be found the lists of editions of the Breviary and other Choir Service-books of the Church of Salisbury, prepared by Mr. Henry Bradshaw, to whom are really due the notice of the printed books which contain the Breviary proper, or portions of it, and the brief statement of the contents of the Sarum Breviary, which were printed in the Introduction to fasciculus ii. SCOTCH JOTTINGS. tariff the task of protecting the paper-makers, type-founders, printers, and other artisans who join in producing the book as a marketable article." The telegraph tells us that, on February 18, a motion to accelerate the Dorsheimer Bill failed to obtain the necessary majority of twothirds. But we may take comfort in the fact that the voting was 156 to 98. THE report is again current—and this time, we believe, on good authority-that Dr. Oliver A COMMITTEE has been formed with the Wendell Holmes intends to visit England object of presenting to Edinburgh University, shortly. He is now at work upon a cataon the approaching celebration of its tercent-logue of his correspondence and miscellaneous enary, a bust of Thomas Carlyle, one of her greatest sons and benefactors." Subscriptions are to be limited to two guineas. 66 We have before referred to the action brought by Prof. Caird against a Glasgow bookseller to restrain the publication of certain books alleged to contain imperfect notes of his lectures. Sheriff Lees, after considering two large MS. volumes of the Professor's lectures, delivered judgment in his favour on Friday last. case. GLASGOW has many libraries, but no Free Public Library; and Edinburgh is in the same A movement has been started in the former city to combine the several libraries under a single management, and to complete their deficiencies by the help of the Free Public Libraries Act. It is calculated that the existing libraries (of which, of course, the Mitchell is the chief), already possess a capital sum of about £125,000; and that a rate of a penny in the pound, yielding £9,000 a year, would provide a central lending library and news-room and six branch lending libraries. A FRESH Browning Society has been started in Edinburgh by some twenty students of the Edinburgh Association for the University Edu cation of Women. Ar the meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh last Monday, it was announced that the Keith prize had been awarded to Mr. Thomas Muir, of the Glasgow High School, for his researches into the theory of determinants and continued fractions; the MacDougall-Brisbane prize to Prof. James Geikie, for his contributions to the geology of the North-west of Europe; and the Neill prize to Prof. Herdman, for his papers on the Tunicata. A "FIND" of silver coins was made lately in the bed of a stream near Portree, in the Isle of Skye. Fifty-three of them have reached the hands of the Government official, including one of Elizabeth (1573), one of Henry of Navarre (1603), and several Jacobuses. AMERICAN JOTTINGS. THE news from America by the last mail about the Dorsheimer Copyright Bill seems almost too good to be true. On February 5, what is called the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives reported upon it favourably, subject to an amendment that the term of copyright shall be the same for the foreign as for the native author. Meanwhile, the American Copyright League has drawn a most important declaration from Mr. Frelinghuysen, the Secretary of State, who may be presumed to express the policy of the President. After stating that negotiations for a treaty have practically fallen through on the difficulty of "domestic manufacture," he says: "I think the foreigner owning a copyright should have here the same privilege as our own citizens, provided our citizens have in the foreigner's country the same rights as the natives thereof; and thereupon I would leave to the mutual convenience of the holder of the copyright and the publisher the adjustment of their contract, and leave to the papers. THE forthcoming volume of the new edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica will be especially strong in American articles and American maps. Among the contributors are Mr. E. L. Godkin, Mr. G. W. Cable, and Gen. McClellan. PROF. J. A. HARRISON has written for Anglia phonetics, grammar, and syntax, and giving 'Negro English," treating of its specimens of four dialects. an article on 66 A COMPLETE edition of the poems of the late Sidney Lanier is to be published this spring, edited by Dr. W. H. Ward. THE original MS. of Anthony Trollope's Orley Farm has been purchased by Messrs. Scribner & Welford, of New York. It consists of about twelve hundred pages of note-paper, closely written on both sides, in a free running hand, with few corrections or interlineations. MR. THOMAS HARDY has written a story for the New York Independent, entitled "Emmeline; or, Passion versus Principle." mittee consists of Mrs. Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt, Sir Theodore Martin, Sir Robert Morier, Sir George Grove, Mr. J. A. Froude, Prof. Buchheim, and Prof. F. Max Müller. ANOTHER book on the great Chancellor is about to be published by the author of Bismark Bismark, Zwölf Jahre deutscher Politik, and will nach dem Kriege. It will bear the title of chiefly treat of Germany's-that is to say, of Bismark's-foreign policy. tion of short standard novels, issued some years PAUL HEYSE intends resuming the publica ago under the title of "Novellenschatz." His co-editor in the new series will be the Bavarian poet Ludwig Leistner. shortly issue a comprehensive biography of the dramatic poet Grillparzer, which promises to be of great general interest. THE veteran writer Heinrich Laube will Friedrich Hebbel, extending over a space of THE diary of the distinguished dramatist Dr. Felix Bamberg has been entrusted with twenty-eight years, will shortly be published. the task of editing. THE twenty-fifth issue of Robert Waldmüller's German version of Tennyson's Enoch Arden will be, in honour of the occasion, an illustrated édition de luxe. THE following notes from the aesthetic and intellectual city of Leipzig may interest our readers: : "On March 6 a grand costume festival is to be held here for the benefit of the Actors' Fund. It is to represent a Jahrmarkt, or fair, in the sixteenth century, and all present must wear suitable costume. The pageant takes place in our Crystal Palace, which is the largest and most suitable building here. Everything will be on a grand scale, although the prices of admission may sound (in-moderate in English ears-five marks for ladies and ten for gentlemen; spectators in the gallery must appear in ordinary ball dress. The whole thing promises to be very pretty. The meetings of our Lessing Verein offer much that is interesting; also the lectures of the Lyceum. The theatres and opera are very good." THE Publisher's Weekly for January 26 gives the statistics of American publishing for the past year. The total number of books cluding new editions) was 3,481, which compares with 6,145 in England. The principle of classification is probably different, but nevertheless the contrasts in the several classes are striking. In America fiction comes easily first with 670, as compared with 578 in England; then law with 397, as compared with 223; theology 375, as compared with 912; juveniles 331, as compared with 939; medicine 211, as compared with 253; poetry 184, as compared with 159. THE Nation of February 7 has a memorable notice of Wendell Phillips, eight columns long, and an interesting article, by Mr. W. M. Conway, on the neglected picture gallery of the Liverpool Royal Institution, which seems to be unusually rich in early Italian works. GERMAN JOTTINGS. A COMMITTEE for the erection of a national monument to Wilhelm Müller has been formed at Dessau, where the poet was born in 1794, and where, after a short life devoted to literature, teaching, and the administration of the Ducal Library, he died in 1827. The monument, to be executed by Hermann Schubert, of Dresden, is to consist of a colossal bust on a pedestal, which, by means of allegorical figures and reliefs, will illustrate the life and works of Wilhelm Müller. It is well known that some of the greatest musical masters have been inspired by his poetry. Who has not enjoyed and Winterreise his "Schöne Mullerin " in the immortal setting of Franz Schubert? His "Greek Songs" roused the enthusiasm of the German people and German princes for the Greeks in their war of independence against the Turks. His ballads will always rank as pearls in the national literature of Germany, while his lyric poems have by their freshness, simplicity, and joyousness made him one of the darling poets of his people. The English com On the whole, barring the climate, Leipzig must be a delightful place in the winter. ORIGINAL VERSE. CELESTE. Look not so fair, not long doth beauty stay: Your bosom shall the fond infection feel THOS. GORDON HAKE. MAGAZINES AND REVIEWS. GOOD portrait illustrations are always welcome in a periodical, because they can be torn out and inserted elsewhere without a sense of wickedness. It is, therefore, worth mentioning that Le Livre for February (Fisher Unwin) contains two such of Henri Martin and Casanova respectively. The first illustrates a paper on the historian's forgotten novels, the second (which is a good etching of a recently discovered and decidedly remarkable bust) a review of some recent Italian work on its very disreputable and very amusing subject. Le Livre is rich in articles of interest this month, Besides the two just mentioned, there is a good THE valuable and interesting work "Cosas de Madrid," by Dionisio Chaulié, is completed in the last January number of the Revista