November 6, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



263 



must be allowed for in all Indian words we have from them. 

 The English usually called the Oneida and Oswego Rivers the 

 Onondaga. In a similar way Genesee River was often termed the 

 Seneca. 



These notes need not be carried further, for it is my present 

 purpose merely to direct attention to a few points. Examination 

 will show that large numbers of Indian names are still in use, 

 but with no better meanings than our own. 



W. M. Beauchamp. 

 Baldwinsville, N.Y., Oct. 31. 



Battles and Rain. 



In Science for Oct. 16 I quoted the only part I had then seen of 

 the now rather famous reference by Plutarch to the occurrence 

 of rain after great battles, and I then considered it as having the 

 meaning commonly ascribed to it. Mr. Powers, however, now 

 tries to show that the commonly accepted meaning is erroneous, 

 and supports himself by the original passage. It seems to me that 

 the ordinary view is correct, and that Mr. Powers, by omitting a 

 portion and by an incorrect interpretation of the passage, has been 

 misled. I tvill give the passage as translated by Langhorne, italics, 

 punctuation, and all. 



"From these writers [historians] we learn, that the Massilians 

 walleiJ in their vineyards with the bones they found in the field; 

 and that the rain which fell the winter following, soaking in the 

 moisture of the putrefied bodies, the ground was so enriched by it, 

 that it produced the next season, a prodigious crop. Thus the 

 opinion of Archilochus is continned, that fields are fattened with 

 blood. It is observed, indeed, that extraordinary rains generally 

 fall after great battles; whether it be that some deity chooses to 

 wash and purify the earth with water from above, or whether the 

 blood and corruption, by the moist and heavy vapors they emit, 

 thicken the air, which is liable to be altered by the smallest cause." 

 Dryden's translation begins this last statement as follows: "It is 

 an observation, also, that extraordinary rains pretty generally fall 

 after great battles," etc. 



It will be seen at once that the last part of this statement by 

 Plutarch has a very different meaning from the first. It would be 

 a remarkable climate that would permit the blood to remain on 

 the earth, or thicken the air with moist and heavy vapors, six 

 months more or less. The extraordinary rains referred to must 

 have occurred very soon after the battle. These served to soak 

 the corruption (which would begin in a very few hours in that 

 climate) and the blood into the surface soil, and thus tended to 

 purify the surface, as Plutarch says. The rains of the subsequent 

 winter carried this material still deeper, and enriched the ci'ops. 

 Plutaich does not connect the two rains together, but rather care- 

 fully separates them by the clause referring to Archilochus. The 

 rains of the winter following were evidently gentle, long-continued, 

 and crop producing, and not like the earlier extraordinary rains 

 immediately after the battle and lasting, probably, a few hours 

 only. It would seem as though a good understanding of this 

 earlier view may help prove the falsity of the later regarding ex- 

 plosions and rain. H. A. Hazen. 



■Washington, D.C.Nov. 3. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Christopher Columbus and how he received and imparted the 

 Spirit of Discovery. By Justin Winsor. New York, 

 Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 8°. $4. 



Now^ that the fourth centenary of the discovery of America is 

 <;lose at hand, books relating to that event, and to the man who 

 brought it to pass, are likely to be abundant. We doubt, how- 

 e^'fer, if any of the rest of them will equal in interest and impor- 

 tance this work of Mr. Winsor. It is written in the spirit and 

 with the methods of the best historical criticism, and with a sin- 

 cere endeavor to discover and state the real truth. On the one 

 hand, it presents the significance and results of Columbus's work 

 in a clear- and impressive light, while on the other it endeavors to 

 set forth with historical fidelity the lineaments of his character. 

