27 
Especially in the chapters on organogeny we find the ques- 
tions connected with the probable first origin and later 
‘modifications of the nervous system and of the organs of 
special sense dealt with so as to supplement the earlier zoo- 
logical chapters. It is not possible to single out for special 
notice any one of the discussions which may thus be said to 
sum up and give the general results of Mr. Balfour's work. 
But among the more interesting, as dealing with burning 
questions, are those relating to the origin of the limbs of 
fishes (based upon the author's recent investigations), and 
the nature of the excretory organs found in the different 
groups of the animal kingdom. In reference to the latter 
point Mr. Balfour commences his discussion with a remark 
which may be taken as an example of the judicial style in 
which he handles such problems. He says, ‘although 
there is not a little to be said for holding all these organs 
‘to be derived from some common prototype, the attempt 
to establish definite homologies between them is beset 
with very great difficulties.” 
The present volume is illustrated by about four hundred 
woodcuts, and consists of more than six hundred pages of 
royal octavo size. The first volume was of very nearly the 
‘same size, and as copiously illustrated. Together they 
‘form a contribution to that science of Biology which our 
‘countryman, Charles Darwin, has refounded and reformed, 
of which English men of science may feel justly proud. 
No work of the kind exists in any foreign tongue, and 
probably no such work would have been undertaken had 
not Mr. Balfour given himself to the task. Translations 
of Mr. Balfour’s book are at this moment in course of 
publication both in Germany and in France. The 
thoroughness with which he has carried out the revision 
and incorporation of afew more than a thousand scattered 
memoirs by contemporary writers, and the excellence of 
his critical remarks and original observations and draw- 
ings, are all the more remarkable when it is remembered 
that only three years have passed since the work was 
commenced, and that during that time Mr. Balfour has 
been actively engaged in lecturing and teaching in his 
laboratory at Cambridge, has published several original 
memoirs himself, and has superintended the production of 
as many more by his pupils. 
The University of Glasgow has recently recognised 
the importance of Mr. Balfour’s labours in embryology by 
conferring upon him the degree of LL.D. honoris causd. 
Cambridge men, and all who hope for the restoration of 
the English Universities to their legitimate place in the 
academic sisterhood of Europe, must feel proud of Mr. 
Balfour and the steadily working school of biologists 
which has risen around the Trinity Prelector on the 
banks of the Cam. The Cambridge biologists are now a 
power in the scientific progress of the country, and it is 
from Cambridge that the new men come to fill positions 
as teachers of biological science in the colleges of Man- 
chester, Birmingham, Dublin, Eton, and elsewhere. Few 
persons, however, know the smallness of the share which 
the University of Cambridge, as such, has had in this 
admirable development, and how necessary it is, if the 
present condition of activity is to continue within its 
boundaries, that adequate arrangements shall be made 
| 
in permanence for the maintenance of the laboratories 
and for the salaries of those who are at present gaining 
honour for the University without receiving from it any 
return. E. RAY LANKESTER 
PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY 
Primitive Industry, or, Illustrations of the Handiwork 
im Stone, Bone, and Clay of the Native Races of the 
Northern Atlantic Seaboard of America. By Charles 
ae M.D. (Salem, Mass.: George A. Bates, 
1881. 
aes work is a valuable contribution to our knowledge 
of American archzology. Dr. Abbott describes 
successively the principal types of stone. bone, and bronze 
antiquities, especially those of New Jersey. The work is 
illustrated by more than 400 woodcuts, and is divided into 
33 chapters devoted to “ Stone Axes; Celts ; Chisels and 
Gouges ; Grooved Hammers; Semilunar Knives; Chipped 
Flint | Knives; Drills; Awls or Perforators; Scrapers ;~ 
Slick Stones and _Sinew Dressers ; Mortars and Pestles; 
Pottery; Sheatite Food-Vessels ; Pitted Stones; Chipped 
Flint Implements ; Bone Implements ; Agricultural Im- 
plements; Plummets; Net-sinkers; Spear-points and 
Arrow-heads; Flint Daggers; Grooved Stone Club- 
heads; Pipes ; Discoidal Stones; Inscribed Stones; 
Ceremonial Objects; Bird-shaped Stones; Gorgets; 
Totems; Pendants and Trinkets; Copper Implements ; 
Hand-hammers and Rubbing-stones ; Shell Heaps; Flint 
Chips; Palzolithic Implements; the Antiquity and 
Origin of the Trenton Gravels.’’ 
The number of stone implements which have rewarded 
Dr. Abbott’s industrious search is really surprising: In 
New Jersey alone he has amassed no less than 20,000 
specimens. 
“From the great number of stone axes,” he says 
“already gathered, and that remain to be gathered, from 
the area of the State of New Jersey, it is clear that this 
form of weapon or implement, as the case may be, was 
in constant and universal use among the Delaware In- 
dians. In some localities, of several square miles in 
extent, there have been found from three to five axes in 
every one hundred acres, and still others are occasionally 
brought to light by the plough. Allowing but one- half 
the smaller number to have been left lying in every one 
hundred acres of the State’s area, when abandoned by the 
Indians, there would remain, for the benefit of archzolo- 
gists, the enormous number of one hundred and tw enty- 
five thousand stone axes.’ 
Considering the great abundance of stone implements, 
the rarity of typical scrapers in the United States is an 
interesting fact. No doubt many of the stone imple- 
ments were used as scrapers, but I have hardly seen any 
specimens from Eastern America of the true typical 
North European and Eskimo form. Some of those 
figured by Dr. Abbott, though they may have served as 
scrapers, certainly are not of this type; and although 
others may be so, for instance that represented by Fig. 
107, p. 124, it is difficult to speak positively, because Dr. 
Abbott does not give sections of the implements, so that 
in many cases their true form is doubtful. We would 
suggest to him to supply this omission in subsequet 
editions of his work. 
Perhaps the most characteristic of American types are 
