110 Scientific Intelligence. 



between the "brachiopods of the Killing shales and of the Oto- 

 ceras beds is so sharp that the limit between the two faunce offers 

 itself as the most natural boundary of the two systems" (50-51). 

 j c. s. 



7. Origin and Antiquity of Man ; by G. Frederick Wright. 

 Pp. ix, 547 ; 42 illustrations. Oberlin, Ohio, 1912 (Bibliotheca 

 Sacra Company). — In this volume the author discusses the limi- 

 tations of the possible existence of life on earth, giving a prob- 

 able duration of twenty-four million years and stating emphatically 

 that it was not possible for life to have existed fifty million years 

 ago. Post-Tertiary time, beyond which the evidence for man's 

 existence is deemed inconclusive, is relatively short, so that 

 " while the antiquity of man cannot be less than ten thousand, it 

 need not be more than fifteen thousand years, as eight thousand 

 years of prehistoric time is considered ample to account for all 

 known facts relating to his development." 



From the methods of scientific approach the author passes on 

 to the historical evidence and the linguistic argument for man's 

 antiquity. He then discusses the origin of the races of Europe 

 and of the American Indian, followed by the significance of the 

 glacial period in its relation to contemporaneous man. After 

 weighing the evidence for the existence of Tertiary man, Mr. 

 Wright, who is not a believer in the artificial character of eoliths, 

 considers it unproven. Arguments of a physiological and psycho- 

 logical character are next discussed, together with the biblical 

 documents, which, however, contain nothing in their chronology 

 to prevent any extension of prehistoric chronology for which 

 there is proper evidence. 



In the summary and conclusions the author emphasizes the fact 

 that despite the brevity of post-glacial time, history begins with 

 a highly civilized condition of man, who now shows a tendency 

 to degeneration which is counteracted only by acceptance of out- 

 side agencies. The origin of man by purely naturalistic means 

 he considers inconceivable. 



The general appearance of the book is not impressive. This is 

 especially true of the paper upon which the volume is printed and 

 of the half-tone engravings, some of which are very obscure. 



r. s. L. 

 tf 8. Prehistoric Man ; by W. L. H. Duckworth. Pp. viii, 

 156 ; 28 text figures and 2 tables. Cambridge, 1912 (University 

 Press) ; New York (G. P. Putnam's Sons). — Doctor Duckworth, 

 who is University Lecturer in Physical Anthropology at Cam- 

 bridge, is abundantly able to speak with authority on the subject 

 of prehistoric man, although in the work at hand he deals only 

 with the earliest phases of human prehistory, ending his review 

 with the close of the Aurignacian division of the Paleolithic age. 



The chapters, of which there are but six, include: the precur- 

 sors of Paleolithic man, in which Pithecanthropus and Homo 

 heidelbergensis are described ; Paleolithic man from the physical 

 aspect ; alluvial deposits and caves ; associated animals and 



