June 29, 1916] 



NATURE 



l^l 



The accompanying photograph showing the simui- 

 aneous vibration-curves of the belly and string of a 

 rello amply confirms the foregoing explanation sug- 

 gested bv theory, and is itself of interest. It will be 



Tim e Axis 



een that the changes in the vibrational form of the 

 -rring are about a quarter of a cycle in advance of 

 those of the belly, and that in both curves the octave 

 is conspicuous when the amplitude is a minimum. 



C. V. Raman. 

 The Indian Association for the Cultivation of 

 Science, Calcutta, May 20, 



THE ETHNOGRAPHY 

 INDLi.^ 



OF CENTRAL 



THE publication of this work recalls the tragical 

 fate of its author, who soon after the final 

 revision of the proof-sheets sailed for India and 

 lost his life in the s.s. Persia, sunk by a German 

 submarine in the Mediterranean. The book is the 

 result of a long- study of the races of the Province, 

 begfun when the author was placed in charge of 

 the census operations in 1901, and since steadily 

 prosecuted, in spite of very indifferent health. He 

 enjoyed opportunities denied to the writers of the 

 volumes on Northern India — Mr. Crooke for the 

 United Provinces and Mr. Rose for the Punjab, 

 who dealt with regions where the all-absorbing 

 Brahmanism and militant Islam had caused much 

 of the more primitive beliefs and usages to dis- 

 appear. Sir H. Risley, in his account of the 

 tribes of Chota Xagpur, and Mr. Thurston, in 

 those of the Nilgiri Hills, were dealing with 

 people believed to be indigenous, or at least 

 settlers of whose coming no information is now 

 available, and their religion and organisation are 

 of a very primitive type. The people considered 

 by Mr. Russell are perhaps ev^en more interesting 

 — Gonds, Baigas, Korkus, and the like, about 

 whom little has hitherto been known. 



The scheme of Mr. Russell's work differs from 

 that of others in the same series, inasmuch as in 

 his Introduction and throughout the caste and 

 tribal articles he has not confined himself to a 

 mere description of the religious and social life. 

 He has taken occasion to discuss questions such 

 as the character and origin of the local totemism 



1 "The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India. " By R. V. 

 Russell, assisted by Rai Bahadur Hira Lai. Four volumes. Vol. i.. 

 pp. .\xv4-426 Vol. ii., pp. xi-i-540. Vol. iii., pp. xi+589. Vol. iv., 

 pp. xi+608. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1916.) Price-42J. net, 

 four vols. 



Vn -7 4 7^ VOT. 071 



and animism, the Corn Spirit, the sanctity attached 

 to opium and alcohol, the pig as a sacred animal, 

 the buffalo as representing the Corn God, the 

 resp>ect paid to the umbrella and to counting, and 

 so on. In the course of these digressions he 

 quotes largely from standard words on anthropo- 

 Ic^y, such as Sir J. G. Frazer's "The Golden 

 Bough," "The Religion of the Semites," by Prof. 

 Robertson Smith, "The History of Human Mar- 

 riage " and " The Origin and Development of 

 -Moral Ideas," by Prof. Westermarck, and other 

 standard authorities. This method possesses 

 some advantages, inasmuch as it tends to j>opu- 

 !arise the principles of anthro{X)logy, and his work 

 is learned and interesting. But it is doubtful if 

 this advantage justifies the space which is occupied 

 by these discussions. They are unnecessary to 

 the trained anthropologist, and it is a question 

 how far this learning is likely to be assimilated 

 by the persons — the officials, European and native, 

 of the Province — who will chiefly use the book. 

 Further, it must be remembered, as appears from 



Fig. I. — Bahrupla inip<rsonating ihe Goddess Kali. Reproduced from 

 "The Tribes and Caste» oi ibe.Cenirai Provinces ot India." 



Prof. Ridge way's latest book, reviewed recently 

 in these columns, many of these principles are 

 still the subject of active controversy. 



