404 



SCIEXCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 169 



dividuals, families, or peoples, are drawn, — from 

 favorite national dishes, like Jack Pudding for an 

 Englishman, and Kasekramer for a Swiss, to the 

 cardinal virtues, like the Puritan Faith and 

 Charity ; from bodily peculiarities, like Oedipus 

 ('swollen foot ') and Colfax ('black hair'), to of- 

 fices and dignities, like Schulze and Richter ; 

 from calendar-terms, like Augustus and Robinson 

 Crusoe's Friday, to meteorological conditions, like 

 Storm and Sclmeidewind ; from trades and occu- 

 pations, like Smith and Taylor, to articles of dress, 

 like Caligula and Quijote ; from oaths, like 

 Jasomirgott (ja, so mir Gott sc. helfe), to kind 

 parental wishes, like Furchtegott and Bleibtreu. 



These principles of forming proper names 

 are classified and grouped in logical sequence, and 

 they are considered in their proper relations to the 

 growth of human society. We wish to take issue 

 with the author upon the principle laid down in the 

 introduction ; viz.. that the first source of proper 

 names is to be found in the limitation of general 

 terms. Thus a primitive tribe, separated from 

 other people, would call the only river in the 

 vicinity of their domicile ' the river,' but, on be- 

 coming acquainted with other rivers, would ap- 

 ply distinguishing epithets to their particular 

 river, calling it, for example, the Red River, thus 

 forming a proper name. There seems a certain 

 lack of logic in this reasoning, because, as long 

 as a people know only one river, the term ' the 

 river ' is really a proper name, and it only ceases to 

 be one when the people begin to apply the same 

 word to all objects of the same kind. Thus it 

 would be more correct to say that proper names 

 are the starting-point ; that they afterwards be- 

 come generic terms by being applied to other 

 objects of the same kind ; and that, as necessity 

 arises, new proper names are formed from them 

 by the addition of distinguishing epithets. 



The strength of the book lies in the fact that 

 not only odd and rare names are taken into the 

 account, on the origin of which we necessarily 

 reflect when we meet them, but the origin of the 

 most common every-day names has received a 

 philosophical treatment. This strength of the 

 book is also its weakness. The author, forgetting 

 that he was not to give us a dictionary, has not 

 always confined himself to mentioning a few 

 characteristic examples, but has given us, in 

 many cases, all the instances that have come 

 under his observation, thereby increasing the bulk 

 of his work without making it sufficiently com- 

 plete to be used as a work of reference. The 

 various tables, especially those at the end of the 

 work, which show to what extent certain prin- 

 ciples of creating proper names prevail among 

 different nations, are unique and interesting. The 



idea deserves to be carried out more fuily in a 

 future edition. 



The book will recommend itself to English 

 readers by the clearness and unaffected simplicity 

 of its style, which contrasts very favorably with 

 the style of many German works on related sub- 

 jects. 



KING OF THE BELGIANS' PRIZE. 



A prize of 25,000 francs, or $5,000, is offered 

 every year by Leopold II., the king of the Bel- 

 gians, we learn from the Journal of the Society 

 of arts, for the best essay on some predetermined 

 subject tending to advance the well-being of man- 

 kind. The competition is alternately restricted to 

 Belgians, and thrown open to the world, being 

 settled by an international jury. The subject of 

 this year's competition, open to the whole world, 

 was ' The best means of improving sandy coasts ; ' 

 and the prize has been awarded by an inter- 

 national jury, including some of the most eminent 

 English and French engineers, to M. De Mey, en- 

 gineer of ponts et chaussees, Bruges, against fifty- 

 nine competitors. This is only the second time 

 that the international prize has been awarded ; 

 that in 1880, the year that the prize was instituted, 

 having been adjudged to M. A. Wauters, archivist 

 to the Brussels municipality, for his ' Histoiy of 

 the origin of communal franchise in Belgium.' The 

 subject for the essay at the next international com- 

 petition is ' The progress of electricity applied to mo- 

 tive power and illumination, its applications and eco- 

 nomical advantages.' The essays for competition, 

 which must be written in French, or translated 

 into that language, are to be sent before the 1st of 

 January, 1889, to the minister of agriculture, in- 

 dustry, and public works, from whom the condi- 

 tions of the competition may be obtained. 



The Haager society for the defence of the 

 Christian religion has offered a prize of 400 Hol- 

 land gulden — or medals, if preferred — for the 

 best treatment of the two following subjects : 1°. 

 A history of the application of historical criticism 

 to biblical study, in order to establish a position 

 which shall, if possible, avoid both dogmatism 

 and scepticism ; 2 Q . A biblical apologetic, or a 

 comparison and estimate of the manner in which 

 religion is unfolded and defended in the various 

 books of the Bible. The competing essays must 

 be signed with a motto, and forwarded, together 

 with a scaled envelope indorsed with the motto 

 and giving the name of the author, to Prof. A. 

 Kusnen at Leyden before the 14th of December, 

 1886. The essays may be written in Latin, Ger- 

 man (with Latin letters), French, or Dutch. 



