940 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 599. 



The pi'imitive form of poetry everywhere 

 is verbal repetition in exact rhythm. The 

 complicated form.s of verse spring from 

 this exact repetition by means of variation, 

 •which in some cases, notably the Anglo- 

 Saxon, achieves a permanent and dominant 

 principle. Curious survivals occur even in 

 Shakspere. Other forms of poetry, hovr- 

 ever, move towards the freedom of prose. 



The Herodotean Prototype of Esther and 



Sheherazade: Professor Paul Haupt, of 



Baltimore, Md. 



In the ninth edition of the 'Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica,' Vol. XXIII., pp. 316- 

 318, De Goeje showed that Sheherazade was 

 identical with Esther. There is, however, 

 one difference : Sheherazade is determined 

 to save the daughters of her people at the 

 risk of her life; her father tries in vain 

 to dissuade her. Esther, on the other 

 hand, hesitates ; but her foster-father urges 

 her to risk her life to save her people. The 

 exchange of messages (Est. IV., 5-17) be- 

 tween Esther and her foster-father, which 

 led to the execution of Haman, bears a 

 striking resemblance to the exchange of 

 messages between Pliaedymia and her father 

 Otanes, as related by Herodotus (III., 68), 

 which led to the assassination of Psei^do- 

 Smerdis. 



Just as the stories in the 'Arabian 

 Nights' are accommodated to a framework, 

 so Herodotus 's history of Xerxes 's invasion 

 of Greece is biit the framework for a vast 

 mass of legendary, antiquarian and eth- 

 nological lore. The stories in the ' Arabian 

 Nights' may be classified in three cate- 

 gories: fables, fairy-tales and anecdotes. 

 The fables are ultimately Babylonian; the 

 fairy-tales, Persian; and the anecdotes, 

 Arabic. Some of the tales are evidently 

 transformed myths. 



The story of the antagonism between 

 Haman and Vashti, on the one hand, and 

 Mordecai and Esther, on the other, may 



ultimately be a nature-myth reflecting the 

 victory of the deities of spring over the 

 frost-giants of winter. 



Heredity and Variation, Logical and Bio- 

 logical: Professor Wm. Keith Brooks, 

 of Baltimore. 



Notes on a Collection of Fossil Mammals 

 from Natal: Professor William B. 

 Scott, of Princeton. 

 The director of the Natal Geological Sur- 

 vey, William Anderson, Esq., has sent me 

 for examination and report a series of 

 mammalian bones, which were collected by 

 him on the coast of Zululand, South Africa. 

 Concerning the mode of occurrence of these 

 fossils, Mr. Anderson writes me as follows : 

 The fossils were scattered over a large out- 

 crop of shales, which occurs below the level of 

 ordinary low-water marks, and is only exposed 

 under the exceptional circumstances of a strong 

 southeasterly gale and a neaptide, when the large 

 covering of sand is removed. Overlying this bed 

 are a series of shales with a few scattered bones, 

 and crustacean and fish remains. Above these 

 a thin layer containing foraminifera and then a 

 foot or so containing marine mollusca, which Mr. 

 Etheridge referred to the Tertiary period; above 

 this a thick series (probably over 100 feet) of 

 false-bedded sands of various colors covered by 

 the recent sand dunes. 



So far, I have been able to make only a 

 cursory examination of these fossils, which 

 were much injured by their long journey 

 and are still in the preparator's hands. 

 They are heavy, dark in color and more or 

 less completely mineralized. In character, 

 the mammals are specifically South African 

 and appear to represent a late Pliocene 

 fauna. The species seem to be all different 

 from those now living, though referable to 

 recent genera. The list includes an ele- 

 phant nearly allied to the modern species, 

 a hippopotamus of very laz'ge size, a buf- 

 falo (Bubaliis) and two or three antelopes. 

 In addition to these mammals, the collec- 

 tion contains several fish and a very large 

 crocodilian vertebra. 



