276 



NA TURE 



[September 2, 1909 



different way. The main conclusion in both theories is 

 the same, biit Mr. Taylor explains the necessary thinness 

 of the lines as due to irradiation, whereas it appears to 

 me to be a contrast effect. The weak illumination of the 

 disc does not seem to warrant an assumption of irradiation. 



Stewart's curves for colour vision and Burch's work 

 on " .Artificial Temporary Colour Blindness " show that 

 the colour sensations have different rates of growth and 

 decav. When this difference has been admitted, it is easy 

 to c.xplain the colours of the Benham top by the sequence 

 of white and black divisions on the disc, the thinness of 

 the lines being necessary to reinforce by a contrast the 

 weak colour effect. F. Peake Sexton. 



Hampton Wick. 



A/.4iV AND ANIMALS.' 



THIS volume, of which some chapters have 

 already appeared in the Contemporary Review, 

 will be eagerly read and studied by all interested 

 in animal psycholog-y and the treatment of the inferior 

 animals by man. For, mixed up with a large amount 

 of perhaps somewhat irrelevant matter relating to 



persistently scouted. Moreover, if we read between 

 the lines, the author appears to be convinced that 

 animals have souls, and are therefore immortal, 

 although we do not find this stated in so many words. 

 That this was the idea of the Jews in biblical times 

 the author considers to be proved by the doctrine that 

 " the blood is the life." If this idea of animal 

 immortality be true, no thoughtful person can read 

 the volume without serious misgivings and heart- 

 searchings. 



Throughout, the book is written in an attractive 

 style, and we have read it from preface to index with 

 real pleasure. The attractive style of the text is 

 rendered the more interesting by the numerous excel- 

 lent plates with which the volume is illustrated. Some 

 of these do not appear, however, to be referred to in 

 the text ; and it is a pity that the author did not 

 consult a naturalist before deciding on their titles. 

 We find, for instance, the plate facing p. 108 (here- 

 with reproduced), taken from an .Assyrian relief in the 

 British .Museum, lettered "wild goats and voung"; 

 while in the illustration facing p. 116 we have another 



A^ ;jiitn Relief in the Krilish Museum showing a troop of (?) Gazelles. From the " Place of Animals in Human Thought, 



termed "wild goats." 



.vhere the animals are 



the history of religions, the author has collected a 

 vast store of information relating to the estimation 

 or otherwise in which animals have been held by the 

 ancient nations from Egyptian, Bhuddistic, and 

 Graco-Roman times to the Middle Ages ; while the 

 concluding chapter deals with modern ideas on the 

 subject. 



The objects, origin, and conception of sacrifice are 

 each treated at considerable length, while folk-lore has 

 been largely drawn upon to illustrate the subject from 

 all points of view. Among numerous other instances 

 of the wide origin of such legends, we may refer to 

 the author's account of how the Welsh story of the 

 wolf-hound Gellert, is paralleled in other countries. 

 The Countess appears to be a firm believer in the 

 doctrine that the intelligence of the lower animals 

 differs only in degree from that of their masters ; and 

 the theory that any animals are mere automatons is 



^ "The Place of Animals in Human Thought." By the Countess Evelyn 

 Martinengo Cesaresco. Pp.376; illustrated. (London : T. Fisher Unwi'n, 

 3909.) Price I2S. 6ii. net. 



NO. 2079, VOL. 81] 



-Assyrian sculpture, representing a god carr^'ing a 

 horned animal, apparently furnished with a beard, 

 which is designated an " antelope." That the animals 

 in the first figure are not wild goats is evident from 

 the character of the horns of the males, the lack of 

 a beard in that sex, and the absence of both these ap- 

 pendages in the females ; and we have a strong 

 suspicion that they really represent one of the larger 

 .African gazelles, such as the addra. 



The work, moreover, sadly wanted revision by a 

 well-educated proof-reader. " Worser," which occurs 

 at least twice, is not Engli-.h ; neither is " Ouartenary," 

 also occurring twice, correct orthography ; the latter 

 remark also applying to " camel-leopard " (p. 345). 

 .A niungoose, moreover, is not a member of the weasel 

 tribe (p. 308), neither is it correct to term a wolf a 

 vulpine animal. If such blemishes occurred in many 

 books we could mention, we should pass them over 

 without notice; the pity of it is that they mar the 

 pages of such a thoroughlv interesting volume as the 

 one of which we now take leave. R. L. 



