Oct. 21, 1880] 



NATURE 



5^1 



of generic and specific variation should also be applicable 

 in explanation of certain plants and insects of constant 

 character, being discovered confined to various geological 

 soils within the radius of their distribution, or to favourite 

 haunts postulating more than simple dispersion from a 

 centre. And the pale blue of butterflies frequenting lime- 

 stone and chalky downs need evoke no interference in 

 the law of albinism if the honeyed cowslips and downy 

 oxiips over whose leaves they flutter are, as reputed by 

 LinnKus and Prof. Henslow, specifically identical with 

 the shadow-seeking primrose, and may be raised from 

 the same root. So likewise the local feature of melanism 

 may be regarded as not only manufacturing annual 

 varieties, but as pervading the black, brown, and drab 

 tribes of the Alpine, Arctic, and woodland faunas, and may 

 give a reason for their dark trait of beauty." 



We give up the above in despair of extracting its 

 meaning, if it has any ; and cannot but regret that a book 

 so full of valuable facts and good observations should be 

 spoilt by constant efforts at philosophical disquisition, for 

 which the tone of mind of the writer quits unfits him. 



WEAPONS AND POLITICS OF THE ANCIENT 

 HINDUS 



On the Weapons, Army Organisation and Political 

 Maxims of the Ancient Hindus, with Special Refer- 

 ence to Gunpo-ajdcr and Firearms. By Gustav Oppert. 

 (Madras : Higginbotham and Co. ; London : Triibner 

 and Co., 1880.) 



WHILE pursuing myresearches into ancient Indian 

 history," says Dr. Oppert, " I lighted upon two 

 ancient Sanskrit manuscripts containing interesting infor- 

 mation on many new and important topics. One of them, 

 the Nitipraka'sika, has been, I believe, up to now utterly un- 

 known, and the other, the 'Sukraniti, though known to exist, 

 has never been described and published." The manuscripts 

 relate to the weapons and military organisation of ancient 

 India, a subject upon which fresh light was much needed. 

 If for no other reason, therefore, they deserved to be 

 edited and translated. But one of them at least also con- 

 tains statements sufficiently novel and startling to claim 

 for them a special hearing. If we may believe it, not 

 only was gunpowder invented in India long before the 

 days of Berthold Schwarz or Roger Bacon, but firearms, 

 including both cannon and guns, were known and used. 

 The guns were even provided with sights and flints. 

 "The tube" of one of them, it is said in the 'Sukraniti, 

 " is five spans long, its breech has a perpendicular and 

 horizontal hole, at the breech and muzzle is always fixed a 

 sesame-bead for aligning the sights. The breech has at 

 the vent a mechanism w^hich, carrying stone and powder, 

 makes fire by striking. Its breech is well-wooded at the 

 side, in the middle is a hole, an angula broad ; after the 

 gunpowder is placed inside, it is firmly pressed down with 

 a ramrod. This is the small gun which ought to be 

 carried by foot-soldiers. . . A big gun is called (that 

 gun) which obtains the direction of the aim by moving 

 the breech with a wedge ; its end is without wood ; but 

 it is to be drawn on cars. . . . The ball is made of iron, 

 and has either small balls in its inside or is empty." Dr. 

 Oppert believes that the Nitipraka'sika also contains 

 references to firearms, though the passages he quotes 

 seem rather to refer to supernatural weapons or to fire- 

 machines like those used by the Greeks of the Eastern 



Empire. A work, too, which mentions the Hun.as 

 ("Huns," or Europeans) cannot be of the antiquity to 

 which he would assign it. 



Dr. Oppert seeks further support for the early use of 

 firearms in India in a passage from a portion of the 

 Atharvanarahasya, which he renders : "the fire prepared 

 by the combination of charcoal, sulphur, and other mate- 

 rial depends upon the skill of its maker." It is plain, 

 however, that there is no necessary allusion to gunpowder 

 in these words, much less to firearms. A quotation from 

 Manu, in which fighting with "darts kindled by fire "is 

 forbidden, is equally inconclusive. 



The statements of the 'Sukraniti must therefore stand 

 by themselves. In spite of Dr. Oppert's arguments to 

 the contrary, it is difficult to admit that in its present 

 form it can be earlier than the thirteenth century. The pro- 

 hibition to use firearms in "fair" fighting would not account 

 for the total absence of any reference to them in the law- 

 books and epics and other literature of ancient India, and 

 had they existed in the seventh century, or had the Hindus 

 been acquainted with gunpowder at that time, we can hardly 

 suppose that the fact would have remained unknown to 

 the inquisitive Buddhist pilgrims from China who have left 

 us accounts of their travels in the Peninsula. The Greek 

 fire had nothing to do with gunpowder, and we do not 

 therefore see why Dr. Oppert introduces it into the dis- 

 cussion, while there is no proof that the manjanik or 

 machine employed by Mohammed Kasim at the^ siege of 

 Daiba! (a.d. 711) was propelled by gunpowder. The 

 flaming thunderbolts launched by the Indians against the 

 array of Alexander, according to the pseudo-Aristotle, 

 belong to the region of myth, like the storms of lightning 

 with which Herakles and Dionysos were received when 

 they invaded India, as related in the romance of Philos- 

 tratos. Gunpowder may indeed have been invented in 

 India, as Beckmann believed, but if so we want further 

 evidence before we can admit that the invention was 

 earlier than the twelfth or thirteenth century of our 

 era. _ 



Among other interesting points noticed by Dr. Oppert 

 are the (ideal) rate of pay received by the officers and 

 privates of a Hindu army at the time the Nltiprak-a'sika 

 was composed, and the identification of i\Ianipura, the 

 capital of the Pandya kings, with the modern Madura. 

 He also points out that the boomerang is well known in 

 many parts of India, especially in the south, and that he 

 himself possesses four wooden ones, besides an iron one, 

 which he obtained from Pudukota. Two ivory ones, 

 from the armoury of the late Rajah of Tanjore, are pre- 

 served in the Madras Museum. The Tamil name of the 

 boomerang is valai tadai, or "bent stick," and it is 

 employed in hunting deer. It is one of the weapons 

 described in the Nitipraka'sika under the name of astara 

 or "scatterer." 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Lchrbitch der organischen Ojialitatii'cn Analyse. Von 

 Dr. Chr. Th. Barfoed. (Kopenhagen : Andr. Frest 

 und Sohn, 1880.) 

 There is no branch of qualitative chemical analysis in 

 such an unsatisfactory condition as that which deals with 

 organic acids and bases. The plans on which examma- 



