February 4, 1887.] 



SCIEN'CE. 



119 



completeness rarely attained in English ones of a 

 similar class. To vivacity of expression and the 

 more purely literary embeHishments or literary 

 condiments, they rarely make pretensions ; and 

 yet he who has read in the original the writings 

 of such authors as Haeckel will readily concede 

 that the German style may he not a whit less 

 charming, less simple, and less interesting than 

 the French or English, while at the same time 

 combining, what is often such a fatal defect in 

 many French works on general natural science, a 

 rigid regard for scientific truthfulness. Buifon 

 made many book naturalists, but he has much 

 to answer for in the self-sufficient complacency 

 and inexactness of many of the French naturalists 

 who have succeeded him. It is a rare talent that 

 can excel in attractive literary exposition, and yet 

 command the respect of the critical scientific 

 naturalist. 



At least measurably successful as furnishing 

 interesting and instructive reading for the non- 

 scientific intelligent reader, and as an exhaustive 

 storehouse of information for the general student, 

 is the Allgemeine naturkunde, a work, of its kind, 

 vrhich, for fulness of treatment, richness and 

 wealth of illustration, and, withal, general read- 

 ableness, has rarely if ever had its equal. The 

 work will be completed in nine large octavo 

 volumes, of which four are now issued, and will 

 contain over three thousand engravings on wood, 

 — for the greater part original, — one hundred 

 and twenty colored plates, and twenty maps. 

 The series really is composed of four separate 

 works, which might find their places on the book- 

 shelves of the geologist, botanist, anthropologist, 

 and anatomist, dealing with man, individually 

 and in general, plant-life, and geology in its 

 widest sense. It is intended as a continuation of 

 Brehm's ' Tierleben,' a work well known in itself, 

 as well as from the numerous engravings bor- 

 rowed from it in the recent English and American 

 natural history works of a similar kind. 



The published volume of the two papers on ' Erd- 

 geschichte,' by Neumayr, deals with general physi- 

 cal, dynamical, and stratigraphic geology. ' Der 

 Mensch,' by J. Eanke, treats of the embryology, 

 development, anatomy, physiology, psychology, 

 and zoological relations of man, and is followed 

 by three volumes on ' Volkerkunde ' by Ratzel. 

 This latter part is especially full and interesting, 

 and is richly illustrated by engravings, maps, and 

 colored plates. Finally, the remaining two vol- 

 umes, 'Pflanzenleben,' by Maxiiaun, are to contain 

 a general exposition of plant-life, structural, 

 physiological, systematical, and economical, with 

 forty colored plates. 



The four volumes now published — 'Mensch,' 



' Erdgeschichte,' and ' Volkerkunde ' (two vol- 

 umes) — fully bear out the promises of the pub- 

 lishers. The numerous engravings, colored plates, 

 and the typography are excellent ; the descriptive 

 matter readable, and for the most part interesting, 

 and scientific. The style varies, of course, with 

 the different authors, that of Professor Ranjie 

 being less clear and terse than that of either Pro- 

 fessor Ratzel or Professor Neumayr. From the 

 perusal of what has already appeared, the writer 

 has found generally but little discussion of hy- 

 potheses, and, wherever critically examined, full 

 and latest results of modern research. Of the 

 general reliability of the work, the authors' repu- 

 tations will afford sufficient evidence. 



METHODS OF ARROW-RELEASE. 



This substantial pamphlet, reprinted from the 

 Bulletin of the Essex institute, October- December, 

 1885, is a noteworthy example of the thorough 

 methods of modern archeological research. Pro- 

 fessor Morse has laid under contribution not only 

 narratives of travellers and explorers among the 

 existing savage races, but all available records, 

 graphic and other, of ancient times, to illustrate 

 the manner of using the bow and an-ow. This 

 remarkable invention, as the late Lewis H. Mor- 

 gan, in his well-known work on 'Ancient society,' 

 has shown, did not make its appearance until 

 mankind was well advanced in the savage state 

 towards barbarism ; and it has survived to the 

 present time among primitive peoples as the 

 principal weapon of warfare and the chase. It 

 is reasonable, therefore, to hope with our author 

 that interesting results in tracing the affinities of 

 ancient races may be derived from the minute 

 study of the different ways in which it has been 

 employed. 



Professor Morse's attention was first directed to 

 the subject by observing that his method of shoot- 

 ing was quite different from that of a Japanese 

 friend : "In the English practice, the bow must 

 be grasped with the firmness of a smith's vice ; in 

 the Japanese, on the contrary, it is held as lightly 

 as possible ; in both cases, however, it is held 

 vertically, but in the English method the arrow 

 rests on the left of the bow, while in the Japanese 

 it is placed on the right. In the English practice 

 a guard of leather must be worn on the inner and 

 lower portion of the arm to receive the impact 

 of the string ; in the Japanese no arm-guard 

 is required. ... In the English method the 

 string is drawn with the tips of the first three fin- 

 gers, the arrow being lightly held between the 



Ancient and modern methods of arrow-release. By ED- 

 WARD S. Morse. Salem, Bull. Essex inst. 8°. 



