- 
Fesruary 4, 1897] 
NATURE 
315 
palzeolithic man, he makes use of Mr. Tylor’s comparison 
with the aborigines of Tasmania ; but on p. 36 we find 
the following: “In speaking of the probable mental 
and moral condition of man in the older stone age, we 
have, for want of further material, compared him with 
the aborigines of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand.” 
Next time the author visits the British Museum, he will, 
perhaps, take a glance at the weapons and other imple- 
ments of the Maoris that are exhibited there, and re- 
consider the evidence on which he regards these people 
as useful for purposes of comparison with men of the 
palzeolithic age. 
There is a great deal of foolish writing—there is no 
other term for it—in Chapter iv. headed “The Myth of 
the Great Ice-Sheet.” The author concludes a tiresome 
tirade by admitting an ice-sheet, formed of confluent 
glaciers, which covered the greater part of the British 
Isles ; he calls ita “modest local or British ice-sheet.” 
With this conclusion in view, we might well have been 
spared the vapourings on “superstition,” ‘“ bugbears,” 
“myths,” “nightmares,’? and the like—terms culled 
apparently from Sir Henry Howorth’s vocabulary—as well 
as the somewhat spiteful gossip about Agassiz and 
Schimper. More modesty might have been expected 
from a popular writer; we shall not imitate Mr. 
Ilutchinson’s style, and say a mere popular writer—it 
would be rude—in discussing the views of some of the 
great geologists of the past. To speak of Ramsay, 
Agassiz, and Croll as having “gone mad over ice,” as 
prostrating before it “not only their bodies, but their 
minds,” and as having been beyond the reach of reason, 
is not becoming: still worse is the expression that Croll 
misled the public. Croll requires no defence from us, 
and we make no further comment. 
The author appears as a reconciler of Genesis and 
science, with a somewhat inadequate acquaintance with 
Babylonian writings; the same deficiency appears in 
the ten pages devoted to the question of the origin of the 
zodiacal signs. He was warned of the doubtful nature 
of Mr. Peck’s theory by Mr. Flinders Petrie, but intro- | 
duces it with the usual plea—it may be wrong, but it is 
** interesting.” 
origin of the zodiacal signs, and the probabilities all 
point to Babylonia as their birthplace. 
As for the literary style of the book, it is well enough 
so long as the author keeps to digests, summaries, and 
simple descriptions ; but where he gives us something 
of his own, the result is less pleasing. We could well 
have dispensed with several feeble witticisms, a parade 
of puerile suggestions, and a good deal of sentiment. As 
an instance of the author’s undiluted style, we quote 
the following :— 
“How delighted must Mr. Ruskin and all true fol- 
lowers of our great teacher and prophet be to iearn that, 
after all, we shall not have to give up our fairies! And 
what an anti-climax must such a result appear to those 
hard, unsentimental scientific workers and thinkers who 
were wont to consider fairy tales as nothing but pure 
“stuff and nonsense’! It must be somewhat humiliating 
to such—if there be any left—to reflect that they must 
no longer dare to despise fairies, but are compelled, in 
the sacred name of Science (with a very big S), to pay 
homage to them !” 
W. J. SOLLAS. 
NO. 1423, VOL. 55] 
OUR BOOK SHELF. 
Getting Gold: a Practical Treatise for Prospectors, 
Miners, and Students. By J. C. F. Johnson, F.G.S., 
Member of the Aust. Inst. of Mining Engineers, 
Pp. xii + 204. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., 
Ltd., 1897.) 
IN this book will be found much practical information 
on the mining and subsequent treatment of gold ores, 
particularly useful to the prospector setting out for 
Australia. It has often been said that the practical man 
does not write books, but there is here a complete 
refutation of the calumny. There are chapters on the 
“senesiology” of gold, which are hardly of practical 
value, on the treatment of ores by various processes, and 
on company formation. A useful section, too, is devoted 
to prospecting, in which the various difficulties of finding 
gold are clearly set forth. ‘“‘ Where it is, there it is,” the 
author quotes, “and where it is, generally, there I ain’t.” 
The best part of the book, however, is undoubtedly 
under the heading of the “Rules of Thumb.” Here 
the practical man shows what he can do. The recipes 
given are absolutely encyclopedic, and all more or less 
to the point. We are told how to make fire, how to find 
water, how to purify it and carry it, how to copy cor- 
respondence, to cross a flooded stream, and to build a 
house. One is lost in admiration at the wealth of 
knowledge displayed, and the mixture of “ cuteness” 
and simplicity in the remarks. 
The tables at the end of the book are less happy. A 
dozen or more mistakes occur in a short table of fusing 
and boiling points, and the elementary algebra seems 
unnecessary in the present state of primary education. 
Nevertheless, though not without faults, the book will 
be most useful to prospectors who have not been through 
a course of study at a School of Mines 
Photo - Trichromatic Printing. By C. G. Zander. 
(Raithby, Lawrence, and Co., Ltd., 1896.) 
THIS book is a model of neatness and printing, and 
harmonises well with the subject of which it treats. The 
author has not attempted an elaborate text-book on the 
optical sciences of chromatics and spectroscopy, but 
states in a straightforward and clear nmianner the out- 
lines of the causes of colour phenomena and the effects 
of pigmentary mixtures and combinations. A perusal 
of the fifty pages shows that Mr. Zander has adopted a 
very happy arrangement for the sequence of the matter 
dealt with, making the book easy reading for even those 
: ; : | who are not very familiar with the subject. 
There is an extensive literature on the 
The first of the four parts into which the book is 
divided treats of chromatics and, more briefly, spectro- 
scopy, the reader being introduced to the three fund- 
amental colour sensations. In Part ii. pigment mixtures 
are discussed, and many a useful hint may be gathered 
here by those who wish to know the why and the where- 
fore of common every-day manipulations. The ex- 
planatory diagrams showing the absorption of two typical 
pigments and those of the resulting mixtures are all 
that could be desired. A useful azde-mémoire is the 
chromatic clock-dial, which is an ingenious idea for 
helping those who work with colours to remember which 
are the contrast or complementary colours, and how 
saddened colours or tints may be produced. 
Three-colour work, or the production of any colour 
by the combination of the three primary colour sensa- 
tions, is treated of in the third part. 
The concluding section is devoted to the important 
question of photochromic printing inks, the author 
pointing out the chief essential qualities that they must 
possess for successful work. ; 
We may say, in conclusion, that printers and_ artists 
have in these few pages a useful handy guide, which will 
give them an insight into the art of successful photo- 
chromic three-colour printing. 
