April 14, 1870 | 
NATURE 
603 
of Retzius, who attended exclusively to the form of the 
skull and face. Race and language, or form of speech, on 
the other hand, he thinks, are associated by the closest 
and profoundest ties. The persistence of some of the 
races whose contours have been handed down tous by the 
artists of the ancient Egyptians and Persians may, he con- 
siders, at a low estimate, be placed at 8,000 years, since it 
is likely that they had endured at least as long previously 
to their being fixed in stone as they have done since. 
Everything, he thinks, serves to show the persistence and 
invariability of race. But if we pass from man regarded 
from an anthropological to an ethnographical point of view, 
his unchangeability is no longer perceptible. The form of 
the land, the climate, the Flora and Fauna by which he 
is surrounded, all exert a powerful influence upon him. 
The low grade of mental development on which the 
Australian stands, may easily be attributed to the singular 
dearth of useful plants and useful animals by which he is 
surrounded ; and the Polynesian would undoubtedly have 
advanced to a higher level, if the plants and animals 
around him had been appropriate objects to stimulate and 
extend his intellectual faculties. The views here expressed, 
it will be seen, are curiously in accordance with those 
expressed by Buckle. 
Dr. Miiller estimates the total number of inhabitants on 
the earth at 1,342 millions, an estimate which differs from 
that of Behm by only five millions. He divides them into 
the following races :—1. Australian; 2. Japanese; 3. 
Malays; 4. Ballaks; 5. African Negroes; 6. Central 
Africans ; 7. Hottentots ; 8. Caffres ; 9. Americans ; Io. 
Northern Asiatics; 11. South Asiatics ; 12. High Asiatics ; 
13. Europeans. 
A general view of the ethnology and language of each 
of these is given, with details of those subdivisions that 
were encountered by the Vovara in her voyage. Some 
of these are excellently drawn up, and contain much 
original and interesting matter. To take one as a speci- 
men—the Chinese. 
These he regards as representing the highest type to 
which the Mongolian type can attain, and standing to the 
yellow races in the position that the Greeks of old did, 
and the Germans, French, and English of the present 
day, do to the nations of Europe. 
The physical features of the country and the characters 
of the climate are lightly sketched. Their Fauna and 
Flora are stated to be richer in useful animals and plants 
than any other region of the earth. Their clothing, dwelling, 
food, amusements, and arms are then described. The 
character of the modern Chinese is hit off in a few happy 
touches. ‘The basis of his character is rest. Hence his 
condition of stagnation. His knowledge leads always to 
the same results ; the present is still the best, and for the 
ideal, and the improvement and advance of the future, 
be it never so golden, he has no aspirations. The cere- 
monies of marriage and the occupations of daily life are 
detailed. The children are stated to be well educated, 
and it is noticeable that in the better families even the 
girls are taught general literature, music, and painting. 
Their trade, religion, and, finally, their language, are 
considered. The same plan is pursued with the other 
divisions, and the reader is presented with a very enter- 
taining, though highly condensed, account of the principal 
types of mankind. 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Alpine Flowers for English Gardens. By W. Robinson, 
F.L.S. (London : J. Murray. 1870.) 
THE author of “The Parks, Promenades, and Gardens 
of Paris,” presents us here with a work which will be of 
great value to every lover of gardening. Although the 
formal and unsightly monstrosities of Loudon’s “ Land- 
scape and Suburban Gardener” are now happily out of 
date, there is probably no department of landscape 
gardening in which a cruder and more artificial taste is 
sill displayed than in the construction of rock-work. Not 
only is the prevalent style of rockery faulty from an 
esthetic point of view, but, as Mr. Robinson shows, it is 
eminently unfitted for the growth of Alpine plants, which, 
even when their stems reach only a few inches above the 
ground, strike their roots feet, and even yards, into the 
soil with which the crevices in the rock are filled. in order 
to enable them to withstand the sudden droughts to which 
they are subject. Messrs. Backhouse, of York, have 
shown how, by careful attention to the conditions under 
which plants thrive in their native habitats, many ferns 
and flowering plants which are usually seen only in green- 
houses, can be successfully grown on out-of-door rockeries ; 
and if the directions given by Mr. Robinson are carefully 
followed, any professional gardener or private gentleman, 
with the appliances ordinarily found in a moderately- 
sized garden, will be able to produce results which will 
astonish his friends and neighbours. The descriptive list 
of Alpine flowers, with the soil and treatment suited to 
each, is complete and valuable ; some of the illustrations 
are pretty, others are on too small a scale to be effective. 
Systematisches Verzeichniss der in Deutschland lebenden 
Binnen - Mollusken, zusammengestellt, von Carl 
Kreglinger. 8vo. (Wiesbaden, 1870.) 
A BOOK of 403 pages, and merely a list of the inland (or 
land and freshwater) Mollusca of Germany, without any 
description or figure. Nearly one-half of this extensive 
compilation is taken up with useless synonyms of the 
species. Among the chaff there is some good grain in 
the nature of geographical and geological distribution. 
The author does not seem to be a species-maker ; al- 
though in some cases he attaches, in my opinion, too 
much importance to slight and local differences. How- 
ever, there is unfortunately no court of appeal. He 
evidently has not consulted all the works which he 
cites ; or he would not have adopted Dr. J. E. Gray’s 
specific name of s¢vzatula for the Zonites radiatulus of 
Alder, the former having described or rather indicated 
the species as “ Helix Zonttes striatula,? and thus con- 
travened the established rules of nomenclature. Nor do 
we find any reference to works which were published last 
year before the date of his preface, for instance, the con- 
cluding volume of “ British Conchology.” Herr Kreglinger 
enumerates 347 species as inhabiting Germany—a wide 
range, extending from Schleswig-Holstein to Dalmatia 
(a distance of between $00 and 900 miles), and compris- 
ing every variety of situation and soil, mountain, forest, 
pasture, woodland, lake, river, marsh, and the sea-coast. 
Indeed, in the last respect, he has “ travelled out of the 
record” by adding some unquestionably marine species 
belonging to the genera MZelampus and Truncatella. The 
number of British inland species is 125. Of Clausilia 
we have 4 only, while Germany boasts of 54; of 
Vitrina and its allies we possess but 1 out of 9, of 
Neritina 1 out of 5, and of Hydrobia (or Paludinella) 1 
out of 18; the genera Zosfeum and Lithoglyphius, which 
are peculiar to South Germany, and the family of AZelania 
are utter strangers to our country. It is to be regretted 
that the author has without inquiry followed L. Pfeiffer in 
recognising such genera as dzeca and Ferussacia. Those 
few workers, to whom the high price of 20s. may not be 
an object, will be glad to have this catalogue raisonné in 
their libraries. 2 J. GWYN JEFFREYS 
