66 



NATURE 



[September 19, 1912 



THE GOLDEN BOUGH. 

 The Golden Bougli: A Study in Magic and 

 Religion. By Prof. J. G. Frazer, D.C.L. Third 

 edition. Part v. ; " Spirits of the Corn and of 

 the Wild." In 2 \ols. Vol. i., pp. xvii + 3ig. 

 \'ol. ii., pp. xii+371. (London: Macmillan 

 and Co., Ltd., igiJ.J Price, 2 vols., 20.?. net. 



AT the conclusion of his elaborate study of 

 " Spirits of the Corn," Prof. Frazer observes 

 that " while the fine flower of the religious con- 

 sciousness in myth, ritual, and art is fleeting and 

 evanescent, its simpler forms are comparatively 

 stable and permanent, being rooted deep in those 

 principles of common minds which bid fair to out- 

 live all the splendid but transient creations of 

 genius. It may be that . . . simple folk will still 

 cherish the simple faiths ul their nameless and 

 dateless forefathers. ..." In his feeling for the 

 system he has studied so long and so minutely, 

 the Darwin of 'religion resembles Ernest Renan, 

 who came to regard affectionately the Christian 

 and Pauline subjects of his analysis. 



But a more interesting' point is the suggestion 

 that superstition "springs eternal in the human 

 breast." If there is anything in the suggestion, 

 it is that what we know as superstitious ten- 

 dencies, crystallising into religious forms, are part 

 of the mechanical workings of the human brain. 

 For undoubtedly these multiple variations of a few 

 simple ideas persist, just as they first developed, 

 in subconscious or unconscious thought. It is 

 only the primitive explanations of belief and ritual 

 that show conscious exercise of the brain. PVom 

 a similar point of view, Adolf Bastian has re- 

 marked the deplorable sameness and the small 

 number of the conceptions of the human mind. 



Such views and such prognostications seem to 

 forget that mental action is relative to its object, 

 that it varies in form as its knowledge of the 

 object, and, consequently, that science can alter, 

 and has altered, the " principles of common 

 minds." And, after all, this rich crop of myth, 

 ritual, and religion, so carefully harvested in "The 

 Golden Bough," is but the chaff of man's imagina- 

 tion, however persuaded he may be that it is golden 

 grain. For the true seeds of the mind are 

 scientific ; during countless ages they were gar- 

 nered in absolute unconsciousness, fancy playing 

 meanwhile with the flying chaff. 



The mistake of regarding these recurrent and 

 multitudinous expressions of man's mental 

 "play" as the foundation of his individual tind 

 social achievements will not be made by the syn- 

 thetic sociologist of the future. He will take the 

 logical mechanism of the mind in its relation with 

 increasing knowledge :is the foundation, and 

 NO. 2238, VOL. 90] 



relegate the iridescent play of religion and super- 

 stition to the sphere of the imagination, as a part 

 of aesthetics. But this "play," simultaneous with, 

 or preceding, or following, mental adaptation to 

 reality will be of value in determining the nature 

 and quality of that adaptation. And the social 

 psychologist needs no further material than that 

 supplied in "The Golden Bough" and in 

 " Totemism and Exogamy" for understanding 

 the tendencies of the mind when free from scientific 

 relations. 



The discussion of " Spirits of the Corn and of 

 the Wild " is the main stem of " The Golden 

 Bough." Mannhardt's studies, which inspired it 

 originally, have found a multiplex reincarnation. 

 Besides the general extension of material there are 

 interesting and valuable episodes, such as the 

 connection of the Pleiades with agriculture, 

 woman's part in agriculture, games in agriculture. 

 A delightful essay on Empedocles as a pioneer of 

 e\olution and in comparison with Herbert Spencer 

 shows the author's stvle at its best. 



A. E. Crawley. 



SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS. 

 (i) Schutsferniente des tierischen Organismus. By 

 Emil Abderhalden. Pp. xii + iio. (Berlin: 

 Julius Springer, 1912.) Price 3.20 marks. 



(2) Les Parathyroides. By L. Morel. Pp. iii-l- 344. 

 (Paris: A. Hermann et Fils, 1912.) Price 

 10 francs. (Questions Biologiques Actuelles.) 



(3) Le Gout et I'Odorat. By J. Larguier des 

 Bancels. Pp. x+94. Paris: A. Hermann et 

 Fils, 1912.) Price 3.50 francs. (Questions 

 Biologiques .\ctuelles.J 



(4) The Piiysiiilogy of Protein Metabolism. By 

 Dr. E. P. Cathcart. Pp. viii+142. (London: 

 Longmans, Green and Co., 1912.) Price 4.f. 6rf. 

 net. (Monographs on Biochemistry.) 



(i) T)ROF. EMIL ABDERHALDEN is pro- 

 XT bably about the busiest physiological 

 investigator at the present day ; he is certainly 

 the most prolific writer. Not only do original 

 papers flow in a steady stream from his laboratory, 

 but he has also the time and energy to edit and 

 write books. The work mentioned above is one 

 of the most recent of these, and in it he collates 

 the results of his own work and that of others on 

 one of the most interesting developments of recent 

 biochemical study. It deals with the protective 

 mechanisms of the body, and especially with the 

 part played by enzymes in resisting the eft'ects of 

 introducing foreign material into it. This is only 

 part of the large subject included under the general 

 heading of Immunity, but it is an important part. 

 It is, for instance, well known that if "peptone" 



