DECEMBER 24, 1897.] 
paper and typography are very good. The in- 
sertion of advertisements, however, in a book 
of this kind seems, to say the least, in ques- 
tionable taste. 
FERDINAND G. WIECHMANN. 
The History of Mankind. By PROFESSOR FRIED- 
RIcH RATZEL. Translated by A. J. BUTLER, 
M. A. New York, The Macmillan Company. 
1897. Vol. II., with maps and illustrations. 
Pp. 562. Price, $4.00. 
This is the second volume of the translation of 
the second edition of Ratzel’s ‘ Ethnographie,’ 
which, for unknown reasons, the publishers 
have chosen to miscall ‘The History of Man- 
kind.’ The first volume has already been no- 
ticed in this JouRNAL. (See SCIENCE, October 
23, 1896.) 
It is a handsome book, printed in clear type 
on excellent paper, with two maps of the distri- 
bution of the African races, ten colored illus- 
trations of ethnographic objects and several 
hundred engravings in the text. These are not 
faney sketches, but real helps to the student, 
selected from the best works of travellers or 
taken from authentic objects in museums of 
ethnography. 
Professor Ratzel ranks among the chief living 
authorities on general ethnography, and there 
is no work in our ,tongue which surpasses this 
in abundance and accuracy of information. It 
can be recommended to readers and students 
without hesitation. 
The present volume takes up the American 
Indians and the black races of Africa. The 
author has seen fit to interpolate between these 
a description of those whom he calls ‘ The Arctic 
Races of the Old World,’ to wit, the Chukchis, 
Samoyeds, Gilyaks, Lapps, etc., usually includ- 
ed in the term ‘Ural-Altaic Peoples.’ Yet he 
acknowledges (p. 209) that ‘we must not talk 
of a hyperborean race,’ and intimates, what is 
undoubtedly the fact, that these peoples were 
not originally Arctic dwellers, but lived in the 
more genial climes to the south. 
The Americans he divides, or rather meant 
to divide, following the artificial distinction of 
Waitz, into ‘ wild’ and ‘civilized’ tribes ; but 
the translator has, instead, made the distinction 
into ‘cultured races’ and ‘ civilized races !’— 
SCIENCE. 
961 
an error repeated in the table of contents and 
text. This unreal contrast, however, is less re- 
spected by the author in his treatment than in 
his plan. He recognizes the solidarity of native 
American culture everywhere. He also speaks 
positively in favor of the unity and antiquity 
of the race; and, with not quite so clear a note, 
of the independence of its culture. Nothing 
could more fully express a true apprehension of 
the American question than his words (p. 10), 
“Rightly understood, the New World has to 
supply the key to the greatest problems of an- 
thropology and ethnology.’’ 
In details he is sufficiently full, and usually 
they are presented with fairness. Forinstance, 
on the mooted question of the Eskimos he de- 
cides that they are physically affined to Asian 
types, but in language and culture are Ameri- 
cans. The former is true chiefly of those in 
Alaska where admixture of blood may be ap- 
prehended. 
His discussion of the native religions, both of 
America and Africa, leaves something to be de- 
sired. The time has passed when such terms 
as ‘sun-worship,’ ‘moon-worship,’ ‘ fetishism,’ 
and the like, satisfy the student of comparative 
religion. These refer to externals merely and 
do not reveal the real religious thought. The 
similarities of Polynesian and American mythol- 
ogies are dwelt upon (p. 147), but the translator 
pertinently adds in a note (p. 148) that students 
of Greek mythology will also ‘find parallels in 
every part.’ 
It seems a deficiency to treat of totems as 
“animal and plant symbols’ (p. 131) ; they were 
much more than that, and often neither animal 
nor plant. The opinion he intimates (p. 165) 
that the ‘ Toltecs’ largely created the culture of 
Central America is surely wide of the mark, as 
has been shown recently by Sapper, and his 
estimate of the social condition of ancient Peru 
(p. 201) is higher than students now would con- 
cede. 
The negro races of Africa are treated with 
much ability. He distinguishes between the 
light-colored stocks, the Bushmen, Hottentots 
and Dwarfs of the southern and eastern parts 
of the continent and the Central Africans. He 
traces the widespread Bantu nations with pre- 
cision, and gives cogent reasons for believing 
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