146 



NA TURE 



[July 29, 1922 



recommendations as to future work. The findings of 

 the committee have shown clearly that the whole 

 subject of grain pests is one of great importance to the 

 Empire, and it is recommended that the State should 

 assume a general responsibility for the continuance of 

 the investigations. It is obvious that, if the work 

 is to be placed on a permanent basis, it must be suffici- 

 ently provided for in order that it may be carried to its 

 logical conclusion — the practical control of grain pests. 

 The recommendations made for the provision of a 

 nucleus organisation do not involve any large expendi- 

 ture of money and, in view of the great importance 

 of the conservation of food-stuffs, it is earnestly hoped 

 that the Government will see its way to establish the 

 work along lines suggested by this committee. 



A. D. Imms. 



Among Primitive Peoples in Borneo : A Description 

 of the Lives, Habits and Customs of the Piratical 

 Head-Hunters of North Borneo. By I. H. Evans. 

 Pp. 318. (London : Seeley, Service and Co., Ltd., 

 1922.) 21s. net. 



The part of Borneo described by Mr. Evans is that 

 which is under the control of the British North Borneo 

 Company, and the peoples with whom he deals are three 

 in number : the Dusuns, an Indonesian people speak- 

 ing a Malayo-Polynesian language, who inhabit the 

 interior ; and the Bajaus and Illanuns, immigrants of 

 Proto-Malayan stock who live on the coast. Mr. 

 Evans is a careful observer, and his experience as an 

 official of the company enables him to speak with 

 authority. On many points he is able to correct or 

 supplement our previous information. The peoples he 

 describes present marked contrasts, both in tempera- 

 ment and in culture. The Dusun is an agriculturist, 

 in the main industrious, living in independent village- 

 communities, each under a headman. In religious 

 belief he is an animist, and has a strong and abiding 

 faith in omens. The coastal peoples, on the other hand, 

 are indolent and inveterate gamblers, who, now that 

 their former chief industry — piracy — has been sup- 

 pressed, earn their living from the sea. They are 

 Mahommedans, but lax, and their religious beliefs 

 embody many survivals of primitive beliefs, of which, 

 unfortunately, Mr. Evans had opportunity to collect 

 only a few examples. 



The Island of Roses and her Eleven Sisters : or, the 

 Dodecanese from the Junius! lime down to the Present 

 Day. By Dr. Michael D. Volonakis. Pp. xxv + 438. 

 (London : Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1922). 405. net. 



In this volume the author gives an account, both his- 

 torical and geographical, of the twelve islands lying off 

 the western extremity of Asia Minor, for which the term 

 " Dodecanese " has become current since the Italo- 

 Turkish war. Of these, the most important is the 

 island of Rhodes, but to English readers the names 

 of others, notably Patmos, associated with St. John 

 and the Book of Revelations, and Cos, the home of 

 Hippocrates, will be equally familiar. The author, 

 himself a native of the Dodecanese, relics mainly upon 

 literary sources, but has supplemented these by the 

 evidence of archaeology and numismatics, while his 

 intimate local knowledge has proved invaluable in 



NO. 2752, VOL. I io] 



elucidating his authorities. Owing to the isolation 

 of their insular position, the inhabitants, while taking 

 part in times of crisis in the affairs of mainland Greece, 

 have kept their institutions practically intact from a 

 remote period, notwithstanding successive waves of 

 invasion, and subjection to the Knights of St. John, 

 the Turk and the Italian. Hence this description of 

 the islands has a peculiar value, and the author's fuller 

 account of their archaeologv and culture here promised 

 will be awaited with interest. The book is exceedingly 

 well illustrated by numerous photographs. 



The Machinery of the Mind. By Violet M. Firth. 

 Pp. 95. (London : G. Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 

 u)22.) y. 6d. net. 



It is stated by the author that this volume is for the 

 edification of those who have neither the time nor the 

 training necessary for the study of standard texts. 



Whether such readers wall be in the position, at the 

 end of its perusal, to apply its generalisation to the 

 interpretation of their own problems, or be inspired to 

 continue the subject, is doubtful. In less than one 

 hundred pages the author disposes of some of the most 

 fundamental and debatable problems of modern psy- 

 chology, but naturally there is no clue to their debat- 

 able character. It may be possible to compress the 

 general truths of some sciences into a few pages, but 

 none of the biological sciences are in that position, and 

 psvchology least of all. In a few lines the technical 

 terms, sensation, percepts, concepts, images are used 

 but not explained, while complex is used in two different 

 senses. Analogy is useful in its place, but is very much 

 over-used here ; nor is it scientifically sound to give 

 as evidence in a later chapter what has been merely 

 asserted in an earlier one. In short this book is little 

 more than an expanded dictionary of some frequently 

 used psychological terms with the drawback that the 

 order is not alphabetical. 



Human Traits and their Social Significance. By Dr. 



Irwin Edman. Pp. xii + 467. (London: Constable 



and Co.. Ltd., n.d.) 15s. 

 The work under notice is designed to serve as a general 

 introduction to the problems of contemporary civilisa- 

 tion. The author feels that in attempting to interpret 

 the conditions of life under which we live the psycho- 

 logical point of view is too frequently overlooked, and 

 vet it is most important. Following Dr. McDougall 

 and Prof. Thorndike, he describes the fundamental 

 activities which are man's endowment, his primitive 

 instincts, their environmental modification and develop- 

 ment, the individual difference in endowment and the 

 part played by language. While emphasising the 

 innate character of many of man's actions and aims, 

 the author realises that there is also in man the power to 

 reason and to put before himself ideals which he con- 

 siders desirable ; such ideals when embodied in social 

 customs, institutions, and speech become powerful 

 motives. 



The style is clear and the whole book is easy to read 

 and should prove of value to the historian, economist, 

 and the student interested in the complexities of life. 

 The subdivision of each chapter, however, into para- 

 graphs with a heading in heavy type seems unnecessary, 

 and is a hindrance rather than a help. 