 Its literary merits, too, are considerable, the style being strong 



and incisive, yet at the same time clear and easy flowing. The 

 opening chapters, which treat of the documentary sources from 

 which the life of Columbus has to be learned, are somewhat too 

 technical for the ordinary reader, and similar passages occur in 

 some other parts; but the narrative jjortions of the book areasin- 

 terestin:.; as they are instructive. We need not dwell, however, 

 on these features of the book, as the events of Columbus's life are 

 too well known to need recapitulating here, and Mr. Winsor does 

 not profess to have discovered any new sources of information. 

 He has simply followed the original authorities, so far as these 

 are now available; and the merit of his work lies in the fidelity 

 and skill with which he sifts his authorities and interprets the 

 facts. 



The first thing that we wish to know about any prominent his- 

 toric character is the nature and significance of his life work and 

 its effect upon the world In the case of Columbus the signifi- 

 cance of his work was far different from what he himself sup- 

 posed, and its ultimate results such as he never dreamed of; yet 

 he was none the less the master spirit in the work of discovery, 

 and is entitled to all the honor which that distinction can give 

 him. How great and far-reaching the results of his work were is 

 clearly set forth by Mr. Winsor, especially in his appendix, in 

 which he traces the history of succeeding discoveries down almost 

 to the present day. He shows, as others have shown, that Co- 

 lumbus's ideas about the sphericity of the earth and the possibility 

 of reaching Asia by the west, were derived from earlier thinkers, 

 and adds, '■ There was simply needed a man with courage and 

 constancy in his convictions, so that the theory could be demon- 

 strated. This age produced him." Mr. Winsor makes little ac- 

 count of the alleged discovery of America by the Norsemen, 

 though he does not deny the possibihty of such discovery; but he 

 thinks that the story of their voyages could have had no influence 

 on Columbus, and was in all probability unknown to him. In 

 connection with his account of Columbus's voyages and those of 

 his contemporaries, and also in recounting the discoveries since 

 his day, Mr. Winsor lays before us a great number of ancient 

 maps, in which the growth of geographical knowledge can be 

 clearly n-aced. Indeed, his treatment of the scientific aspects of 

 his subject is as full as could be desired. 



But the feature of his book that will excite the most interest is 

 his estimate of Columbus's character, which is emphatically icon- 

 oclastic. He evinces no spirit of hostility to the great navigator, 

 though he has some some sarcastic remarks about Irving, De 

 Lorgues, an;l other biographers; but he shows by well attested 

 facts that Columbus was far from possessing the nobleness of 

 character that has usually been attributed to him. He says very 

 truly that a man like Columbus ou.ght to be judged liy a high 

 moral standard — the standard of all ages; but that when so tried 

 the great discoverer is found wanting. The principal charge 

 brought against him is that he originated and persistently followed 

 the practice of enslaving the native Amei'icans and of selling them 

 as slaves in the markets of Spain, thereby becoming the orisrinator 

 of American slavery. This accusation, thoiigh by no means new, 

 is supported in this book by overwhelming evidence, so that it is 

 hard to see how any fair-minded man can deny or palliate it; and 

 it throws a very dark shadow over the fame of Columbus. Mr. 

 Winsor also charges him with deceit, cupidity and arrogance, and 

 there is, unfortunately, great difficulty in rebutting these charges. 

 His final judgment on the man who discovered the New World is 

 as follows: " Its discoverer might have been its father; he proved 

 to be its despoiler. He might have given its young days such a 

 benignity as the world likes to associate with a maker; he left it 

 a legacy of devastation and crime. He might have been an un- 

 selfish promoter of geographical science; he proved a rabid seeker 

 for gold and a vicetoyalty. He might have won converts to the 

 fold of Christ by the kindness of his spirit; he gained the execra- 

 tions of the good angels " (p. 512). 



The world is so accustomed to the opposite view of Columbus's 

 character that many readers will reject the portrait that Mr. Win- 

 sor has drawn of him ; but we incline to think that it is the one 

 that will eventually be accepted by impartial minds. In any case 

 Mr. Winsor's narrative and arguments are worthy of all attention, 

 and we heartily commend his book to our readers. 



