514 



NA TURE 



[October 28, 1909 



breaks down under the most elenientarv rules of criti- 

 cism. That she does cure ' functional ' diseases. That 

 she has never cured, nor ever will, any disease, except 

 those which have been cured, a hundred thousand 

 times, by 'mental therapeutics.'" 



Two further lines of criticism are pursued by the 

 author. First, he pictures a large hospital given over 

 to the care of Christian "scientists," with its cases 

 of appendi.x abscess rupturing into the peritoneum, 

 strangulated hernia going on to gangrene, advanced 

 heart disease getting out of bed and taking violent 

 exercise, and spinal disease hanging on gymnastic 

 bars ! Secondly, he has obtained information from 

 various medical practitioners of cases of organic 

 disease going from bad to worse under the " treat- 

 ment " of Christian "scientists." 



The author is no dogmatist; he freely admits the 

 influence of mind over body, that Christian science 

 may cure hysteria and the liquor habit, that as regards 

 the revival of " spiritual healing " it is for the patient 

 and the family to have what ordinance or ritual they 

 wish to have. No doctor would find fault with that 

 sort of work provided it is kept in its proper place. 

 This aspect of mind renders the book all the more 

 convincing, and we feel sure that it may fill a useful 

 place in refuting the pretensions of Christian 

 " scientists." R. T. H. 



SEMITIC MAGIC. 

 Semilic Magic, its Origins and Development. By 

 R. Campbell Thompson. Pp. Ixviii 4-286. (London: 

 Luzac and Co., 190S.) Price 10s. bd. net. 

 TV /TESSRS. LUZ.\C have produced a useful as well 

 ■i- ' J- as well-looking volume as the third contribution 

 to their " Oriental Religious Series " in Mr. K. 

 Campbell Thompson's "Semitic Magic." Mr. 

 Thompson's book is an attempt to bring our know- 

 ledge of Arab, Hebrew, and Babylonian (Assvrian) 

 magic into line with the scientific treatment of the 

 demonology and witchcraft of other peoples which 

 the labours of many devoted workers have given us 

 during the past half-century. 



It is not too much to say that the field of Semitic 

 magic has hitherto been somewhat unduly neglected 

 by writers on the subject. Probably shyness of deal- 

 ing with a subject which must owe so much to a 

 correct interpretation of the cuneiform texts has had 

 much to do with this fact. A knowledge of the necro- 

 mantic ideas of the Jews and the Arabs, especiallv of 

 those of the former people, we have always possessed 

 in abundance, but Semitic magic without Babylonian 

 and -Assyrian magic would indeed be Hamlet without 

 the Prince of Denmark, and up to the present time 

 general anthropologists have rightly been diffident of 

 their power to collate adequately material of which 

 they have no first-hand knowledge with the results 

 of their study of the necromancy of the Jews and 

 Arabs. It was first necessary that a cuneiform scholar 

 should be found with an active interest in the general 

 subject, and a competent knowledge of the other 

 anthropological material, not only from the rest of 

 the Semitic nations, but from the whole of the primi- 

 tive world. 



NO. 2087, VOL. 81] 



Mr. Thompson, who is an Assyriologist with a 

 general knowledge of anthropology and a special in- 

 terest in the subject of magic, has essaj'ed to fill the 

 gap ; and we think that as a first essay he has done 

 so very successfully. His book is not an exhaustive 

 treatise ; it can be regarded simply as an introduction 

 tD the subject, based from the Semitic side ultimately 

 on Robertson Smith's epoch-making book, "The Re- 

 ligion of the Semites," and from the general side 

 largely on the work of Frazer. But at the same time, 

 Mr. Thompson is an original thinker who does not 

 hesitate to criticise the work of his models when he 

 thinks they are wrong, and to draw new conclusions' 

 from the large amount of new material which he 

 now places in our hands, derived from his own 

 Assyriological knowledge. Later on Mr. Thompson 

 may perhaps produce a larger work on tlie subject; 

 to which his present volume will serve as a preface.' 

 As it stands, his book is an authoritative contribution 

 to anthropology, which will be found of very great 

 use by all students of the beliefs of primitive man- 

 kind. 



Mr. Thompson lays great stress upon the subject 

 of tabu, of the existence of which he finds constant 

 evidence among the Semites, while demoniac posses- 

 sion, sympathetic magic, and the specially Semitic 

 ideas of the .Atonement, Sacrifice, and the Redemp- 

 tion of the Firstborn, all have chapters specially 

 devoted to them. The long quotations which he gives 

 from the cuneiform texts are of great interest, and 

 enable us to form an adequate idea of the great part 

 which magic played in the daily life of the oldest 

 civilised peoples of the ancient world. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



British Rainfall, 1908. On the Distribution of Rain 

 in Space and Time oz>cr the British Isles during the 

 Year 190S as recorded by more than 4500 Observers 

 in Great Britain and Ireland, and discussed with 

 Articles upon ]'arious Branches of Rainfall Work. 

 By Dr. Hugh Robert Mill. Pp. 100 + 304; with 

 maps and illustrations. (London : Edward Stan- 

 ford, 1909.) Price loi". 



The author has stated elsewhere that the perfect 

 lainfall map is a thing of the future, many prelimin- 

 ary studies being necessary before it can be drawn, 

 rhe irregularity of rainfall and its dependence upon 

 orographical features require a very large number of 

 stations, and observations made during the same 

 period for at least thirty or thirty-five years for deter- 

 mining its average annual distribution and variation. 

 By the energy of the late Mr. G. J. Symons, the 

 founder of the British Rainfall Organisation, and his 

 successors, the British Isles can boast of a system of 

 rainfall observations quite unique and unrivalled by 

 that of any other country ; the data published yearly 

 in " British Rainfall " supply invaluable materials 

 for general discussions, and, in fact, have been fre- 

 quenriy utilised by various authorities. Part i. of the 

 present volume, the forty-eighth of the series, contains 

 articles by Dr. Mill on new recording rain-gauges, 

 by Mr. A. Lockwood on rainfall observations in Snow- 

 donia, and others; also records of evaporation and 

 percolation, duration of rainfall at various stations, and 

 other matter. Part ii. includes, inter alia, observers' 

 weather notes for days, months, and the year, heavy 

 rains for short periods and for days, monthly and 



