March 18, 1880] 



NATURE 



465 



that, though linguistically standing quite apart, the 

 Basques belong ethnically to the same great Mediter- 

 ranean or Caucasian stock as do the Aryans themselves, 

 and that they can therefore have nothing in common with 

 the "Turanians." He should also try to realise the fact 

 that Aryan is much more a linguistic than an ethnical term ; 

 hence that though there may have been non- Aryan speaking 

 peoples in the British Isles, they need not necessarily have 

 belonged to a different ethnical type from the Aryan-speaking 

 tribes, who afterwards arrived in successive waves of 

 migration, and practically absorbed the previous elements. 

 In a word, apart from the question of quaternary man 

 typified on the Continent by the fossil remains discovered 

 at Canstadt, Cromagnon, Furfooz, Nagy-Sap, and else- 

 where, there is nothing to show that in the present 

 geological epoch these islands have been occupied by any 

 races typically distinct from the Mediterranean, least of all 

 that " the primitive Irish were ... of a kindred more 

 like Finns, Lapps, and Siberians " (p. 9). The Finns have 

 been proved to be comparatively recent arrivals in Eastern 

 Europe, and certainly never have reached the west. Who 

 the " Siberians " are it is impossible to say, for the term 

 is unknown to anthropology as a distinct racial appella- 

 tion, being in fact a purely political or geographical 

 expression. 



A good deal is said about " the dark stock " prevailing 

 in the west and south-west of Ireland. But one of the 

 chief sources of that element is entirely overlooked, 

 probably because too recent and too obvious to arrest the 

 attention of the palaeolithic and neolithic ethnologists. 

 The source in question is the Spanish, due to the close 

 commercial and even social intimacy maintained by Spain 

 with the west coast of Ireland down to quite recent times. 

 There were important Spanish trading stations at Dingle, 

 Valentia, Cahirciveen, Bantry, Timoleague, Galway, and 

 elsewhere. Many of the old houses in these places are 

 built in the Spanish style, and it may not be generally 

 known that Valentia Island was actually held by the 

 Spaniards until expelled during the vigorous administra- 

 tion of Cromwell. Many of the peasantry in Kerry 

 and Galway bear an unmistakable Spanish expression, 

 and this factor ought certainly to be taken into account 

 in dealing with the complicated problem of Irish 

 ethnology. 



Verbal resemblances are appealed to or at least quoted 

 in the most reckless manner. One instance must suffice : 

 " The Lcttmanni, or Leathmannice, are said to have 

 given name to the Avene Liff or I.iffey ; some trace the 

 tribe to Livonia of the Baltic" (p. 20). Why to " Livonia 

 of the Baltic" any more than to Livadia of Greece, or 

 Livno of Herzegovina, or Livorno of Italy, or Livuma of 

 East Africa, or Livny of Russia, or Lippai of Styria, or 

 Liffa of the Moluccas ? It is the old story of a river in 

 Macedon and a river at Monmouth, so that "the situa- 

 tion, look you, is both alike,'' and Fluellen's ethnology 

 quite as good as that of many here appealed to as 

 authorities. 



On the subject of the Round Towers the writer has 

 some sensible remarks, and we are glad to see that he 

 has had the courage to reject the Christian theory of 

 their origin. Referring to those overthrown by the earth- 

 quake of 44S A.D., he well remarks that "it was very 

 unlikely they had been erected as belfries, since the 



churches of the period were all of wood, and continued 

 to be of wood for six hundred years after. The oldest 

 stone churches are extremely rude and of imperfect 

 masonry. It is strange, therefore, that the belfries, sup- 

 posed to have been raised in the twelfth or thirteenth 

 century, when churches were either of wood or clay, or of 

 miserable stone-work, should have a finish and delicacy 



of work rivalling anything of modern times If 



Christian, how is it that only two out of one hundred and 

 twenty-five should bear the least symbol of a Christian 

 character, and while those evidently show such marks to 

 be novel alterations ?" 



The writer's style and grammar are peculiar. On the 

 very first page we have "lots of discussions;" "we 

 might, it is true, track backward on the track of new- 

 comers;" "we could thus pass by English, Scotch .... 

 without ever getting across the original men." Farther 

 on, "The cup-marks are being still reverenced," p. 10; 

 "inroading peoples," p. 17. "They brought with them 

 there fifty maidens," p. 21. "They reappear on Irish 

 sods," p. 23. "The Danes made Dublin, Wexford, 

 Cork, and Waterford the commercial ports they are, 

 whose people are now lighter than the others," p. 59. 

 " Silver was once abundantly ornamenting it, besides 

 precious stones," p. 80. Elsewhere the uncial style of 

 penmanship is spoken of as a "corrupt Latin;" the 

 famous " Book of Kells " is referred to as " the Book of 

 Kelly;" the abolition of clan war-shouts is said to have 

 removed "one cause for shillelahing ; " the tendency of 

 the English to become assimilated to the natives 

 is described as "the habit of English to turn Irishy 

 {sic) there;" hence the king hesitates "about the 

 expediency of allowing decent Englishmen miring 

 with Irish,'' p. 120. There is a good deal of this flippant 

 tone, which cannot fail to give as much offence to the 

 sensitive Irish as the extraordinary grammar certainly 

 will to the sensitive English reader. 



A. H. Keaxe 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Zoology for Students and General Readers. By A. S. 

 Packard, Jun., M.D., Professor of Zoology and Geology 

 in Brown University. With numerous Illustrations. 

 (New York: Henry Holt and Co. London: Trubner 

 and Co., 1879.) 



This neatly printed and well illustrated volume forms 

 one of the American Science Series, the principal ob- 

 ject of which is to supply the lack, in some subjects 

 very great, of authoritative books whose principles are, so 

 far as practicable, illustrated by familiar American facts, 

 while they should at the same time at least not contradict 

 the very latest generalisations of science. Prof. Packard's 

 "Zoology" is one of the first published of the series ; it 

 is designed to be used quite as much in the laboratory or 

 with specimens in hand as in the class-room. It is an 

 expansion of a course of lectures for college students, 

 though prepared to meet the wants of the general reader. 

 Most of the anatomical descriptions and drawings have 

 been made expressly for this book, and special portions 

 have had the benefit of being supervised by Professors 

 Hyatt, Gill, Cope, and Dr. E. Coues ; the illustrations 

 are to a large extent original, though some of them have 

 appeared before in the pages of the American Natu- 

 ralist, or in Dr. Coues's " Key to the Birds of North 

 America." 



