VIU 



Suppiemciit to " Naliax'" A'oi'cii/bcr 14, 1901. 



of the kind which is likely tn be assumerl by those who 

 are well aciiuainted with Semitic antiquities but are not 

 aware of the present trend of opinion with rej;ard to the 

 ethnology of the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean 

 basin. The question is not " Did the Semites influence 

 Mycen:can religion in the matter of Tree and Pillar 

 worship?" but rather "From whom did the Semites 

 derive their Tree and Pillar worship ? " The matter is as 

 yet by no means clear, but all the indications, in regard 

 to which archaeology, philology, and ethnology, as 

 exemplified in the conclusions of Evans, Kretschmer, and 

 Sergi, concur, point to Aryan Greeks and Phrygians and 

 Semites having been in reality the successors in Greece, 

 north-eastern Asia Minor, and Palestine respectively of 

 a pr;L-Aryan and pnu-Semitic race of the same stock as 

 the inhabitants of the greater part of Asia Minor, who 

 were certainly neither Indo-Europeans nor Semites. It 

 is with these people that the Tree- and Pillar-cults of both 

 Greeks and Semites may have originated. Whether the 

 Mycenaans of Knossos were pure-blooded members of 

 this prx-Hellenic and pra^-Semitic " Pelasgian " race or 

 were already mixed with Aryan Hellenic elements must 

 remain for the present a moot question. 



This seems to be the pith of Mr. Evans's arguments. 

 He explores many byways of his subject in his exhaus- 

 tive essay, but into these we have not the space to enter 

 here, and it is easy to lose one's way in them, for they 

 are a labyrinth as difficult to explore as Minos's own I 

 One point may be noticed, however ; when Mr. Evans 

 enters into comparisons of Mycenaean with Egyptian 

 religious conceptions, we do not know that he will find 

 Egyptologists in general inclined to agree with him. 

 When, for instance, he compares the Mycenaean Pillar- 

 cult with the Egyptian veneration of the well-known 

 symbol of the Mendesian Osiris, the Tat or Dad, often 

 erroneously called " The Emblem of Stability," speaking 

 of it as a " Pillar with its quadruple capital indicative of 

 the four supports of heaven" ("p. 146), he does not note 

 that this explanation of the emblem is in the highest 

 degree doubtful, for in all probability it is not a pillar at 

 all, but an extremely ancient and traditionally con- 

 ventionalised representation of the holiest relic of the 

 god, the Backbone of Osiris. And if comparisons 

 with Mycen;ean heraldic designs are to be sought, 

 the heraldic conceptions of the early Babylonians might 

 more aptly be quoted than those of the Egyptians. 

 Further, of Mycen^uan influence on Egyptian art little 

 trace can be found beyond the temporary adoption by 

 the Egyptians of the false-necked vase {Piii^elkanne) ; 

 and of the remarkable evidence of this influence, which, 

 according to Mr. Evans (p. 148), the monuments of 

 Tell el-Amarna exhibit, nothing can be said, simply 

 because it is in no way apparent. The naturalistic 

 vigour of the artists of .Akhenaten's court was as purely 

 I'.gyptian in its origin as was the cult of the Atcn 

 hse'lf. 



From the above remarks, however, it will be evident 

 that in his monograph Mr. Evans has once again made 

 a most notable contribution to our knowledge of 

 Mycenaan culture, and that he has proved his main 

 point there will be little doubt in the minds of those 

 archaeologists who are not bound by preconceived notions 

 as to the origins of Greek civilisation. H. H. 



NO. 1672, VOL. 65] 



ANCIENT MEDICINE AND BOTANY. 

 Magistri Salernitani nondum editi. Catalogo ragionato 

 dclla Esposizione di Storia delta Medicina, aperta in 

 Torino net 1898. By Piero Giacosa. Pp. xxxiv -f 723. 

 8vo, with .Atlas in folio. (Torino : Bocca, 1901.) 



THIS fine work owes its origin to the "General 

 Italian Exhibition," held at Turin in 1898. The 

 author, Sig. Giacosa, suggested the formation, on that 

 occasion, of a section for the history of medicine, in 

 which should be collected documents illustrating that 

 subject from the great libraries of Italy. A similar collec- 

 tion had been brought together at the International 

 Medical Congress held at Rome in 1894, but, un- 

 fortunately, had been dispersed without being properly 

 catalogued or described. It was therefore proposed 

 also that on this occasion a complete descriptive catalogue 

 should be prepared. 



These propositions were favourably received by the 

 Minister of Public Instruction and other authorities, 

 with the result that, in response to invitations sent out, 

 a large number of precious manuscripts, archives and 

 other documents were sent in from various public 

 libraries, forming probably the most remarkable collec- 

 tion of its kind ever brought together. 



Most of the public libraries of Italy contributed to the 

 exhibition, but there were certain exceptions. The 

 absence of any contribution from the library of the 

 Vatican is easily understood ; but we regret to observe 

 that nothing was sent from the splendid Laurentian 

 library at Florence, which is particularly rich in works of 

 this class. 



The most remarkable part of the collection consisted 

 of ancient medical manuscripts, dating from the ninth 

 century onwards, many of them richly illustrated, and 

 important in the history of art as well as in that of 

 science. The text of many of these had never been 

 printed, and the marvellous illustrations had remained 

 entirely unknown except to those who were able to study 

 them in the libraries where they are preserved. Before 

 these treasures were again dispersed, .Sig. Giacosa, 

 assisted by eminent scholars, transcribed, and has here 

 published, some very important inedited manuscripts, and 

 reproduced specimens of the text by photography. In 

 addition, some of the more remarkable pictorial illus- 

 trations which adorn the older codices have been also 

 reproduced in the splendid atlas which accompanies the 

 work. 



The first part of the printed book consists of pre- 



, viously unpublished medical writings belonging to the 



I school of Salerno, " Magistri Salernitani nondum editi." 



I Salerno was the seat of the earliest medical school — 



' indeed the earliest University — in Europe, which produced 



a medical literature of its own before the Arabian 



medical writers, with their versions of the Oeek medical 



classics, occupied all the schools of Europe and formed 



the basis of European medicine in the Middle .Xges. 



The study of the school of Salerno is most important in 



the history of medicine, and the texts published by Sig. 



Giacosa, which supplement in many ways the " Collectio 



Salernitana," edited by Henschel, Daremberg and 



de Renzi, nearly fifty years ago, form an important 



I contribution to that study. 



