July 26. 1883] 



NATURE 



29; 



this department Palmer, true to the masters and models 

 from whom he drew his lore, never excelled and never 

 even showed much interest. His history of Jerusalem, 

 his introduction to the Koran, and writings of a similar 

 class, on which Mr. Besant lavishes praise as freely as en 

 his really marvellous exploits in other lines, are disap- 

 pointing performances j and it is extremely unjust to his 

 memory to speak of them as if they displayed any part of 

 his real strength. The same want of discrimination 

 appears in a more unpleasant form in the querulous tone 

 which runs through the book and represents every honour 

 conferred by his University on other Orientalists as a 

 gratuitous insult to Palmer's reputation as a scholar. 

 The University was certainly happy which possessed in 

 its two Arabic chairs men like Palmer and Wright, so 

 different from one another, yet each unrivalled in his own 

 line. But it is absurd to fasten a charge of unfairness on 

 the University because in the candidature for the Adams 

 chair it preferred the senior scholar. For the main- 

 tenance of the scientific diadoche in the characteti-tic 

 features of the modern European school of Semitic learn- 

 ing Dr. Wright had qualifications to which Palmer never 

 pretended — e.g. a profound comparative knowledge of the 

 dialects — and the choice which Mr. Besant ascribes to 

 petty motives was made on principles obvious to all who 

 knew the case, and received the unanimous approval of 

 learned Europe. The personalities which disfigure this 

 part of the biography are based on a perfect tissue of 

 errors as to fact ; and the groundless charge of intrigue 

 brought against honourable names acquires all its plausi- 

 bility from statements which with the smallest care might 

 have been seen to be erroneous. The very year of the 

 election is wrongly given— 1871 for 187a— a somewhat 

 important error, as in the earlier year none of Palmer's 

 principal writings had appeared ; the salary is given at 

 300/. instead of 70/. ; the fellowship at Queens', subse- 

 quently conferred on Dr. Wright to facilitate the con- 

 version of a non-resident into a resident chair, is repre- 

 sented as a bribe to induce Dr. Wright to be a candidate, 

 whereas in point of fact the election took place without 

 his knowledge or consent. That Mr. Besant's researches 

 into the facts on which his interesting record is based 

 have been very slight appears all through the book — he 

 is for example unable to say positively whether Palmer 

 wrote articles which have appeared with another signature 

 in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" — but the carelessness 

 of the bookmaker deserves a stronger name when it 

 touches the honour of men who are still living, and with 

 whom Palmer himself continued to maintain friendly re- 

 lations after the " insult," as Mr. Besant calls it, which 

 " never was forgotten or forgiven.' ' 



The life of Palmer, who learned so much from the 

 living voice, and had a unique gift of adapting himself to 

 every kind of human life, must have been rich in incidents 

 of the most interesting and instructive kind. Unhappily 

 he does not seem to have kept full record of these, and 

 except in the account of his last wonderful journey from 

 Gaza to Suez we seldom hear his own voice in this 

 volume. The reviewer knows from his own intercourse 

 with the gifted traveller that but a small part of Palmer's 

 observations in the East was ever given to the world, and 

 as he certainly had many jottings — at least in Arabic if 

 not in English — there was some reason to hope that the 



biography might make important additions to our know- 

 ledge of a land and race in which science as well as 

 literature has a deep interest. This hope has not been 

 realised; little is added to our knowledge of Palmer's 

 earlier travels except one or two striking anecdotes. Are 

 there no note-books to be found which can still supply 

 this blank ? 



One is sorry to find so many grave faults with a book 

 which after all gives a brilliant if not a discriminating 

 picture of a very remarkable and attractive character ; 

 and it would be wrong to close without a word of thanks 

 for the history of the heroic task, undertaken in no fool- 

 hardy spirit but in a spirit of courageous patriotism, 

 which cost Palmer his life and England one of her most 

 brilliant sons. Many points in the tragedy still remain 

 obscure ; but enough has now been set forth to leave 

 upon the reader a profound impression of the intrepid 

 bravery, the ready resource, the genuine devotion to duty, 

 which, still more than his rare gifts of intellect, will keep 

 the memory of Palmer green in the hearts of a people 

 which prizes true manhood above the profoundest 

 learning. W. Robertson Smith 



ANTS AND THEIR WAYS 



Ants and their Ways. With Illustrations, and an 

 Appendix giving a Complete List of Genera and 

 Species of the British Ants. By the Rev. W. Farren 

 White, M.A., M.E.S.L., Vicar of Stonehouse, Glouces- 

 tershire. (London : The Religious Tract Society, 1883.) 



ANT literature is now so extensive and the subject is 

 so popular, that it was an excellent idea to give in 

 a handy volume a resume of all that is known of the 

 economy and life-history of these interesting insects. 

 The writer is well fitted for the work, having made ants 

 his special study for more than twenty years, during which 

 time he has observed in their native haunts nearly every 

 species of British ant, and has been able to confirm some 

 of the most curious facts of their social economy. Although 

 full of detailed and interesting information, and containing 

 the results of the most recent observations of Sir John 

 Lubbock, Dr. McCook, Forel, and other writers, the book 

 is written in a lively and gossiping style well fitted to 

 attract the young and persons who are not usually readers 

 of scientific works ; but many will think that liveliness of 

 style is carried too far when we find such sensational 

 headings as " Political Demonstration in the Ant-world," 

 " Funeral Rites," "The Ants at their Toilet," &c, &c. 



Coming however to the original observations of the 

 writer, we find him disputing the statement of Sir John. 

 Lubbock, that ants dislike light. He says : — 



" That they prefer working underground is certainly 

 true, and that they construct their chambers and passages 

 out of sight is clearly established, and that they will not 

 work against the sides of the bell-glass if exposed to the 

 light is undoubted fact. But it is not, I believe, because 

 they dislike the light, but because, for sanitary, educa- 

 tional, and protective reasons, it is necessary that their 

 many chambers should be arranged at certain depths 

 below the surface, and therefore at varying distances from 

 the light of day." 



He then goes on to record a series of experiments 

 showing that ants are attracted to the sunlight and bring 

 their young beneath its influence for the sake of the 