Contemporanea. An Index is there given of the whole, with references to the number of the Review in which each chapter appears. N. Diáz Pérez continues his articles on "Las Bibliotecas en España." They are really a conspectus of the state of education in Spain. The little province of Alava stands highest in the scale of education. The payment of elementary schoolmasters is in some provinces only from £3 to £5 per annum, and this paid irregularly. Miguel Gutierrez continues his critical history of the Ode, dealing with Arolas and other minor religious authors, and with hymns, which seem to be, on the whole, inferior as poetry to secular lyrics. A DESPATCH OF WILLIAM PITT. King's College, Cambridge: Feb. 13, 1884. I ENCLOSE a despatch of William Pitt's, which I have discovered among the Auckland papers. It gives Pitt's account of an important conversation with Maret, afterwards Duke of Bassano, on the eve of the outbreak of the war between France and England. I have read Maret's account of the same conversation in the archives of the French Foreign Office, and I have already given some account of it in an article in the Fortnightly Review for February 1883. There is also an account in Ernouf's Life of Maret. The conversation is very important. It shows how extremely desirous Pitt was of preserving peace, that the difficulty of negotiating with France lay in the difficulty of recognising a Government which had no definite Constitution, and that the true cause of the Revolutionary War was, so far as England was concerned, not the opening of the Scheldt, nor the decree of November 19, but the necessity of preserving our close alliance with Holland. To show how little the opening of the Scheldt had to do with the matter, Lord Auckland, on the receipt of this letter of Pitt's, answers that the Dutch care very little about the Scheldt, that the navigation is so bad that it is scarcely worth possessing, and that it can be impeded at any moment. Pitt's offer to treat with a private agent was very nearly being accepted. In the French Foreign Office there is a letter from Lebrun to Chauvelin, dated December 7, transferring him from England to Holland, a letter which was never sent; and there is the original minute of the Conseil exécutif signed by Danton, Barrère, and others, refusing to treat with Pitt by means of a secret agent. It is probable that this resolution was carried by a small majority, although on it hung the destiny of peace or war. Similarly, in our own Record Office there are sketches for instructions to be given to an English Minister accredited to the French Government at the close of 1792. I have found evidence that the person whom it was in contemplation to send was Mr. Lindsay. me to give some Credit to it, that there was a before he returned to Paris. and that they might possibly find means to revise it. "To this I said that, whatever were the Sentimight justly be considered by any Neutral Nation ments of the Conseil Exécutif, the Decree, as it stood, as an Act of Hostility. "He concluded by saying, that he would immediately send to M. le Brun an Account of what had passed, which he hoped might lead to happy Consequences. (Signed) "W. PITT." "I saw him yesterday; and, on my telling him, SELECTED FOREIGN BOOKS. La Comtesse Pauline de Beaumont: Tournai. Paris: Simon. 12 fr. TALLENAY, J. de. Plon. 4 fr. 5 L. Souvenirs du Vénézuéla. Paris: VILLARI, P. Arte, Storia, Filosofia. Milan: Hoepli "I told him that, if they were desirous of such an Explanation, it seemed to me much to be wished, under the present critical Circumstances, as we might by conversing freely, learn whether it was possible to avoid those Extremities which from what we saw of the Conduct and Designs of we should very much regret, but which seemed, France, to be fast approaching:-and I then mentioned to him distinctly, that the Resolution announced respecting the Scheldt was considered as a Proof of an Intention to proceed to a Rupture MANGOLD, W. Der Römerbrief u. seine geschichtwith Holland; that a Rupture with Holland, on this Ground, or any other injurious to their Rights, must also lead to an immediate Rupture with this Country; and that, altho we should deeply regret the Event, and were really desirous of preserving, if possible, the Neutrality to which we had hitherto adhered, we were fully determined, if the Case arose, to give our utmost Support to our Ally. e. deutschen Schulmannes. Berlin: Weidmann. 3 M. THEOLOGY. lichen Voraussetzungen. Neu untersucht. Marburg: Elwert. 