December 26, 1907] 



NA TURE 



171 



not easy to decide on the value to the surgeon of 

 Inrsfe plates showing merely the bones of the shoulder 

 and elbow joints, or figures of the various bones of 

 the limb, or purely diagrammatic representations of 

 the arterial arches and veins. 



As the surgeon is well aware, veins are very much 

 larger than the arteries they accompany. Figures of 

 sections, therefore, should show this ; and, in order 

 that they may do so in a serviceable manner, should 

 be made from formol-hardened bodies. Again, in the 

 limbs, not infrequently two veins accompany an 

 artery ; and this is especially common in the region 

 illustrated in plate ix. Figures of sections, further- 

 more, should be accompanied by some I'ley to the 

 precise level at which the cut has been made. In 

 some regions, as, for example, about the carpus, a 

 very small deviation in the level of two sections pro- 

 duces an appreciable difference in their appearance. 

 The relationship of the vessels, &c. , in plate xxi. 

 mav be correct, but where is the tendon of the flexor 

 carpi radialis? Plate xxv. , though semi-schematic, 

 should show the slip passing from the tendon of the 

 extensor communis to that of the extensor digiti 

 minimi. ' 



It is evident that the writer has been too ambitious, 

 and has endeavoured to display encyclopaedic know- 

 ledge in an utterlv inadequate space. Consequently 

 some subjects have had to be treated in a manner all 

 too brief. A description of the nerve to the latissimus 

 dorsi in three lines and two words, or of the sub- 

 scapular nerve in two and a half lines, is of little 

 value to the surgeon and none at all to the student. 



The volume before us forms the second part of the 

 complete work, and deals with the anterior limb. The 

 printers and publishers are to be commended for their 

 share of the work. 



THE ROMANCE OF SAVAGE LIFE. 

 The Romance of Savage Life, describing the Life of 

 I'rimitive Man, his Customs, Occupations, Lan- 

 guage, Beliefs, Arts, Crafts, Adventures, Games, 

 Sports, &-C. By G. F. Scott Elliot. Pp. 384. 

 (London : Seeley and Co., Ltd., 1908.) Price ss. 



APOPUL.AR vet accurate account of savage life 

 would supply an obvious want ; and though Mr. 

 Scott Elliot's contribution is interesting and readable, 

 it still leaves the field open to some more competent 

 writer. The model for a book of the kind is the 

 " .\nthropology " of Prof. Tylor, a volume popular 

 and at the same time truly scientific, with which Mr. 

 Elliot does not seem to be acquainted. Like this it 

 might dispense with a bibliography and footnotes. 

 Mr. Elliot, however, professes to give references, but 

 these and his list of authors are inadequate. If 

 authorities are to be quoted full references should be 

 given, and it is worse than useless merely to name 

 without further detail books like Gibbon's " Decline 

 and Fall " or the " Polynesian Researches " of Ellis. 



.\ bibliograpliy, again, which ignores Messrs. 

 Spencer and Gillen and Dr. Howitt's last book on 

 Australians; Col. Dalton, Sir J. G. Scott and Mr. 

 Thurston on Indian forest tribes; Catlin and .School- 

 cr;ift on North .\mcrican Indians; Dr. Rivers on the 

 NO. 1991 , VOX,, '/'/'] 



Todas ; Miss Kingsley and Col. Ellis on West Africa ; 

 Dr. Haddon's " Cambridge Expedition to Torres 

 Straits"; the Journal of the Folk-lore Society; and 

 last, but not least, the works of Dr. Frazer when 

 totemism, death rites, and savage religion are dis- 

 cussed, is obviously of little value. The ethno- 

 graphical chapters are naturally the best part of the 

 book ; but when the writer deals with the theory of 

 the ghost as affecting methods of disposal of the 

 corpse, with the belief in a future life, and with 

 savage animism generally, he is evidently on un- 

 familiar ground. 



It may seem liard to tax a popular writer with 

 inaccuracies and omissions such as these. But if, as 

 he might reasonably have done, he frankly declined 

 to quote authorities, the case would have been dif- 

 ferent. When he professes to write in a scientific way 

 he is bound by the laws which govern scientific work ; 

 and this is the more necessary in the case of anthro- 

 pology, which claims to be an exact science. Finally, 

 the time is past when a book like this can be illus- 

 trated by fancy drawings of prehistoric men attacking 

 a bemired mammoth, or of a young lady of the Swiss 

 Lake-dwelling period doing up her back hair. It 

 would have been much more instructive to supply 

 photographs of modern savages at home, of the horses 

 of La Madelaine Cave, or the man and bison from 

 Laugerie Basse. 



Even with all these drawbacks the book is a read- 

 able contribution to the e.xcellent series of which it 

 forms a part. Mr. Scott Elliot, without any preten- 

 sions to style, writes pleasantly, and though his per- 

 sonal experience of wild men seems to be confined to 

 a part of Africa and Madagascar, he possesses a 

 sufficiently vivid imagination to grasp the relation of 

 the savage to his environment. From a comparison 

 of their mode of life with that of Fuegians and 

 Tasmanians, he is able to give a vivid sketch of life 

 in the Cro-Magnon and Lake-dwelling periods, and 

 his accounts of savage war and weapons, boats and 

 huts, cooiiery and dancing, are often well done. The 

 book will supply excellent reading to an intelligent 

 boy, and may lead him to study the scientific literature 

 of the subject. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Die Vegetation der Erde. VII., Die Pflanzenwelt von 

 West .'\ustralien sudlich des Wendekreises. By 

 Dr. L. Diels. Pp. xii+413. (Leipzig: W. Engel- 

 mann, 1906.) 

 The .'\ustralian l^ora is of extraordinary interest, not 

 only by reason of the complex problems connected 

 with its origin and development, but also on 

 account of the wonderful range of adaptation to their 

 environment displayed by so many of its constituent 

 species. It is with special pleasure, then, that we 

 welcome the appearance of Dr. Diels 's treatise on the 

 flora of the south-western part of the continent. The 

 method of treatment pursued by the author is a good 

 one. He gives a fairly full historical account of the 

 investigations of his predecessors, and incidentally 

 criticises the " Flora Australensis," in common with 

 other colonial floras, on account of the frequently 

 insufficient data as to locality of a species. It must, 

 however, be remembered that much of the material 

 for these floras is collected through channels which 



