746 
Analyses of Books. 
[December, 
gist, and the philologian it will prove a treasure. In connection 
with these subjects we find not only wid6 and profound learning, 
but original and suggestive thought. 
It may be strange, in a work bearing the title of that before 
us, to find an analysis of the causes which led to the overthrow 
of the Roman Empire. Thus Prof. Hehn writes : — “ Another 
slowly operating destructive force, identical at bottom with that 
of Christianity, was the mixture of races, the intrusion of Oriental 
blood into the population of the West. . . . The rapid fall was 
only a consequence of the transformation of race. Natives of 
Africa and Egypt, Orientals of every type, European and Asiatic 
Greeks, Spanish Iberians, Illyrians, and Thracians deluged Italy, 
intermarried with each other, took possession of the organs of 
the State, of education, of literature, and not seldom even 
mounted the Imperial throne. As early as the time of Cicero 
and Caesar all the cities, and Rome among them, were crowded 
with the circumcised, who were agreed among themselves ; and 
however senseless and anti-human their opinions seemed to the 
Romans, yet with their stubborn bent of mind they imperceptibly 
revolutionised the general consciousness. ‘ Oh that Judea had 
never been subdued by Pompey and Titus ! ’ exclaimed Rutilius 
Numatianus in his ‘ Itinerarium.’ Thence comes, and now 
spreads far and wide, the infeCted matter, and those who were 
once conquered fasten the yoke on the necks of their conquerors !” 
We may, perhaps, find here a trace of that Anti-Jewish move- 
ment which has of late made itself so conspicuous in Germany 
and the more eastern parts of Europe. However this may be, 
there is here matter which deserves to be heedfully studied by 
Cosmopolitans, Internationalists, and the advocates of “ Misce- 
genation.” It would almost seem as if, even without inter- 
marriage, the intellectual and moral life of a people may be 
poisoned by the mere presence of aliens. Are we, in modern 
England, undergoing a similar progress ? 
We can recommend this work, not indeed to the naturalist, 
but, in return, to almost every one else. 
Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 
Vol. XXI., June 30, 1885. Melbourne: Mason, Frith, and 
McCutcheon. London : Williams and Norgate. 
From the Anniversary Address of the President, Mr. R. L. 
Ellery, F.R.S., F.R.A.S., the Government Astronomer, we learn 
some satisfactory faCts. The progress of botanical research is 
satisfactory. Baron von Muller has completed the tenth and 
last decade of his “ Eucalyptography of Australia,” and is 
issuing a Monograph of the Myoporinae. He is also engaged 
