With Illustrations and Maps, medium 8vo, 185. ISLAND LIFE: . OR, THE PHENOMENA AND CAUSES OF INSULAR FAUNAS AND FLORAS, INCLUDING A REVISION AND ATTEMPTED SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF GEOLOGICAL CLIMATES. By ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, Author of "The Malay Archipelago,” “The Geographical Distribution of Animals," &c. "Mr. Wallace discusses in an admirably clear and able manner the questions of geological climate and time such are only a few of the great problems discussed in this most instructive volume-a volume that ought to interest every thoughtful reader. While its theories are likely to meet with keen criticism from Mr. Wallace's fellow-scientists, his volume ought more than any other we know of to spread among the intelligent reading public a knowledge of and interest in some of the most momentous scientific problems of our time."-Times. "His wonderful grasp of detail, depth of insight, and breadth of view remind one at every turn of Darwin, with whom he shares the honours of discovery in the theory of natural selection; but beyond this he has a lightness of touch, a beauty of style, and an ingenuity in unravelling intricate difficulties which are all his own. Island Life is a work to be accepted almost without reservation from beginning to end. . . . Whoever reads his book must be charmed with it."-St. James's Gazette. "The work throughout abounds with interest. . . It may be read with equal pleasure by those who are already acquainted with the general principles of distribution and by those who wish for the first time to learn something about modern biological geography."-Athenæum. "We have said enough to show that Mr. Wallace is led to discuss subjects of great interest to speculative minds. With its numerous special maps 'Island Life' ought to prove as interesting as it is instructive."-Pall Mall Gazette. "Dr. Cleland's standing as a physiologist prepares us to find him discussing the matter with justice and calmness. He admits the services of Darwin to natural history, but points out some difficulties in the way of his famous theory."-British Medical Journal. "We recommend these es ays in the warmest manner to all our readers. They abound with suggestive thoughts and original views."-Dublin Medical Journal. Glasgow: JAMES MACLEHOSE, Publisher to the University. By JOHN FISKE, M.A., LL.B. Crown 8vo. MACMILLAN & CO., London. Just Published, price £2 10s. London: MACMILLAN & CO. In fcap. 8vo, price 3s. 6d. SOUND: ELEMENTARY LESSONS ON. "This is an excellent little text-book, well adapted for students of the The major and most select portion of this valuable Scientific Library is now on view at my Establishment. BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 Piccadilly, London. The entire Ornithological Library of the late SIR WILLIAM JARDINE has also been purchased by Bernard Quaritch. A CATALOGUE is in preparation. PROF. HEER'S PRIMEVAL WORLD of SWITZERLAND, with Geological Map and 560 Illustrations. Edited by JAMES HEYWOOD, M.A., F.R.Š. In 2 vols. 8vo, price 125. London: LONGMANS & CO. Just Published, Part II., 80 pp., 21 Plates, imp. 8vo, price 125. The FISHES of GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND: being a Natural History of such as are known to inhabit the Seas and Fresh Waters of the British Isles, including Remarks en their Economic Uses and Various Modes of Capture. With an Introduction upon Fishes generally. By FRANCIS DAY, F.L.S., F.Z.S. To be completed in 9 Parts, each 125. WILLIAMS & NORGATE, 14, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London: and 20, South Frederick Street, Edinburgh. GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. IN the Preface to the "Student's Elements of Geology" by Lyell he says, "As it is impossible to enable the reader to recognise rocks and minerals at sight by aid of verbal descrip. tions or figures, he will do well to obtain a well-arranged collection of specimens." These can be had from BRYCE WRIGHT, MINERALOGIST, 90, Great Russell Street, W.C. 50 Specimens in Cabinet &c., &c. IN. THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1881 "A BOOK OF THE BEGINNINGS" A Book of the Beginnings. By Gerald Massey. Two Vols. (London: Williams and Norgate, 1881.) N two large volumes Mr. Gerald Massey has collected together all the principal facts known about Egypt, with a view to trace the origin of mankind. Some portions of his theories are undoubtedly correct, especially those which go to prove that the Egyptians are the oldest known historical race, that they are an African people of a peculiar type, and by no means an Asiatic tribe filtered through the Isthmus of Suez, and in course of time building up a Semitic population in Africa; that evidence of their primitive development is to be found in their physical type; for Mr. Massey is a decided evolutionist, and regards man as evolved from some of the anthropoid apes, especially the black races, whose colour he considers marks their animal descent; that flint and stone weapons, principally of the Neolithic