i8 



NA TURE 



[February i, 1906 



a new bow-string ; the ghost shoots arrows in the air 

 and goes up with them. 



For those who are interested in these marchen, less 

 for the light they may throw on the problem of dif- 

 fusion than for the evidence they contain of the beliefs 

 and customs of the Caddo, the usefulness of the work 

 is diminished both by the absence of notes and the 

 lack of an index. For European readers, at any rate, 

 there is a further desideratum, viz, sonic account of 

 the tribe the tales of which arc here collected ; the 

 American Folklore Society has sel a good example in 

 this respect in the volume of Skide Pawnee tales. 



The seventy tales in the present volume, which is 

 to be followed by others on the allied tribes, are largely 

 concerned with the adventures of Coyote and other 

 animals. The first ten arc either cosmogonic or deal 

 with origins of various kinds; we have the familiar 

 story of the way in which death was introduced into 

 the world, in this cas,- by Coyote; the deluge legend is 

 probably late, as the flood is sent as a punishment; in 

 .1 parallel story the destructive animals, which lived at 

 the beginning of the world, arc destroyed by fire, 

 mankind being saved by climbing up a rope made on 

 earth and made fast to the sky by Crow. More 

 familiar is the tale of the hare and the tortoise, here 

 told by Coyote and Turtle; in these tales the distin- 

 guishing characteristic of the former is his stupidity. 

 Meccanica Razionale. By Roberto Marcolongo. 

 Vol. i., Kinematics — Statics, pp. xii + 270; vol. ii., 

 Dynamics — Principles of Hydromechanics, pp. vi f 

 126. (Milan : Ulrico Hoepli, 1905.) Price 3 lire 

 each volume. 

 No better proof could be adduced of the general and 

 popular interest taken in higher mathematics in 

 countries outside Great Britain than the excellent 

 series of manuals emanating from the firm of Hoepli 

 in Milan. One great difficulty in acquiring a general 

 knowledge of such subjects as analytical statics, 

 particle' and rig-id dynamics, and hydrodynamics arises 

 from the voluminous character of the principal 

 treatises available as text-books. Most of the English 

 standard works on such subjects were originally 

 smallish single volumes, but they have in the course 

 of various editions grown in size until they have 

 reached to two large and bulky volumes. Anyone 

 \vho_ can read Italian can now, at a cost of five 

 shillings, obtain in Prof. Marcolongo's two little 

 manuals a survey of such subjects as vector analysis, 

 polhodes and herpolhodes, the ordinary and spherical 

 catenary, planetary motion, Lagrange's equations, the 

 theory of least action, cyeloidal and compound pendu- 

 lums, attractions of ellipsoids, Lagrange's and 

 Euler's equations of hydrodynamics, and the prin- 

 ciples of vortex motion. 



Die Vererhungslehre in der Biologic. By Dr. H. E. 

 Ziegler. Pp. 74; with 59 figures in the text and 

 2 plates. (Jena : Gustav Fischer, 1905.) 

 Tins little work represents a fairly successful effort 

 to put in simple language the complex problems of 

 heredit] so far as they have yet been analysed. The 

 author discusses the evidence that cytology has been 

 able to furnish in connection with the theories of 

 variation, and he especially deals with the views of 

 Weismann and of De Vries as to the meaning of 

 variation as expressed in terms of the cell. His 

 attitude towards the mutation theory of De Yries is 

 rendered clear by (lie following sentence from p. 69, 

 " Wenn man nichf auf dem Standpunkt der ' intra- 

 cellularen Pangenesis ' steht, so kann man nicht 

 einsehen, warum zwischen kleinen und grossen 

 Abanderungen, also zwischen allmahlicher und stoss- 

 weiser Veranderung, eine strenge grenze gezogen 

 werden soil." Bui the question here raised is not 

 ene dependent on theory or hypothesis; it is a question 



tO. 1892, VOL. ■/T,'] 



ol fact, and the existence of opposite opinions merely 

 demands a mure thorough investigation at the hands 

 of persons unbiased by prejudice. Perhaps, as was 

 formerly the case with the inheritance of the so-called 

 "acquired characters," much of the prevalent oppo- 

 sition to the theory of mutation rests on a misunder- 

 standing of the main idea embodied in the word itself. 

 An Analysis 0/ Human Motive. By F. Carrel. Pp. 



viii + 222. (London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton. 



Kent and Co., Ltd., 1905.) Price 55. net. 

 Inis volume discusser the six predominant motives 

 which influence man, viz., those of sustenance, sex, 

 pleasure, sympathy, self-love, and religion ; examines 

 slightly the conflicts of motives, the relation of motives 

 to moral systems, and the like; and sums up the 

 matter in a series of conclusions which is not entirely- 

 destitute of merit. 



But the work as a whole is disappointing. The 

 sentences are lumbering- and long, sometimes twelve 

 lines long-; there are no indications that the author has 

 read very widely, nor is any remarkable insight dis- 

 played. Felicitous illustration would have lightened 

 many a page; but of illustration there is almost 

 nothing. The obvious has no terrors for our author, 

 and so the satirical rogue frequently indulges in 

 slanders like the following : — " The pleasure motive 

 may lead persons to pass time in witnessing theatrical 

 performances, and when the taste has been formed 

 and the habit acquired, to spend more of their re- 

 sources upon such amusements than their means 

 justify." Split infinitives and the use of " practise " 

 as a noun do not lead one to rank the writer as an 

 authority on English. One statement seems defective 

 in mathematical accuracy: — " In provincial towns the 

 proportion of men to women (among church-goers) is 

 twelve to a hundred. In London the proportion is 

 two-thirds women to one-half men." It is difficult to 

 avoid seeing a non sequitur in the following : — " The 

 grief experienced at the death of a beloved relative 

 cannot be long continued without interfering with the 

 normal course of life and coming into conflict with its 

 essential motives, and therefore we see that the violent 

 acts of despair to which it tends, are not resorted to 

 as long as the mind has not completely lost its 

 rationality." 



We either that the author thinks much of Epicurus 

 and of Spencer, but little of Aristotle's " Nicomachean 

 Morals," which are, it would seem, of little more than 

 historical interest. The writer continues : — " It was 

 their want of precision that enabled them to be adopted 

 by the schoolmen of the middle ages, as a basis for 

 their ethical dialectics." That Aristotle and this 

 author have very different views of what constitutes 

 precision is true and obvious, but not a circumstance 

 on which this author is to be congratulated. 

 Deutscher Kamcra Almanach, 1906. Second year. 



Jahrbuch der Amateur-Photographie. By Fritz 



Loescher. Pp. viii + 2So. (Berlin: Gustav Schmidt, 



1005.") Price 3-50 marks. 

 Tins is the second issue of this annual, and from its 

 appearance it seems to be very hardy. The first-named 

 title does not seem very befitting to the volume before 

 a-, as the " Almanack " portion is more conspicuous 

 by iis absence than presence. As a " Year Book " 

 containing an excellent series of well written articles 

 on numerous photographic subjects by recognised 

 workers in Germany, England, France, &c. ; novelties 

 of the year; progress; exhibitions; list of German 

 amateur photographers' societies; most important re- 

 cent photographic literature, and other useful inform- 

 ation, the book will be found of interest to those who 

 are able to read German. The illustrations are good 

 and numerous, and include a frontispiece, 47 full page 

 pictures, and 107 others distributed throughout the text. 