7 M. 20 Pf. HISTORY. BALAN, P. Monumenta reformationis Lutheranae ex CHAUVELAYS, J. de la. L'Art militaire chez les COLBERT, J. B. Marquis de Torcy, Journal inédit de. "His Answer was, that he hoped nothing of the Sort would happen; that he believed there was no Design of proceeding to Hostilities against Holland; Government to be on good Terms with this and that it was much the Wish of the French Country; that they wished to ménager l'Angleterre, and therefore to ménager la Hollande;-that these were the Sentiments of M. le Brun, when he left Paris about three weeks ago;-that he believed them to be those of Dumourier;-and that from the Despatches to M. Chauvelin which he had seen while here, he believed they continued to be those of the Conseil Executif;-that he thought a confiand would either go to Paris, or write to M. le dential Explanation on this Subject very desirable, and that he was persuaded they would be disposed BEYER. E. Aus Toskana. Geologisch-techn. u. cultur Brun, to state what had passed in our Conversation, to send some Person here to enter privately into Explanations upon it. He afterwards dropped an Idea, that some Difficulty might perhaps arise, from the Conseil Exécutif feeling itself pressed by the Weight of public opinion, to propose to us to receive some Person here, in a formal Character. To this, I observed, that the Circumstances would, by no means, admit of any formal Communication; and that they would certainly see the necessity of avoiding the Difficulties which must wishing an Explanation, with a view to remove arise from such a proposal, if they were sincere in Jealousies. "Towards the End of the Conversation, on his repeating his Belief that it would be the Wish of the French Government to have such an Explanation, and to remove, if possible, the Grounds of Misunderstanding, I remarked to him that if this was actually desired, there was another Point which must be attended to:-that he must have seen the Impression made here, by the Decree in France, avowing a Design of endeavouring to exDisturbances in all other Countries:-That, while tend their Principles of Government, by raising this was professed or attempted, and till we had full Security on this Point, no Explanation could answer its Purpose; and that such a Conduct must be considered as an Act of Hostility to Neutral Nations. "He answered, that he knew the Impression which this Circumstance produced, and had seen the Decree I mentioned with Consternation,—that he believed it passed only in a moment of Fermentation, and went beyond what was intended ;-that it could be meant only against Nations at War, and was considered as one Way of carrying on War “It was stated to me, in a way which induced formable to the Sentiments of the Conseil Exécutif, OSCAR BROWNING. "Downing Street, Dec. 3, 1792. against them ;-that he believed it was not con 10 L. ULMANN, H. Kaiser Maximilian I. Auf urkundl. Grundlage dargestellt. 1. Bd. Stuttgart: Cotta. 14 M. PHYSICAL SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. histor. Studien. Wien: Geroid's Sohn. 7 M. 20 P. Bevölkerung. Frankfurt-a-M.: Mahlau. 10 M. à la Chine. Vol. II. Basel: Georg. 40 M. Salamas. Paris: Vieweg. 8 fr. EHERECHT, FAMILIENRECHT U. ERBRECHT der Mo hamedaner nach dem hanefitischen Ritus. Wien: Hof- u. Staatsdruckerei. 3 M. 20 Pt. PAUCKER, C. Supplementum lexicorum latinorum. Fasc. 4. Berlin: Calvary. 3 M. 1 M. 50 Pf. Quaestiones Silianae. Leipzig: Fock. CORRESPONDENCE. FURRY-DAY" AT HELSTONE. 2 Salisbury Villas, Cambridge: Feb. 16, 1884. In the ACADEMY of February 9 there is an allusion to the Furry-day at Helstone, as described in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1790, The correspondents of that magazine attempted to find the etymology of " furry," with poor Flora, the second from the Latin ferire, and the success. The first derived it from the goddess third opined that Flora had, at any rate, nothing to do with it. It is easy to see why they could not understand the word-viz., because Middle WALTER W. SKEAT. 66 THE RIVERSIDE SHAKESPEARE." New York: Feb. 5, 1884. Pray permit me to say that my esteemed fellow-student and gentle censor, Prof. Dowden, pats me in a false position (quite unintentionally, I am sure) by his remark, in the ACADEMY of January 19, that "an editor of Shakspere insults his reader when he announces, as Mr. White does, that he has never taken the trouble to read Mr. Spalding's essay on 'The Two Noble Kinsmen." I did not announce that I had never taken the trouble to read that essay; but simply said, or confessed, that I had "not yet seen what Mr. Dyce calls a letter, but Prof. Dowden an essay. The fact is just so, and not otherwise. I have never met with Mr. Spalding's letter or essay, nor have I ever, that I know, met with its title in any catalogue. I could neither take the trouble to read nor not take the trouble to read what I have not seen. Prof. Dowden perhaps saw in my Introduction to “Richard III.” that I took great trouble to benefit my readers by a careful examination of all that Mr. Spalding had written upon the text of that perplexing play. have reproduced every word of them out of COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY, London: Feb. 16, 1834. sessed a copy of this translation, but cannot When he scoffs and pleasantly gibes at me ALBRECHT VON HALLER. Harrow-on-the-Hill: Feb. 19, 1884. There was a great stir made about Albrecht a Haller from end to end of Switzerland on December 12, 1877, the occasion of the centenary of his death. His poems were translated into English in the last century. I once pos At the age of ten the precocious Haller had written a number both of German and Latin poems, including a Latin satire on his master, and in the previous year he had compiled for his own use a conspectus of the comparative value of German and LatinFrench-Italian words. He was called by his own contemporaries "the second Aristotle; and it is curious that Dr. Baas, in his Sketch of the History of Medicine (1876), speaking of the enormous range and worth of Haller's services to science, should have resorted indirectly to the same title:-"Haller deserves to have an historian all to himself," he says, "wie Aristoteles, wohl nur ein ebenbürtiger Geist." Goethe has observed that the worldwide scientific fame of the "father of physiology" procured a hearing for his poetry, and that Haller's poetry dealt the death-blow to the fashionable "windige Gelegenheitsreimerei." Gleim says that, if Haller's poems had been lost, there were men in Berlin who could It is easy for me to "settle the little controversy' "between Mr. Taylor and myself by "specifying a few Greek myths which have been successfully interpreted by the Hottentotic process." That is to say, I think they have been "successfully interpreted," but then Mr. Taylor would not agree with me. But it would be necessary for me to compare all the various and inconsistent " orthodox" explanations. I have found two more orthodox explanations of the myth of Cronus, making seven or eight altogether. Next, it would be necessary for me to write out my own views of each myth in full, with many pages of evidence. Of course you would not find room for all this. But if I am merely to "specify a few myths" which I think are characteristic survivals from the age when the ancestors of the Greeks were still savages, the task is simple. Here goes: 1. Myth of Cronus.-Already explained, with example from New Zealand, as a naturemyth of severance of Uranus and Gaea, with the "swallowing" story illustrated from Bushman and Australian sources. 4. Myths of the Fire Eater.-A myth found all over the world-the thief usually is a bird. In Maori, traces of the bird cling to the tale, as in the Soma stealing myth in Vedic legends. Why was fire everywhere said to be stolen? Reason pretty obvious to the anthropologist. 5. Myths of Hades and Home of the Dead.Found in all quarters of the globe, and consistent with savage theories of Hell, which has been visited by savage Dantes. features recur in Greek myths. The same 6. Myths of the Origin of Death-Pandora.These are almost universal, and arise naturally among races which, holding that no deaths are natural, want an explanation of how men came to die. Usually death enters the world in consequence of a broken taboo, eating an apple, or bathing in a forbidden pond, or the like. Here are six examples, but I might go all through Preller's Mythologie in the same way. Of course the successfulness of the explanations hinted at is a matter of opinion. I did not intend the word "variant to imply any theory of an original or any other connexion between Aryan and Hottentot or Maori myths. I withdraw the word "variant" if it carries any such meaning. It is enough for me if, like Kuhn and other famous scholars, I may compare with Greek myths those of Hottentots, Eskimo, Finns, and Maoris. I do not believe that the Greeks got their tales from Maoris or Hottentots, or Maoris and Hottentots from Greeks. No man can say how much tales may have filtered through the world in the immeasurable past of our race. But whether they did so filter I do not pretend to know. I only say that Greek myths, like Greek religion, and like Greek social life, bear the indelible stain of the savage fancy-whether inherited or caught by infection I am not anxious to determine. A. LANG. London: Feb. 17, 1884. The very interesting controversy which for several weeks has been raging in the ACADEMY over the foundations of comparative mythology has brought out such strong points on both sides of the question that a disinterested spectator is naturally led to look for truth somewhere between the two extremes. Mr. Lang has shown such coincidences between the beliefs of certain savage peoples and the myths of Europe as ought to shake severely the confidence of those who think that they have found finality in their solar explanations when they have admitted a Semitic, and perhaps an Accadian, influence upon Greek myths. On the other hand, Mr. Isaac Taylor has reason on his side