period, have been found in Egypt at different points is undoubted; and that the aboriginal inhabitants of the Nile Valley gradually rose to a higher state of civilisation, and that without a foreign predisposing them, is probably true. When however the author leaves the realms of ethnology and dashes into philology his results are startling, and his deductions so weird and transcendental that they fail to command acquiescence. It is the rash seizing of any word in any dialect which is totally inadmissible, as from such arbitrary selections any absurdity may be perpetrated. Still more extraordinary is the separation, arbitrary as it appears, of dissyllable words into syllables, and comparing each syllable with any Egyptian one that will give such a meaning as the inquirer wishes. To such proceedings there are no limits, and some of the results are grotesque. The first requirement in the study of a language is to separate the original from the introduced words, and to apply to each a distinct etymology. In all languages nouns are of uncertain origin, verbs and original inflections, affixes and prefixes are more typical. Such derivations, for example, as butter and butterfly from the Egyptian Put," food," and Ter, "entire" or "total," and moth from the Egyptian Mut, "death," and cooper from the Egyptian Kheper," a bottle," are too far-fetched to entitle them to the designation of philological deductions. But with all this straining at gnats the number of English words, whether original or derivative, which can be tortured into supposed Egyptian origin, is remarkably small. Objecting, as is imperative, to all such vain delusions, it must be admitted that the author has a full right to oppose that system of comparative philology which has been built up from the Sanskrit, the supposed oidest representation of the Aryan languages, to the etter neglect of the older Egyptian, Sumerian, Babyonian, and Chinese. The stately edifice built upon the Sand of Sanscritism already shows signs of subsidence, and will ultimately vanish like the baseless fabric of a son. For by it not the study of the general laws of peech, but only of a comparatively recent development is exhibited. The weakness of the author is however equally VOL. XXIV.-No. 603 manifest here, as he deals with languages which he does not understand, and institutes comparisons on imperfect data, nor does he seem to be aware of the knowledge recently acquired of a prehistoric Chinese. He is however right when he points out that such a Hebrew, not British, name as Adam is more likely to be derived from Tem or Atem, the Egyptian word for "creator" and "created" being, than the Sanscrit Adima, proposed by Max Müller, the more so that the Pentateuch abounds in Egyptian words, and Sanscrit philology is vainly and ridiculously applied to it. But in treating of the Egyptian word for cat and its vocative form pussy, although the different forms cited may amuse those interested in the "great cat question," the learning expended is not on an original, but an introduced word. The cat was doubtless an African and Chinese animal unknown to the Greeks till a very late period, not introduced till late into the houses of the Romans, and not seen on Egyptian sculptures as a pet till about 1500 B.C. The immense deal of reading and the fanciful comparisons of the section of the Egyptian names of personages are too daring and startling. No doubt there is a peculiar fascination in playing with words, and if the combinations are neither correct nor harmonious, they are at all events amusing, as to find that the Chinese expression fieng yue is the same as the word fiend, after all only the Egyptian fenti, and "old Bendy," the English nick-name for the devil. The same remarks may also be applied to the attempts to refer British symbolical customs to Egyptian names, and the identification of the Egyptian deities in the British Isles, although a great deal of reading has been wasted. In the wriggling over the word Tasc on British coins, the well-known abridgment of Tasciovanus, the father of Cunobelinus, or Cymbelin, there is an unusual degree of floundering. It is referred to the Egyptian word tes and the English tas, a reaper, and this example will give an idea of the manner in which the subject is treated. At some spot in Herefordshire certain services were performed over "old Tom "-not the spirit, but as the departed year was called; and this is supposed to be part of the myth or legend of the Egyptian god Atum, or the Creator, Tom in the game of noughts and crosses, and so is Tommy Dodd. The only difficulty is to conceive how such a transformation can have got into any English head, for the word Tom suggests a vulgar familiarity and a contracted form of Thomas ; and in the same strain run on the consideration of the types, names, and similar subjects, all on the same plan. From the consideration of Egyptian origins in Britain, a more than doubtful thesis, Mr. Massey however goes into deeper water when he ventures on Egyptian analogies in the Hebrew scriptures, although