Analyses of Books . 
414 
[July, 
irresponsible power of deciding whether, and under what condi- 
tions, certificates and licenses under the Adt are to be granted. 
In consequence the “ Medical Dictator has prevented researches 
into antidotes to snake-poisons, the multiplication of septic 
organisms, the physiology of the brain, the functions of the 
spleen, the method of renal secretion, aseptic dressing of wounds, 
the adtions of certain poisons, intestinal secretions and move- 
ments, ligatures on arteries, and other matters. Men are left to 
die of poison, wounds, and disease, for want of the knowledge 
that can only be obtained at the expense of animals. . . . Dr. 
Brunton has been forbidden to seek for antidotes to snake-bites, 
Professor Fraser has been checked in his attempts to study the 
nature of the poison used by the natives of Borneo upon their 
arrows, while Prof. Lister has had to leave England in order to 
carry on his researches. And besides the list of stifled investi- 
gations already given, how many more are left unattempted be- 
cause of the difficulties thrown in the way ? Surely this state 
of things is not creditable, and ought not to endure.” The 
author, as we have already intimated, takes an exceedingly mo- 
derate ground. He does not, like ourselves, demand the repeal 
of the Adt of 1876, but would be content with its administration 
in a spirit less unfavourable to Science than has hitherto pre- 
vailed. He merely wishes the Home Secretary to be guided by 
the “ competent advisers ” whom the Adt provides. 
We hope that this work will receive the wide and careful study 
which it merits, and that its accurate truth and sound reasoning 
may prove an antidote to the sophistical and fanatic eloquence 
of Bestiarian speakers and writers. 
The Natural Genesis, By Gerald Massey. Vol. I. 
We have here the first volume of a bulky work, the importance 
of which is fully proportionate to its extent. Our readers will 
perceive that we give no publisher’s name. Our excuse must be 
that none is given in the copy which has been forwarded to us. 
We can merely give the address of the printers : R. Clay, Sons, 
and Taylor, Bread Street Hill, Queen Vidtoria Street, E.C. 
But what is the subjedt of the book ? Mr. Massey is an inde- 
pendent thinker, a heretic. After prolonged and laborious enquiry 
he rejedts certain modern theories as to the origin of civilisation 
and the formation of language. He is no believer in the “Aryan 
hypothesis.” He contends that the transition from the bestial 
to the lowest human condition took place not in Central Asia or 
Northern India, but in the interior of Africa, and that the stream 
of culture flowed along the Valley of the Nile. He shows that 