when he demands that some sort of a genealogy shall be established before the folklore of savages is used to elucidate the ideas of the civilised peoples of the Western world. A connexion is known to have existed between Greece and Babylonia, and, so far, Mr. Brown has the advantage. The gap between the savage and the Greek may not be so wide as Mr. Taylor seems to think. If it be true, as has been plausibly suggested, that the beast-fable was learned by Egypt from Central Africa, even the derided Hottentot has been brought within a measureable distance of Aesop; and it now seems that in the opposite direction a bridge has been built which may lead to the establishment of unsuspected relations. In his Origines Ariacae, which Mr. Sayce recently reviewed with full approval in the ACADEMY, Prof. Penka has gone far towards proving that the cradle of the Aryans was in Scandinavia, and that on their way south they had to pass through lands inhabited by Finno-Ugric peoples, who in sundry ways left on their conquerors marks of this contact. Among the proofs of a Northern origin, he insists upon the essentially Northern character of the legend of Odysseus, with its unmistakable reminiscence of the Polar land where the "outgoings of the day and night are near together." This, no doubt, enshrines the memory of the first seamen who ventured in the Northern seas; the voyage of Maeldune contains a similar tradition. But I now wish to add that, in passing southward, the story took in, among other foreign elements, one which is almost demonstrably of Finno-Ugric origin. This is the episode of the Cyclops, which is current, with variations, in Esthonia, Finland, Russian Carelia, Roumania, and Servia, while to the south and east it has spread among the Tatar neighbours of the Ugrian tribes; for the facts it is not necessary to do more than refer to the Appendix to Mr. Merry's Odyssey. Of course, this does not amount to such an explanation of the legend as Mr. Taylor has asked from Mr. Lang; but it does indicate that Comparative mythology may yet have a great deal to learn from the folk-lore of uncivilised people before a final conclusion can be established. In so complicated a question the apparent simplicity of an explanation is hardly even a presumption in its favour until ethnology has said its last word, and that day has not To the cases quoted by Mr. Merry, in which 66 CLAN POETRY. WALTER LEAF. 24 Trinity College, Dublin: Feb. 18, 1884. pation of the historical method in a study APPOINTMENTS for nEXT WEEK. MONDAY, Feb. 25, 5 p.m. London Institution: "The 7 p.m. Actuaries: "The Rates of Mortality in 8 p.m. Royal Academy: "Colour applied inside Buildings-Stained Glass and Painting," by Mr. G. Aitchison. 8 p.m. Society of Arts: Cantor Lecture, "Building of London Houses," II., by Mr. Robert W. Eddis. SCIENCE. Mental Evolution in Animals. By G. J. In this volume Mr. Romanes begins his self- psychologist to disregard his psychology. Beginning by positing as the criterion of mind, viewed as an eject (to borrow Clifford's admirable word), the manifestation of Choice, Mr. Romanes passes on to a consideration of the objective conditions under which alone mind is known to occur-namely, in connexion with nerve-tissue, upon whose functions and origin his own investigations into the nervous system of medusae have thrown considerable light. He concludes that the directing or centralising function of ganglia has probably in all cases been due, as Mr. Spencer has argued, to the principle of use, but combined with natural selection. In tracing the onward development of mind, Mr. Romanes makes large use of a sort of chart which he has designed, and which ingeniously represents at a single coup d'œil the relative height intellectual and emotional development reached by each great group of animals, correlating with these, at the same time, the corresponding levels of the human infant. He proceeds to consider the origin of consciousness, sensation, pleasures and pains, memory, and association of ideas. Unfortunately, the treatment of all these subjects is too minutely in any résumé for which space would be analytical to admit of being adequately treated possible here; and, indeed, this difficulty meets one at each stage in an attempt to criticise the entire book. Every chapter so full of moot points, and the solutions suggested are so delicately and carefully put, that it would be an injustice to state any them in a naked form without the reservations and explanations by which they are so cautiously and philosophically limited. The book, in fact, is so closely reasoned from beginning to end that a short summary only result in misleading the reader as to the real nature of the contents. It is the detailed and accurate application of observed facts to a psychological evolutionary scheme that con9 p.m. Royal Institution: "Theory of Mag-stitutes the main novelty of Mr. Romanes' treatment; and this element can only be SATgraphic Action," I, by Capt. Abstitution: "Photo-appreciated by leading the treatise at large. 