3i8 



NATURE 



\_Attgust 3, 1882 



linguistic polygeneity suppose that different forms of 

 speech grew up independently within the same race or 

 even among the members of a fixed race. It was a 

 question of geography not of race. 



The assumption of the primitive unity of speech makes 

 Mr. Keane an adherent of another theory which I have 

 done my best elsewhere to combat. This is that languages 

 develop out of an isolating into an agglutinative stage, 

 and then into an inflectional one. I do not deny that 

 language develops ; far from it : the whole science of 

 language is based upon such an assumption. But I can 

 see no facts which warrant me in holding that an isolating 

 language, for example, has ever developed except from 

 one stage of isolation into another. In the same way the 

 inflectional languages have developed only from one form 

 of inflection into another ; this is certainly true of the 

 Semitic dialects, and as to the Aryan languages, Dr. 

 Delbriick, the latest defender of Mr. Keane's theory, finds 

 himself forced to admit at the end of a long discussion 

 that a confident " yes " cannot be returned to the question 

 whether the agglutination theory is verified in individual 

 cases. It is only in the sense that the jelly-fish may be 

 called simple that the development of language can be 

 said to be from the simple to the complex ; from one 

 point of view, it is true, analysis and differentiation may 

 be termed complex, but most of us would consider our 

 modern English grammar a much simpler affair than that 

 of Gothic or Greek. I may note here, by the way, that 

 Mr. Keane has made a slip in saying that the final r of 

 amatur is the reflexive pronoun se. R is also the 

 characteristic of the passive in Old Keltic where it 

 cannot come from an earlier s; it is further found in 

 some Vedic verbal forms, and apparently in the Greek 

 dev-p-o, where it occupies the same position as in the 

 Latin ama-r-is. 



Different views, however, as to the conclusions to be 

 drawn from our evidence are inevitable in science, more 

 especially in matters where certainty is unattainable. 

 The\- in no way diminish the value or importance of Mr. 

 Keane's work, which does not depend on the theories held 

 bVjhimself or any one else regarding the facts put forward 

 in it. He has made " Asia " an indispensable book of refer- 

 ence to the geographer, the traveller, and the statistician ; 

 I will not add the politician also, as the main business of 

 the latter nowadays seems to be to avoid acquiring accu- 

 rate information. Here and there, of course, there is a 

 misprint, as when Prof. Sachau's name is spelt Sachau 

 (p. 72), or a statement to which exception may be taken. 

 Thus I am not disposed to endorse the assertion that the 

 Turks in Smyrna "reside chiefly in narrow, dirty slums, 

 into which it is dangerous to penetrate alone, and which 

 are cut off from access to the more open and safer 

 quarters." On the contrary, in walking from the Kassaba 

 station to the quay, when alone and at night, I have 

 always taken good care to go through the Turkish quarter 

 and not through the Greek. Elsewhere, however, Mr. 

 Keane does full justice to the Turks of Anatolia, whom 

 he describes in Dr. Scherzer's words as " honourable in 

 all their dealings, frank, kindhearted, and hospitable, 

 while in religious matters they are, contrary to the 

 general impression, the most tolerant of all Oriental 

 races." 



A. H. Sayce 



MAGNETO- AND DYNAMO-ELECTRIC 

 MACHINES 



Die Magnet itnd dynamo-elekirischen Maschinen. Von 

 Dr. H. Schellen. Zweite, nach dem gegenwartigen auf 

 der Pariser electrischen Ausstellung vertretenen Zu- 

 stande dargestellte und vermehrte Auflage. (Kbln, 

 1882.) 



THIS work, which is considerably enlarged from its 

 first appearance, now includes accounts of all the 

 leading forms of dynamo- and magneto-electric machines 

 with the exception of those of Edison, of which no men- 

 tion is made. The first chapter is devoted to generalities 

 concerning electromagnets, induction, &c. The second 

 describes magneto-electric machines beginning with that 

 of Pixii and ending with that of De Meritens. The 

 third chapter, on dynamo-electric machines, opens with a 

 rather unseemly revival of the dispute as to priority 

 between Werner Siemens and Wheatstone in the dis- 

 covery of the action-and-reaction principle of the so-called 

 dynamo-machines. It is a matter of history that papers 

 announcing this discovery were read before the Royal 

 Society on the very same day (February 14, 1S67) by 

 Wheatstone and by Dr. C. W. Siemens. We cannot help 

 thinking that Dr. Schellen, in his manner of describing 

 the affair, allows himself to take an attitude extremely 

 unjust towards the great English physicist, now no longer 

 amongst the living ; and we protest against this very 

 needless attempt to arouse a scandal. Nor is it true that 

 Wheatstone' s memoir contained nothing that Werner 

 Siemens had not previously published in Berlin. The 

 proof of this matter is that Wheatstone's principle of 

 exciting the field-magnets by a derived current in a shunt 

 circuit was adopted as a "new method" by Messrs. 

 Siemens Brothers within two years from the present date, 

 and formed, in 1SS1, the basis of a communication by Dr. 

 C. W. Siemens to the Royal Society, and of another by 

 Mr. Alexander Siemens to the Society of Telegraph 

 Engineers, in which the priority of Wheatstone in this 

 detail is fully and explicitly admitted. In this chapter 

 also the machines invented by Weston and by Brush are 

 described. Chapter IV. treats of those dynamo-electric 

 machines which generate continuous currents, beginning 

 with Pacinotti's machine of 1863, and including the well- 

 known forms of Gramme and Siemens (v. Hefner- 

 Alteneck), the latter of which is described in very great 

 detail. Hefner-Alteneck's new large dynamo with a disk- 

 armature and many peripheral coils, is mentioned, and 

 the general arrangement of its parts shown. The fifth 

 chapter treats of alternate-current machines. Those of 

 Lontin, Gramme, and Siemens are described fully, but 

 the name of Wilde is not even mentioned ! A new machine 

 by Siemens and Halske, capable of giving either inter- 

 mittent-direct or alternate currents, is figured in this 

 chapter. This section of the book is closed by a disquisi- 

 tion on the theory of dynamos and their efficiency, the 

 greater part being a compilation from the researches of 

 Frolich, Hagenbach, and others. 



Chapter VII. deals with the voltaic arc, and Chapter 

 VI 1 1, with electric arc lamps. A mass of details concern- 

 ing the manufacture of carbon pencils and standards of 

 photometry are included in the former. In the latter 

 chapter most of the chief forms of lamp are given, in- 



