REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 163 



objective was the western gatehouse as read in (d). In the writer's 

 copy of the Chinese text, a clear plan is given which leaves no manner 

 of doubt on the matter. 



Again consider the word assistants (c). This is a word often used 

 in writing concerning religious ceremonies. What were they? Were 

 they professional astrologers or the personal assistants of the 'Master' 

 in Civil affairs ? This is by no means an unimportant question, for 

 it would affect the civil or religious nature of the ceremony. 



Finally within this short passage we have still one important 

 matter of doubtful interpretation. It is, who was it that was capped ? 

 Was it the son coming of age, or the father? Over this there has 

 been much controversy, and the writers have been busy. On the whole 

 the son is possibly meant, as taken by Dr. Steele, but some indication 

 of the uncertainty should have been indicated. 



Such points, and they pervade the whole work, are indicated to 

 show the immense difficulty that must have faced Dr. Steele rather 

 than given in the way of fault finding. The whole is a matter of 

 interpretation. And the student of Chinese must ever feel grateful to 

 Dr. Steele for the production of this laborious work, which will be of 

 great help to those who follow him. 



There are a few misprints such as Yiin in Hsia Yiin Chou, Vol. I, 

 p. 11. This should of course be Yin. M. 



The Beginnings of Porcelain in China. Field Museum of Natural 

 History, Chicago, 1917. 



Asbestos and Salamander. From T'oung-Pao, Juillet 1915. 

 The Reindeer and its Domestication. Eeprinted from Memoirs of 

 the American Anthropological Association : Vol. IV, No. 2, 1917. 

 Supplemental Notes on Walrus and Narwhal Ivory. From 

 T'oung-Pao, Juillet 1916. All by Berthold Latjfer. 



These publications are of the same type as the unusually interest- 

 ing studies which Mr. Lauf er has sent out from the Field Museum in 

 such profusion during recent years. They appear to be mainly the 

 result of laborious literary research, which makes their general interest 

 all the more remarkable. Although that dealing with porcelain is very 

 well illustrated it is not to this alone that the interest is due for the 

 other three publications have no pictures whatever. It would seem 

 therefore that their fascination is due to the subjects being developed 

 in a philosophical way out of a mind which is markedly imbued with 

 the true spirit of natural science. 



Writing of the beginnings of porcelain Mr. Laufer says there was 

 no inventor of porcelain, which was slowly evolved, a porcelanous were 



