January 19, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



107 



necessities of the present nomadic life of the 

 tribe. 



The clay lamps and kettles and other house- 

 hold utensils are similar to those of the 

 Eskimo of the Yukon Eiver. 



The food of the Maritime Chukchee is to 

 a very great extent derived from the sea, con- 

 sisting largely of sea-mammals, while the 

 Reindeer Chukchee live on reindeer taken 

 from their herds. In connection with this 

 subject, the author describes a number of 

 taboos. ' Vegetable food is used rather as a 

 substitute, in case of scarcity of meat, than as 

 a side-dish. 



In smoking, pipes evidently related to those 

 of Chinese type are used. 



One chapter of the book is devoted to a 

 description of the manufactures, among which 

 those relating to the preparation and utiliza- 

 tion of skins occupy a prominent part. 



The clothing is made of skins, that of the 

 men consisting of skin boots and stockings, 

 trousers and a double shirt, while the women 

 wear combination-suits. It is peculiar to note 

 that the fur jackets of the women are cut very 

 low. In cold weather separate hoods are worn. 



The women, particularly those of the Mari- 

 time Chukchee, are tattooed, and the tattooing 

 is believed to have a magical significance. 

 Many of the ornaments described by the au- 

 thor are also at the same time charms. 



The book closes with a description of the 

 games and sports of the people, among which 

 tossing on blankets, wrestling and races play 

 a prominent part. A number of ball games, 

 and some cat's-cradles are described. The 

 book is accompanied by many illustrations 

 and by a detailed map, giving exact informa- 

 tion as to the present location of the native 

 tribes of northeastern Asia. It appears from 

 this map that the Eskimo are confined to the 

 region north of Anadyr Bay, and that the 

 coast regions southwest of this district are 

 occupied by the Kerek, a branch of the Kor- 

 yak. Another map (p. 17) gives the approxi- 

 mate ancient distribution of the tribes before 

 the invasion of the Yakut and of the Russians. 



Franz JBoAS^ 



Nehula to Man. By Henry R. Knipe. With 

 fourteen full-page illustrations in color and 

 fifty-seven full-page tinted illustrations by 

 Ernest Bucknall, John Charlton, Joseph 

 Smit, Lancelot Speed, Charles Whymper, 

 Edward A. Wilson and Alice B. Woodward. 

 London, J. M. Dent & Co. 1905. Small 

 folio. Pp. xvi -f 251. 



This sumptuous volume, beautiful in typog- 

 raphy, glowing with splendid illustrations from 

 the studies of the most skillful delineators of 

 animal life in the British metropolis, is a mar- 

 vel in more ways than one. Its publication is 

 remarkable from the standpoint both of the 

 man of science and of the man of letters. It 

 is ' an attempt to present a sketch of the evolu- 

 tion of the earth on the nebular hypothesis,' 

 and this not in prose, but in the form of 

 poetry. In six cantos the author traces the 

 great drama of mundane evolution. The first 

 division of the poem deals with the develop- 

 ment of the globe from the nebula out of 

 which it was evolved, and the beginning of 

 the operations of life upon its slowly cooling 

 surface; the next four cantos deal in order 

 with the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic, the Cenozoic 

 and the Quaternary ages ; the last canto brings 

 JSTeolithic man into view, and leaves us at the 

 threshold of human history. The attempt to 

 clothe the latest results of geological and 

 paleontological research in the garb of poetry 

 is daring. To marshal the facts of the pale- 

 ontological laboratory in metric guise and to 

 compel the sesquipedalian terms of the geolo- 

 gist and comparative anatomist to bend them- 

 selves to the service of the muse is bold indeed. 

 While not always successful, nevertheless in 

 the main the author has forced the cumbrous 

 terms of science to do duty with grace, and 

 has clothed a vast body of scientific facts in 

 the garments of verse. 



The opening lines, which face a splendid re- 

 production of a photograph of the gTeat nebula 

 in Orion made at the Yerkes Observatory,' 

 present a graphic picture of the planetary 

 system in the making : 



A glowing mist, through realms of space un- 

 bounded. 

 Whirls on its way, by starry hosts surrounded. 

 Dim is its lustre as eojnpared with theirs. 