the subject is by no means novel, and has been mentioned by various Egyptologists, Chabas, De Rouge, Ebers, Brugsch, and others, besides the extensive use of Egyptology made by German theologians. identification of biblical personages is another of the attempts of the author to grasp at faint analogies with Egyptian words that might possibly be compounded into the Hebrew syllables forming the Hebrew names; the slightest probability is grasped at as if an absolute proof, with the undaunted boldness of a preconceived theory. Such researches may dazzle those unacquainted either with Egyptian or Hebrew, but it is more than doubtful D The if such averments will commend themselves either to No doubt many identical verbal roots occur in Egyptian, Assyrian, and Accadian; those of Hebrew and Coptic have already been pointed out and alluded to; still the languages are essentially distinct in their constructions, and belong to different families. The Assyrian may be classed as the oldest form of the Semitic family, at all events the Babylonian must be considered so. Greater difficulty indeed exists about the Accadian, which has been referred with probability by some to the Ugrian family of languages, and with doubtful success by others to the oldest Chinese, as the theory is based on the comparison of few words, some of which are of uncertain meaning, and they cannot be historically traced as the descendants question. Some words certainly look like Egyptian; but that is not sufficient, as some Egyptian words resemble those in all other languages. More in accordance with probability is the hypothesis that Egyptian words may be found in all the African languages, although their structures differ. This has been long recognised as a fact in the Berber, and also in some of the other African stems, but again the great difference of structure and the doubt how and when the Egyptian words were introduced cloud the inquiry in investigating languages that have had no inscriptions or written literature. Yet the old Egyptian must have been development of one of the old African languages which subsequently became extinct. Notwithstanding the difference of opinion about the results and the methods by which they have been obtained, great credit is due to Mr. Massey for the ingenuity with which he has endeavoured to build up his theory and, to his mind, discoveries. He has read through all the principal works on the subjects he treats, and his collection of words, legends, and data is enormous. He has produced a work which will be read with pleasure by some, with amazement by others, and incredulity by specialists. He has taken all reasonable care to insure a fair and correct list of words and facts: yet for all that the embroidery of his particoloured threads has produced a weird and grotesque pattern of strange and fantastic conceptions such as might have been planned by elves or fairies to dazzle and bewilder mortal imagination as much as to amuse and delight themselves. It is too warm and rosy for the chill glance of science. THE SCOTTISH CELTIC REVIEW of one another. Some of the Accadian nouns, indeed, Thas just appeared, published by Mr. Maclehose of resemble the Finnish, but the verbs are totally dissimilar. Many Egyptian words, however, it would appear from the comparative table of Mr. Massey, resemble Accadian, and this may be considered a new departure, and one perfectly legitimate, as the two languages may have started from a common origin; indeed by some linguists the origin of the Semitic has been referred to Africa; but as already clearly pointed out, although certain phases of construction ally the Egyptian with the Semitic languages, there is not the most remote similarity with the Accadian, which is not only of a totally different family from the Semitic, but also the Egyptian or Hamitic tongues. When however Mr. Massey claims to trace Egyptian words in the Maori, he has no doubt been more fascinated by the theory of the Egyptians belonging to a primitive continent subsequently broken into the islands of the Polynesian group than the actual coincidences of the two tongues or the similar words in the two languages. It must always be remembered that, like the Chinese, the Egyptian is a very poor language, and expresses a great variety of ideas by a single monosyllable no wonder, then, if coincidences occur. The African origin of the Maoris of course demands further consideration. Ethnologically and philologically they were formerly classed as a probable offset of the Malay race, but how Egyptian words passed to them is another Glasgow; but the name of the editor is not given, nor of the writers of the articles. The work however is done in a way which shows that there are at least a few persons in the North who feel a deep interest in Celtic philology and the language and literature of the Scotch Highlands. The programme is an excellent one, and embraces among other things the application to the study of Gaelic of those methods of investigation which have been so fruitful in the fields of English and German