3°4 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Sept. 14, i? 



doorstep, which occurs or did occur among the Romans, 

 the Redskins of Canada, the Chinese, the Abyssinians, 

 and other races. Hence also perhaps our custom of the 

 honeymoon, and hence may be after a wedding, things 

 are thrown, as McLellan has suggested, in mock anger 

 after the departing bride and bridegroom. It is remark- 

 able how persistent are all customs and ceremonies con- 

 nected with marriage. Thus our bride cake, which so 

 n variably accompanies a wedding, may be traced back 

 to the old Roman form of marriage by confarreatio or 

 ;ating together, and is found also in other parts of the 

 world, as, for instance, among the Iroquois of North 

 America. It must we know be cut by the bride, be- 

 cause it is the duty of the wife to prepare food for her 

 lusband. 



The prevalence of marriage by capture naturally led 

 Co the impression that a woman who was captured was 

 relieved of all responsibility. It was no part of her 

 duty to resist — which would indeed have been useless. 

 On the contrary, the very fact of her capture itself con- 

 stituted a legal marriage. This, I have ventured to sug- 

 gest, explains what would otherwise be a great difficulty, 

 namely, the position assigned to Helen in the Iliad. 

 From our point of view her acceptance of Paris as a 

 husband would be a great blot on her character. Yet 

 not only among the Trojans generally, but by the vener- 

 able Priam and the virtuous Hector, she is always treated 

 with affection and respect. The point seems to me of 

 interest, because it throws light upon what from any 

 other point of view seems inexplicable in the great Greek 

 epic. 



Again, we recognise only one kind of marriage, but 

 in many parts of the world there are two or more 

 totally distinct kinds of marriage, in which the relation, 

 rights, and position of the husband towards the wife are 

 altogether different. On the whole, it is satisfactory to 

 see that as races progress the position of woman rises 

 too. 



It has always seemed to me that one of the clearest 

 proofs of the low mental power of savage men is that 

 afforded by arithmetic. For instance, in no single 

 Australian language is there any word for " five." 

 They said, " One, two, two, one, two, two, many." The 

 fingers are greatly used as a help in these simple calcu- 

 lations, and all over the world we find the word " hand " 

 standing for " five" in reference to our five fingers ; in- 

 deed, if we had had six we should probably have had a 

 duodecimal notation, which would have been in many 



respects a great improvement on our present system. 

 Even our own word "five " is a case in point, though it 

 is so much worn by use that its original fo rm is almost 

 unrecognisable. The original Indo-European word for 

 "hand" is found little altered in the Persian "Penze." 

 In Greek " Penze " becomes Trevre, in German " funf," 

 whence our "five." The Punjab is the country of 

 " Five rivers " from Penge " five," and ab " water," a 

 root which we find again in many Celtic names, as for 

 instance in Aberdeen, Aberystwith. 



As might naturally be expected, none of the lower 

 races have made any great advance in art ; they have in 

 many cases made a beginning, and those beginnings are 

 very far indeed from being without interest. 



The earliest works of art which we possess are rude 

 sculptures and drawings, some of them far from deficient 

 in spirit, which have been found in caves in Western 

 Europe, and which appear to belong to the period when 

 the Mammoth and Woolly-haired Rhinoceros still lived 

 in England. Some of them indeed clearly appear to be 

 representations of the former animal. 



Books and writing have always appeared very myste- 

 rious to savages — and no wonder. On one occasion a 

 " missionary sent a native to one of his colleagues, with 

 some loaves of bread and a letter stating their number. 

 The messenger ate a part of the bread, and the theft was 

 consequently discovered. Another time when he had to 

 deliver four loaves, he ate two of them, but hid the 

 accompanying letter under a stone while he was engaged, 

 believing that his conduct would not be revealed this 

 time, as the letter had not seen him in the act of eating 

 the loaves. 



The Minatarrees (a North American tribe) once seeing 

 Mr. Catlin intent over a copy of the New York Commer- 

 cial Advertiser, were much puzzled as to what he could 

 be doing, but at length concluded that his sight was weak 

 and that was a cloth for sore eyes. One of them 

 eventually bought it at a high price. 

 (To be continued.) 



NOTICES. 



The Title Page and Index to Vol, I., now ready, price 3d. 



Vol. I., bound in cloth, with Title Page and Index, 9s. 6d. 

 — by post 10s. 



The Back Numbers of Scientific News can be obtained 

 from all Booksellers and Newsagents, or direct from the 

 Publisher, 138, Fleet-street, London, E.C. Price 3d. each, or 

 by post 3^d. 



METEOROLOGICAL RETURNS 



Fcr the ten weeks ending on Monday, Sept. 3rd, 1888. Specially prepared for Scientific News fromofficial reports. 









Mean Tem 



aerature. 





Rainfall. 



Duration of Sunshine. 



Scotland 



East 



537 degs. 



being 3*4 degs 



below 



average. 



7"6ins. 



bein 



go-7 



ns. above 



average. 



286 hrs. 



being 90 hrs. 



below 



average 



England, 



N.E. 



WQ 





„ 3"6 





ii 





8-8,, 



»» 



28 



» >> 



„ 



235 



ii 



>• "9 ji 



i) 



ii 



England, 



East 



57-4 



» 



„ 3'9 





11 





1 



s-i „ 



11 



3-6 



,t ,, 



11 



284 



ii 



• 1 143 ii 



») 



i» 



Midlands 





S 6-s 



,, 



„ 3*8 











8-3 » 



j» 



21 



»» >> 



• 1, 



291 



u 



., 101 „ 



3» 



si 



England, 



South 



S 8-2 



h 



>i 30 



»» 



i) 





1 



81 „ 



»» 



30 



1) ,, 



i, 



297 



a 



,, 13* ii 



)> 



j» 



Scotland, 



West 



SVI 





„ i-8 





„ 







100 „ 



,, 



11 



M |l 



»i 



300 



11 



., 63 „ 



>l 



>» 



England, 



N.W. 



S6-I 



») 



„ 3'5 



11 



11 





1 



hi „ 



„ 



2-8 



51 II 



,, 



276 



11 



„ 85 „ 



1J 



i> 



England, 



s.w. 



56 -Q 





» 3' 2 











108 „ 



„ 



2-q 



IT II 



,, 



353 



ii 



,. 93 1. 



>J 



»> 



Ireland, 



North 



56 2 





„ 27 











107 » 



„ 



3-2 



II II 



u 



264 



11 



,, 25 „ 



>> 



1* 



Ireland, 



South 



57-0 



*» 



„ 2*2 



»! 



Ji 







9"o„ 



»i 



17 



It 1) 



" 



335 



11 



>• 12 ,, 



" 



»> 



The Kingdom... 



56-2 



» 



„ 3'i 



- 



•■ 



»> 



9'3n 



" 



2-4 



«. 1 1 



" 



292 



" 



„ 87 ,. 



l» 



i» 



