REVIEWS. 
353 
THE INDUSTRIES OF INDIA.* 
* 
O N the recent disintegration of the collections which were contained in the 
East India Museum, all the botanical specimens were transferred to Kew, 
while the zoological, the mineralogical, and the architectural specimens passed 
to the British Museum. There remained, however, at Kensington a vast 
number of valuable objects illustrating the arts and industries of India, which 
formed in fact the most popular part of the old Museum. These objects have 
been transferred from the India Office to the custody of the authorities of the 
Science and Art Department, and they are consequently now exhibited as a 
part of the South Kensington collections. The transfer was primarily 
effected for the purpose of relieving the Indian Exchequer of the cost of 
maintaining a museum in London ; while under the new arrangement the 
guardianship of the collections throws no additional burden upon the Impe- 
rial Exchequer, since it has been undertaken by the staff of keepers who 
already had charge of the South Kensington Museum. As soon as the 
Kensington authorities obtained possession of the collections they commis- 
sioned Dr. Birdwood, of the India Office, to prepare a Handbook which 
should form one of the series of works on art in course of issue by the 
Department. The result of Dr. Birdwood’s labours is seen in the interesting 
work now in our hands. 
So closely are the arts of India interwoven with the various religious 
beliefs of the people that no thorough appreciation of native art is possible 
without some familiarity with Hindu mythology. The author has, there- 
fore, devoted the early part of his work to a description of the Hindu 
pantheon. In the second part he deals with the master handicrafts of India, 
principally with the metal-work, the jewellery, the pottery, and the textile 
products. This part is, to a great extent, an enlarged reproduction of the 
author’s well-known Handbook of the Indian Court of the Paris Exhibition of 
1878. It should be distinctly understood that the present work is not a 
mere Guide to the Indian Museum, much less a Catalogue of its contents. 
It is, in truth, a pleasantly-written book, full of information on the arts, the 
religion, and the social life of India — a work which may be read at home 
without the slightest reference to any particular collection of Indian products. 
In fact, if we are obliged to find any fault with so good a book, it is in the 
direction of discursiveness rather than of elaboration. Taking, for example, 
the chapter on Indian pottery we find that considerably more than half the 
space is devoted to a description of village-life and land-tenure in India. 
It should be added that Dr. Birdwood’s volumes are copiously illustrated by 
excellent wood-engravings, but we regret that they are not furnished with 
an index. 
* The Industrial Arts of India. By George C. M. Birdwood, C.S.I.,M.D. 
With Map and Woodcuts. 2 vols. 8vo. London : Chapman & Hall. 