8.30 p.m. Geographical: "Progress of Discovery R. Markham. along the Coasts of New Guinea," by Mr. Clements TUESDAY, Feb. 26, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: "Scenery of the British Isles," V., by Dr. A. Geikie. 8p.m. Anthropological Institute: "The Nanga, the Rev. Lorimer Fison; "The Melanesian Lan- guages," by the Rev. R. H. Codrington. 8 p.m. Society of Arts: "Reflections on Chinese 8 p.m. Civil Engineers: "Hydraulic Propul- King. THURSDAY, Feb. 28, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: "The 7 p.m. London Institution: "The Relation of 8 p.m. Royal Academy: "The Monuments of 1850," by Prof. C. T. Newton. Ancient Art which have been discovered since 8 p.m. Society of Arts: "Recent Progress in Dynamo-Electric Machinery," by Prof. S. P. Thomson. 8 p.m. Telegraph Engineers: "Some Prejudicial Action in Dynamo Machines," by Mr. B. W. M. Mordey: The Effects of Induction in Alternate Current Machines," by Prof. George Forbes. FRIDAY, Feb. 29, 8 p.m. New Shakspere: "Troilus and Cressida," by Mr. G. Bernard Shaw. netism," by Prof. Hughes. Abney.¡ of could Where others have had to deal mainly in conjecture, he has endeavoured instead to hase his arguments upon ascertained fact. Especially interesting in such respect are the experiments collected in the excellent chapter on "Perception," and the observations on dogs and other animals quoted in that on "Imagination." may Mr. Romanes' book is one that will need no recommendation to all psychologists of the new school; and it is to be hoped that its lucid style and literary excellence of execution will induce many of the old school also to take it into their favourable consideration. They will find it commendably free from unnecessary technical terminology, and pleasantly written from beginning to end. GRANT ALLEN. CORRESPONDENCE. ANTIMONY." in review with much ingenuity, though not always with any very conclusive result. The bee puzzle, in particular, still remains just as absolute a stumbling-block as Darwin left it. We have faith that natural selection, exerted upon communities, and upon queenbees through them, might thus suffice to remove mountains; but faith alone is a poor By far the larger part of the volume, how-substitute for conceivable and realisable steps ever, is taken up with the consideration of in such a matter. However, we must not Instinct, which may be regarded as the central find fault with Mr. Romanes because he has crux and main problem of animal psychology. not succeeded in casting any fresh light upon Defining instinct as "reflex action into which the most confessedly obscure of all these there is imported the element of consciousness," exceptional cases. Doubtless some day someMr. Romanes proceeds to discuss the radically body will hit upon the exact missing conopposing views of Lewes and Spencer, and ception which will enable us to bridge over the intermediate, or, to some extent, concilia- the now impassable gulf. But this kind tory, theory set forth by Darwin. Of these, cometh not forth of study or deliberate it may fairly be said that Lewes's falls short thought; it flashes accidentally, as it were, because, in spite of its author's wide adapt- some fine morning across minds of a very ability, he failed in later life fully to assimilate peculiar type, like Oken's or Mr. Wallace's, or at least to follow out to their farthest aroused at the moment by the unexpected consequences the Darwinian doctrines which clue spontaneously afforded in some passing he accepted passively in the lump. The analogy. question between the two remaining theories may still be regarded as one of the most burning among biological psychologists. Mr. Romanes, on the whole, defends and expounds the pure Darwinian thesis of the twofold alternative origin of instinct, either, on the one hand, from natural selection (or survival of the fittest) continuously preserving actions which, though never intelligent, yet happen to have been of benefit to the animals which first chanced to perform them; or, on the other hand, from actions originally intelligent becoming, through the effects of habit in successive generations, stereotyped into permanent practices. For these two principles in their joint action he fights steadily all The Arabic name of this metal, or rather of along the line, point by point, with his usual its sulphuret, is ithmid (al-ithmid, with the article); orium, oríμμs, σTIBI, in Greek; stibium, dialectical skill, and with great command of in Latin; antimonio, in Italian, Spanish, and facts and illustrations. Setting out with a Portuguese; antimoine, in French. Another deliberate list of the various propositions