656 Recent Literature, [ September, 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
SoME RECENT PUBLICATIONS ON JAPANESE ARCHÆOLOGY. — 
Doubtless many readers of the Naruratisr may have ‘seen a 
review in Mature of my memoir on the Shell Mounds of Omori, 
and in the same journal my reply and protest against the gross 
misrepresentations which that review contained. My reply was 
prefaced by an unexpected letter from Charles Darwin, in which 
he not only speaks of the “ very scant justice ” done to my work 
in the review, but compliments the Japanese for their part in the 
matter. This answer called forth a second letter of considerable 
length, for which ature seemed to find ample room. 
This second letter consisted mainly in extracts from a recent 
paper on Japanese archzology by Prof. John. Milne, My reply 
to this consisted mainly in a review of Mr. Milne’s paper, and 01 
this ground alone the editor of Maturve might have seen fit to 
publish it. My article was returned to me, however, as too long. 
As it is impossible to shorten it much, and as another publication 
on archeological subjects has recently appeared in Japan, whic 
demands notice, a review of both papers may possibly bring out 
some features of interest to those studying these subjects. 
It is hardly necessary to add that my only excuse for noticing 
the efforts of Mr. Dickins is, that his letters appear in one of the 
widest and best known journals of science. - ' 
It is difficult to see that Mr. Dickins has at all met the points 
I protested against in my first letter. In other words he.not only 
did “very scant justice” to my memoir, to use Mr. Darwins 
temperate words, but he showed a lamentable ignorance of the 
work he attempted to review. A single illustration will suffice. 
` In his first article he says: ‘These mounds consist for the _ 
most part of shells “itéle if at all distinguishable from what are 
still to be found in abundance along the shores of the Gulf of 
Yedo.” The italics are mine. : 
My memoir shows that the species composing the deposit are 
different in their form, size, proportion of parts and relative 
abundance from similar species living to-day, and that one of the 
most abundant shells in the mounds is not found nearer than four 
hundred miles to the south-west, while others are rarely found in 
the Gulf of Yedo. 
Observe now the “spirit of truth” which Mr. Dickins says 
animated him in writing his review. Having suddenly discovered 
_ that somebody else offers a possible explanation of the cause of 
these changes, Mr. Dickins for the first time recognizes the fact 
of these differences by quotations which are taken from MY 
memoir. 
Mr. Dickins parades with evident exultation the paper of Prof. 
John Milne published in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society 
of Japan, and since of the three names Mr. Dickins mentione@ 
Prof. Milne is the only one that can lay any claim to having pub- 