philology. It is intended also to help, by means of translations, to make English readers better acquainted with Gaelic literature, and to collect for publication all fragments of unwritten literature which still may happen to linger in the Highlands, as well as to afford room for the discussion of questions relating to Gaelic grammar and orthography. This last, it seems to us, is a subject with which the Gaelic scholars of the Highlands trouble themselves a great deal too much. Modern Gaelic orthography, whether in Ireland or in Alban, is simply incorrigible, and had better be left alone for the rest of the natural lives of the surviving dialects. This involves no great inconvenience; for no scholar who wants to understand the history of a Gaelic word ever thinks of being guided by any of the modern spellings which may be in use, but goes back to the Irish of the Middle Ages, or farther still, to what is technically known as Old Irish. It is some consolation to Englishmen to know that English orthography is not quite the worst in the world, and that Tonald seldom writes, but that when he does he spells more outrageously than the most wayward spelling-book ever known in the land of the Southron. The philological articles in this review are very well done, and will be found very instructive, and specially adapted for beginners in the study of Celtic; but what we presume would most attract the readers of NATURE in this number is the tale which it contains, published for the first time. It was taken down some years ago in the Island of Tiree, the Terra Ethica of Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba." This is a summary of it :-The King of Ireland's heir was returning from hunting towards the _evening, when he was overtaken by a shower, out of which came a big fellow with a fine steed and a marvellously handsome woman. The big fellow challenged the prince to play with him; he did so, and the big fellow was beaten, whereupon the prince took away his lady companion. He met the same big fellow another day and beat him again; according to the woman's advice he asked this time for the steed, which he took away with him home. The woman told him he would be beaten the next time, and how he was to act under his defeat. It happened just as she had told him, the big fellow laying him under charms, that he should have no rest or peace until he discovered how the Tuairisgeul Mor met with his death. He in his turn laid the big fellow under a charm not to leave the spot until he should return from the difficult expedition which was before him, and in which ever so many kings' sons had perished in former times. With the aid of the counsel of the woman he had taken from the big fellow, and with the assistance of her three -wonderful brothers, to whom she recommended him, he managed to execute the first part of his business. On Enis way back on his horse, just as he had ridden through wide loch and cut it into two, he was met by a youth who made unheard-of offers for the horse; according to previous advice he was to accept none of them, but to give away the horse only for a grey old man the youth had at home. The hero of the tale carries the grey old man on his shoulders and is guided by him, but is always to do the reverse of what he says. Each time this happened the old man would say, That gives longer life to you and shorter life to me." At last they sat down in a house, and the old man had to relate the tale of his life, which was to yield the prince the information he was in quest of. He said that he was one of the three sons of a king, who were turned into wolves by their stepmother with her mallet of Druidism. They avenged themselves on her by killing ber hens, until she got all the sportsmen in the land assembled to destroy them, when they were driven to shelter themselves under a big rock near the sea. There two died, and the surviving one, seeing a ship not far off, swam so near it that the captain ordered him to be picked up. By and by he became a pet of the captain's, who took him home to his wife. Some time afterwards she was confined of a boy, and the midwives, after dressing the baby, went to sleep, while the wolf lay quietly below the bed; ere long he saw a big fist coming in through the roof and snatching the baby away. When the midwives woke they smeared blood on the animal, and laid the blame on it of having devoured the child, in order to clear themselves of neglect. The captain was loath to kill his pet wolf. The same thing happened another year; but the third time the beast watched, and beheld the fist coming in through the roof, when he seized hold of it, and tore it off at the shoulder; however, the other hand seized the child, but the wolf gave chase, and made its way into a little island with a cave in it where he found that the robber was a giant. The baby was under his arm, and the children previously stolen were playing in the cave. The giant being asleep, he got at his throat, and so the Tuairisgeul Mor found his death. After relating how the three children were brought home