed study of the skins and skulls 

 of each species they describe, as if they were writing a 

 museum catalogue. Nevertheless, we believe that Mr. 

 Forbes has done this in a large number of cases, and has 

 consequently been able to make some important identifi- 

 cations. He had a specially difficult task before him, 

 for several reasons. In the first place, there is no British 

 Museum catalogue of Primates since the small one pub- 

 lished as far back as 1870 by Dr. Gray, which is now, of 

 course, totally out of date ; and, secondly, the collection 

 of monkey-skins and skulls in the National Collection is 

 far from being anything near as complete as is desirable. 

 So that, even if the author went through the whole series 

 in the groups most retiuiring revision, it is improbable 

 that his conclusions would in all cases be unassailable. 

 It may be added that the British Museum collection of 

 monkey-skins consists largely of menagerie-specimens, 

 without properly authenticated localities, or without 

 specified localities at all ; the reason of this being the 

 well-known dislike of English naturalists and collectors 

 to shoot monkeys. 



As against these drawbacks, Mr. Forbes had some com- 

 pensating advantages, notably the recent descrifition, by 

 Dr. Forsyth Major, of several new forms of Lemuroids, 

 both recent and fossil. Consequently, his volumes con- 

 tain descriptions of several forms which are not to be 

 met with in any other collective work on the subject. Not 

 the least interesting among these is the gigantic extinct 

 Lemuroid [Afej^aladapis) of Madagascar, which it is 

 possible may have been still living when that wonderful 

 island was first visited by Europeans. 



Mr. Forbes follows the classification now generally 



