342 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No. 489 



SCIENCE: 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



PUBLISHED BY 



N. D. C. HODGES, 



874 Broadway, New York. 



Subscriptions. — United States and Canada $3,50 a year. 



Great Britain and Europe 4.50 a year. 



Communications will be welcomed from any quarter. Abstracts of scientific 

 papers are solicited, and one hundred copies of the issue containing such will 

 be mailed the author on request in advance. Rejected manuscripts will be 

 ■ returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of postage accom- 

 panies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti- 

 cated by the name and address of the writer; not necessarily for publication, 

 but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold ourselves responsible for 

 any view or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. 



Attention is called to the "Wants" column. It is invaluable to those who 

 use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and 

 address of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to 

 them. The " Exchange " column is likewise open. 



For Advertising Rates apply to Henry F. Taylor, 47 Lafayette Place, New 

 Fork. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. — VIII. 



{Edited by D. G. Brinton, M.D., LL.D.} 

 The Palaeo-Ethnology of Mahgreb. 



Under the name Mabgreb (Beled el Mahgreb, Land of 

 the West) the Arabs distinguish that portion of Africa west 

 of the Nile Valley, and north of the southern boundary of 

 the Sahara, from the Soudan {Beled es Sudan, Land of the 

 Blacks). It is a convenient geographic term, and as we 

 have adopted Soudan we may as well also take Mahgreb, 

 especially as it is a well-marked ethnic area. It is and has 

 been from time immemorial the home of the Berber, or 

 Hamitic, or Proto-Semitic peoples, as they have variously 

 been termed. 



In a late number (April 9) of the Revue Scientiflque, A. 

 Chatelier gives an admirable summary of the prehistory of 

 this region. Signs of Palaeolithic man abound in all parts, 

 carrying bis residence far back into the quaternary, when quite 

 diflferent geographic distributions of water and climate pre- 

 vailed from the present. He was succeeded, apparently 

 without a hiatus, by neolithic communities, who developed 

 the art of stone-implement making to great perfection. 

 Their numerous workshops and village sites occur on the 

 watered lowlands, showing that the physical geography of 

 the country had then reached its present state. The neo- 

 lithic industry continued to nearly the Christian era, flint 

 chips being found in tumuli overlying Rom in remains. 

 There are also many rock drawings belonging to this period, 

 rude, but revealing Egyptian inspiration in the costumes 

 depicted, the human figures with ibis heads, etc. 



But the most striking features of the prehistoric remains 

 are the megalithic structures, the dolmens, menhirs, crom- 

 lechs, triliths, stone circles, etc, which are abundantly scat- 

 tered over the soil from Fez in Morocco to the Tripolitan 

 plateaux, where they abruptly cease, none extending into 

 Egypt. These were undoubtedly constructed by the ances 

 tors of the present Berber population. They not only claim 

 them as the tombs of their forefathers, but to this day some 



of the tribes surround their cemeteries with similar stone 

 circles, called Heuch, That they were in common use at a 

 late date is proved by the discovery in some dolmens of iron 

 and Roman coins; and that these relics were of contem- 

 porary date and not intrusive, is proved by the presence of 

 several structures of this character in southern Tunisia, built 

 on an old Roman road. 



That precisely similar megalithic remains are found in 

 Palestine, is explained by the presence there of the 

 Amorites and other true Hamitic tribes ; that they can be 

 traced in a continuous line across the Straits of Gibraltar, 

 through northern Spain and France to England and Den- 

 mark, and not beyond, offers a suggestive hint concerning 

 the prehistoric migrations of the Mediterranean peoples. 



The conclusion which M Le Chatelier especially impresses 

 on his reader is, that the same Berber stock has possessed 

 Mahgreb, so far as all evidence goes, from the very earliest 

 times of which we have any cognizance down to the pres- 

 ent day. 



The Prehistoric Culture and Commerce of the Mediterranean. 



Archaeological research is rapidly dispelling the erroneous 

 notions that the early civilizations of the Mediterranean 

 were derived from Asia or Egypt; and that previous to the 

 mythical advent of Cadmus, or the founding of Carthage 

 and Rome, the coasts of this great sea were peopled by sav- 

 ages. In fact, one of the most brilliant periods of commerce 

 and culture on the Mediterranean was about 1500 B C. At 

 that date there were several centres on the European shore 

 of high civilization, wholly independent and occidental in 

 their ideals and technique; on the southern shore the 

 Hamitic Libyans and Mauritaaians had, by spontaneous de- 

 velopment, reached a degree of culture quite up to that of 

 their neighbors, the Egyptians. It is chiefly by the accident 

 that their art-products have been better preserved, that we 

 have hitherto attributed a superior grade of advancement to 

 the latter. There is no reason for believing that the Egyp- 

 tians were much in advance of the other nations of the 

 Mediterranean basin at the close of the Old Empire. The 

 introduction of metals was what chiefly led to the predomi- 

 nant influence of oriental ideas. This event occurred be- 

 tween 1500 and 1200 B.C. 



These opinions, which are now gaining general credence, 

 are well set forth in a volume published lately in London, 

 by Professor W. M. Conway, entitled "The Dawn of Art 

 in the Ancient World." It would be easy to support his 

 views by abundant evidence. 



On Ethnic Nosology. 



Differences in races are not confined to matters of anatomy 

 and physiology, but show themselves to a marked degree in 

 special liability to, or immunity from, certain classes of dis- 

 eased conditions. This has attracted the attention of the 

 medical profession from time to time, but only recently, 

 since the discriminating traits of races have been more closely 

 studied, has it received proper attention. In this country 

 the practitioner who has treated of it most extensively is 

 Dr. Albert S. Ashmead, of New York City. His articles on 

 racial immunity and inoculation, on the ethnic extension of 

 syphilis, leprosy, tuberculosis, yellow and scarlet fevers, 

 have appeared in various medical journals, and embody a 

 mass of instructive observations on the relative presence of 

 these complaints in different peoples. 



The study of the causes of racial immunity from disease 

 has a very practical side. When we find, for instance, that 



