REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
African Masks and Secret Societies.'— The subject is divided 
ethnographically and ethnologically. That is, the author arranges 
his material first in geographical order, beginning with South and 
East Africa and passing through the west coast to the northwest ; 
then upon this material he constructs a historical and racial develop- 
ment in the use and manufacture of masks and in the working of the 
secret fraternities. For further work the second half, the correct- 
ness of the conclusions being assumed, will be the starting point. 
The introduction to this part presents different analyses of masks 
and the author’s judgments upon these. His conclusion offers some 
suggestions as to work and methods. The introduction to the 
second half is in part as follows (p. 157): “Two methods are 
known of grouping masks in their entirety so as to get a general 
view of them; either according to their significance or their form. 
Andree has undertaken the former as follows: 
Religious Masks, 
War Masks, 
Funeral Masks (Letchenmasken), 
Play and Dance Masks. 
This classification has the disadvantage of leaving out of consider- 
ation their historical development. Form is not taken into account, 
and customs are developed like side scenes, without regard to the 
proper guiding principles of observation. Such a division is more 
of a benefit to the customs than to the masks when it comes to the 
determination of the relations between the individual groups. Ratzel 
has given a classification more appropriate, because less assuming: 
A. Simple imitations of the human face. 
1. Rough works. 
2. Careful copies true to nature. 
3. Geometric conventionalizations (57/2527) partly dependent on 
tattooing. 
1 Frobenius, L. Die Masken und Geheimbünde Afrikas, Vova Act. Acad. Ces. 
Leop-Carol. Germanice. Nat. Cur., tome Ixxiv (1898), pp. 1-278, Tables I-XIV. 