to their father, the captain, and how he himself recovered his human form, the old man said: "I am not to live any longer; throw me into yonder cauldron." The King of Erin's son now returned to the hill, where the big fellow who used to challenge him to play, lay with his bones by this time bleached by the wind and the rain; but when the prince told him how the Tuairisgeul Mor had been put to death he was gathered together, and rose from the hillock alive and well, while the young prince went home to marry the beautiful maiden who had enabled him to overcome all the difficulties which had met him. We have read various tales at different times containing similar incidents, but the only one we shall mention here is that of Pwyll, Prince of Dyved, in Lady Charlotte Guest's "Mabinogion," where it is related how he lost his first-born the night he was born; and how another prince of South Wales used to lose the colts of a remarkable mare he had about the same time. At last the latter watched, and cut off the hand that was in the act of seizing a colt through a window; but what we wished to come to was this-the time is specified in the Welsh tale, namely the first day of May every year. Possibly this may suggest to somebody who has made a study of such legends what they really mean; but we abstain from giving any crude theories of our own on the matter. OUR BOOK SHELF Zwangsmässige Lichtempfindungen durch Schall und verwandte Erscheinungen auf dem Gebiete der anderen Sinnesempfindungen (Sensations of Light generated by Sound, and related Phenomena in the Sensations of other Organs of Sense). By E. Bleuler and K. Lehmann 8vo, pp. 96. (Leipzig: Fues's Verlag, 1881.) As the authors (two medical students of Zürich) were conversing on chemistry in the autumn of 1878, Bleuler being asked what was the appearance of cetones (substances of which acetone or naphtha is the type), got out of the difficulty at once by saying, "They are yellow, because their name contains an o." Lehmann, astonished, inquired what such an apparently absurd answer meant, and then found that from childhood Bleuler, on hearing, or even thinking of any vowel or word, immediately saw a colour, and that many of his relatives were in the same condition. Such was the origin of this investigation, and it is remarkable for having been carried on by one who always saw the colours (Bleuler) and one who never saw them (Lehmann). Such appearances of colour generated by sound are here called photisms, while sensations of sound generated by colour are termed phonisms, and both are called "secondary sensations or perceptions," the authors not knowing exactly in which category to place them. The authors have examined 596 persons (383 men and 213 women), and found among them 76 "positive" (that is, capable of seeing photisms), and 520 "negative" (that is, incapable of seeing photisms). This proportion is about 1 to 7. Particulars of the examinations of all are given. The photisms for the same sounds differ much from individual to individual, but remain constant for the same individual, as shown by receiving identical answers to thousands of questions after intervals of more than a year. The photisms are not always distinct or of definite forms, but are projected on to the spot whence the sounds arise. Other senses produce sensations of colour as well as hearing; thus there are taste and smell photisms. There are also emotional photisms. The authors are unable to give any explanation, but they are clear that simple association does not suffice, and they examine a number of suggestions made to them, showing that they do not account for cases observed. They themselves think that the solution of the difficulty is to be sought in the nature of nervous processes, but they do not admit that "secondary sensations" are psychopathological. This little book is full of curious and interesting details evidently connected with Francis Galton's "mental images," and localisation and sometimes colouring of numbers in the mind's eye. The following account of the general conclusions obtained, given on the last page of the book, will show what a curious page of nervous physiology is here opened out. 1. Bright photisms are excited by musically high sounds, severe pain, sharply-defined sensations of taste, small forms, pointed forms. Dark photisms by the contrary. 2. Musically high phonisms are excited by bright light, clear definition, small forms, pointed forms. Deep phonisms by the contrary. 3. Photisms with sharply defined forms, small photisms and pointed photisms, are all excited by the sensations of musically high sounds. 4. Red, yellow, and blue are common colours of photisms; violet and green are rare, blue is of medium frequency. 5. Thorough agreement of the separate assertions of different individuals does not occur. 6. Unpleasant primary sensations may excite pleasant secondary sensations, and conversely. 7. Secondary sensations are scarcely more influenced by psychical circumstances than are primary sensations; and they are inalterable. 