172 
NATO Re 
[DECEMBER 24, 1903 
OUR BOOK SHELF. 
Animals of No Importance. By D. Dewar. Pp. 113. 
(Calcutta and Simla: Thacker, Spink and Co.; 
London: W. Thacker, 1903.) 
THE essays collected in this little volume have, with 
one exception (which made its appearance in the 
Indian Daily Telegraph), been previously before the 
public in the columns of the Times of India. Although 
his style is occasionally somewhat slangy, the author 
discourses in a pleasant and readable manner on the 
habits and mode of life of various living creatures 
commonly met with by the resident in India, inclusive 
of some of those to be seen on the voyage. Excluding 
all such animals as come under the denomination of 
game—whether great or small—he confines his atten- 
tion to the less attractive, although in many cases by 
no means the less obtrusive, members of the animal 
world, and from this lowly aspect of his subject he has 
chosen the title of the volume. 
As a rule, each of the various essays is devoted in 
the main to a particular species. One of the most 
amusing of the series treats of the Indian crow—the 
miscalled Corvus splendens—a bird which, despite its 
store of mischief, Mr. Dewar allows the possession 
of some redeeming traits. He can, however, scarcely 
find words to express his detestation of that noisome 
pest, the common fly—a detestation shared by all who 
have resided in the east. On the other hand, the spider 
is a creature for which the author expresses the 
greatest admiration, ranking its intellectual powers 
higher than those of ant, bee, or wasp. 
Under the title of the ‘‘ Malaria Middleman ”’ will 
be found a good popular account of the manner in 
which the Anopheles mosquito conveys the malaria - 
germ; although it would have been better had the use 
of ‘‘ scientist’? been avoided. To one sentence in 
another article, namely, that ‘‘ dinosaurs and sea-ser- 
pents disported themselves in the ocean ’’ (p. 62), we 
venture to take strong exception. Although, perhaps, 
one relating to the movements of the fins of flying- 
fishes is the only zoological observation of any import- 
ance, we may commend the work as an excellent 
practical example of ‘‘ nature-teaching,’’ and at the 
same time as showing how the enforced tedium and 
confinement of Indian hot-weather life may be miti- 
gated by the intelligent observation of the ways of the 
uninvited denizens of the bungalow and its immediate 
surroundings. 
Farming. By W. M. Tod, M.A. With illustrations 
by Lucy Kemp-Welch. Haddon Hall Library. 
Pp. vi+268. (London: J. M. Dent and Co., 1903.) 
Price 7s. 6d. 
Tue Haddon Hall Library has hitherto dealt only with 
various branches of sport; its incursion into the serious 
domain of agriculture is therefore rather a novelty, 
but as Mr. Tod indicates in his opening chapter farm- 
ing is something more than a business. There are 
probably few men who have not deep in them the desire 
to cultivate a plot of land or to breed some kind of 
animal; it is a form of atavism, civilised man gets his 
amusement from the pursuits out of which he dragged 
a hard living in the early world, and farming, like 
shooting and fishing, has long been the rich man’s 
recreation. The professional can still make a living 
by it, but the amateur often finds his farm little less 
costly than his shoot. It would be hardly fair to Mr. 
Tod to say that his book is intended for the latter 
‘class of readers; clearly he has in mind the man to 
whom farming is bread and butter, but he is very sure 
that if the farmer sometimes finds the butter spread 
too thin he may look for abundant compensation in 
the pure joy of life on the land. 
NO. 1782, VOL. 69| 
Mr. Tod’s book then differs from the ordinary text- 
book of agriculture in treating his subject from a 
somewhat more generalised and human point of view; 
he deals with the functions of the soil, the principles 
of tillage, manuring and cropping, live-stock, and the 
system on which a farm should be managed, without 
any elaboration of detail, but with an intelligent appre- 
ciation both of the scientific basis of agriculture and 
of the other considerations which must regulate its 
practice. Here and there his statements and recom- 
mendations are open to criticism; in a country so 
diversified as Great Britain, the routine of management 
must change with the shifting conditions of climate — 
and soil, but in the main the book presents a very 
sound picture of the farming of the midlands and east 
of England. Mr. ‘Tod’s experience is sufficient 
guarantee that the book is practical; at the same time 
he is no blind follower of the old paths, but is insis- 
tent that agriculture, to be successful, must adapt 
itself to the altered state of our markets since the great 
tradition of British farming was established. 
The book is clearly and enthusiastically written, and 
we can cordially recommend it either to the man who 
has a little place in the country and wants to do some- 
thing more than blindly follow the lead of his bailiff, 
or to the general reader interested in the land and 
desirous of understanding its great industry. To the 
young landowner or to the boy who is anxious to take 
up farming as his walk in life the book will give an 
excellent picture of the work of a well managed farm, 
and will serve as an inspiriting introduction to a more 
technical study of the subject. Like all the volumes 
of the Haddon Hall series, the book is charmingly 
produced, well printed on good paper, and with some 
illustrations by Miss Kemp-Welch which catch the true 
spirit of the English country-side. AD Ee 
Queries in Ethnography. By Albert Galloway Keller, 
Ph.D. Pp. ix+77. (London: Longmans, Green 
and Co., 1903.) Price 2s. net. 
Dr. A. G. KELLER’s small book of questions in ethno- 
graphy is intended for the use of the ‘‘ intelligent and 
partially instructed layman.’’ The specialist, he in- 
forms us, needs no such manual, and the utterly un- 
instructed are unfitted to use one with discrimination 
and result. We agree with him. The 912 questions 
comprise a very wide range of ethnographical inquiry 
under the following heads :—(1) maintenance; (2) 
perpetuation ; (3) gratification; (4) religious and super- 
stitious ideas and usages; (5) the societal system; (6) 
contact and modification. 
The system followed has been that developed by 
Prof. Sumner, of Yale University, and the questions 
evidently are based also on the admirable ‘‘ Notes and 
Queries on Anthropology ”’ edited by Dr. J. G. Garson 
and Mr. C. H. Read, and on the set of questions issued 
by Dr. J. G. Frazer. Not one of these books has been 
written by a field ethnologist, and it is perhaps doubtful 
whether a field ethnologist would write such a book, 
as the answers given to such questions by the collector 
are apt to be snippety, and, with the view of answer- 
ing the question succinctly, he would be inclined to 
leave out other descriptive matter which did not appear 
to be relative to the particular question, but which 
might be, nevertheless, of supreme importance. Dr. 
Keller asks ‘‘ exactly what is meant by ‘ father,’ 
‘brother,’ ‘ son,’ if they do not correspond to our own 
terms? ’’ This sort of questioning is of little real 
value; the only satisfactory method is the genealogical 
one devised by Dr. Rivers (Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. 
XXX. Pp. 74, 1900). Nothing is said about the value of 
obtaining information concerning different schools of. 
decorative art and the significance of the designs. 
Doubtless Dr. Keller’s little book will prove of con- 