8. The disposition to have secondary sensations is hereditary. 9. Traces of secondary sensations are widely spread. Well-developed secondary sensations could be established to exist for one in eight persons examined. 10. Secondary sensations are not more frequently met with in psychopathically afflicted persons than in those of a normal condition. A List of European Birds. By Henry E. Dresser. (London: Published by the Author, 1881.) THIS "List of European Birds," including all the species found in the Western Palearctic region, has been very carefully revised by Mr. Dresser, and appears opportunely on the completion of his great work on the "Birds of Europe." It will be most useful as a check list for labelling, or for reference in making exchanges of birds and birds' eggs. The classification is the same as that adopted in the "Birds of Europe," and follows that of Prof. Huxley, which still appears to Mr. Dresser to be the best as yet elaborated. The species are numbered consecutively, in order to facilitate reference. A very few alterations in the nomenclature have been made: 623 species are enumerated, and the list is published at the low price of one shilling. The Seals and Whales of the British Seas. By Thomas Southwell, F.Z.S. (with Illustrations). (London: Jarrold and Sons, 1881.) THIS neat little volume, though it adds little if anything to our scientific knowledge of the British seals and whales, will be welcome to many as telling a good deal about these interesting mammals which could only be found after a prolonged search through many of our scientific periodicals. It will form a pleasant addition to sea-side libraries, and, telling what is known about these creatures, it may thus be the means of indicating what is not known about them, and so do something towards advancing knowledge. A good deal of the information in this little volume appeared originally in the pages of Science Gossip; it has however not only been carefully revised, but several additional woodcuts have been added. It has also had the supervision of Mr. J. W. Clark and of the late E. R. Alston. The more advanced student would have liked a short chapter on the literature relating to our British marine mammalia, which perhaps in a future edition might be given, and an analytic key to the species of British cetacea would be a great help to those living in suitable localities who would venture to take up the study of these very interesting but not easily preserved creatures. A Sequel to the First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid, containing an Easy Introduction to Modern Geometry, with numerous Examples. By John Casey, LL.D., F.R.S. (Dublin University Press Series, 1881.) THERE are many geometrical_results which are not directly formulated or stated in Euclid's Elements, which are yet constantly turning up in the solution of geometrical problems, and it is very desirable to have a handy book of reference, the propositions in which may be cited, so obviating the necessity of a lengthy proof. The "Exercises on Euclid and in Modern Geometry" of Mr. McDowell is a useful book for this purpose, as all the propositions are fully worked out. Dr. Casey, in the course of teaching, has frequently had to contend against the defect above referred to, and had to interrupt the course of the demonstration of an advanced proposition by turning on one side to prove some well-known result, because he could not cite Euclid as an authority for it. This handy little book, which appears to us quite up to the level of the author's reputation as a geometer, is intended to meet this felt want, and paves the way to a deeper study of the modern geometry contained in the exhaustive works by Chasles, Townsend, Mulcaby, and many Continental writers. A great number of classical problems are led up to, and they themselves discussed and established. The size and style of the book fit it for use in the higher forms of our schools, and more advanced students will find it a convenient book for citation. Accented Four-Figure Logarithms and other Tables for Arithmetical and Trigonometrical Purposes and for Correcting Altitudes and Lunar Distances, with Formula and Examples. Arranged and accented by Louis D'A. Jackson. (London: W. H. Allen, 1881.) MR. JACKSON is an experienced editor and computer of logarithmic tables, having already published "Accented Five-Figure Logarithms,"" Pocket Logarithms and other Tables," &c. Different calculations require different degrees of approximations, and the computer learns by experience which kind of tables are best suited for the end he has in view. In his Introduction our author carefully discusses the question, and states to what extent the present tables are efficacious. His system of accentuation appears to be a good one. Certainly it insures a much closer degree of accuracy than is to be got from ordinary four-figure tables. Each logarithm, on its face, shows whether it is in excess or in defect of the true value (obtained by taking a greater number of figures), or equal thereto. The range of error seems to be reduced to a |