Spanish old alchemic word, alcimod or alcimud which must be severally established in order (pronounced althimod, althimood, with the voiceto prove that some instincts have had the first- less th), although very different at the first named origin (such as, that non-intelligent, glance from antimonio, seems, however, to be the non-adaptive habits occur in individuals; that connecting link between this last and the such habits may be inherited; that they may to derive the Low-Latin antimonium from the articulated Arabic word. Littré seems inclined rary; and so forth), he goes on to produce Arabic uthmud or ithmid, and Devic limits himinductive proof of each in order, till he arrives self to calling this derivation "not impossible." at his final conclusion. He then applies a In the Spanish antimonio I see no other element similar course of set argument to the various derived from Latin but the termination to from propositions needful for the establishment of ium, and this on account of the Arabic origin of the second alternative origin of instincts. All alchemy introduced into Spain with the word this part of the work is set forth with a formal al-ithmid, changed by metathesis first into completeness which aims at something ap-althimod and antimonio. The change of d into althimid and afterwards into the Spanish proaching almost to mathematical rigour.n, both alveolar sounds, particularly in such an Thence Mr. Romanes endeavours to show that un-Spanish termination as od, is no matter of instincts may also have what he calls a blended surprise; and one ought to be even less surcrigin-that intelligent adjustment, going prised at either the permanence of the Arabic th, hand in hand with natural selection, can as in althimod, or its change into t, as in antigreatly assist it by supplying as its ground-monio. In fact (see Dozy's Glossaire, &c., p. 20 work variations of habit which are not for- of the second edition), just in the same way tuitous, but are from the first consciously Spanish z, pronounced th in zegri, and to Spanish as the Arabic th in thagri gives rise both to aptive. The chapter dealing with this tin tagarino "Moor who lived among the ecial modification of the instinct-forming Christians, and by speaking their language rinciple is particularly rich in apposite and well, could scarcely be known," SO reil-chosen examples. Even more subtle is Arabic th in al-ithmid gives rise to Spanish he one which treats of the modes whereby z, pronounced th in alcimod, and to Spanish t in elligence determines the variation of antimonio. Nor is the second i in al-ithmid inct in definite lines. The particular less reducible to the first o in alcimod and ambling-blocks of all theories of instinct words, the Arabic al-mikhadda and the Spanish antimonio. Compare only, among many other the self-immolation of moths and lemmings, almohada, pillow.' With regard to in the migrations of birds, feigning death, and al-ithmid, as Prof. Rieu has kindly observed to the instincts of neuter insects-are all passed me, the group anti is more familiar to Latin London: Feb. 16, 1884. the ears than alti, which it might have easily replaced; and, after this substitution, the final d might have been nasalised under the influence of the preceding n. I would add as a strengthenthat in the Algerian dialect (see Dozy, l.c., p. 21) ing argument in favour of the change of linto n these sounds often take the place of each other. I think, in conclusion, that the derivation both of alcimod and antimonio from al-ithmid is not only not impossible, but, although not certain, at least probable. L.-L. BONAPARTE. AN UNWRITTEN ENGLISH GUTTURAL. London: Feb. 16, 1884. The fact that the Arabs, who had, perhaps, the most perfect knowledge and appreciation of sound and our capabilities of utterance of any people, assumed all words to begin with a consonant is suggestive of what may be found to be a curious insensibility to sound on the part of modern nations, with a consequent attention of those who are interested in the deficiency in alphabets, not unworthy of the analysis of sound. It may, I think, be said that it is generally assumed to be possible to utter an initial vowel, and that when, for instance, the word in is pronounced the pronunciation is supposed to correspond exactly with the spelling of the word. It may possibly, however, be ascertained by trials in pronunciation carefully made, and close observation of sound, that this impression is false, and that the Arabs had a juster idea than we have of the powers of utterance. Take, for instance, the sentence He is in the house, and let it first be pronounced quickly, and, as is usual, so as to run the s of is on to the following word in. Next pronounce the same sentence distinctly, carefully avoiding any contact between the s and the in. In doing this everyone must be conscious of a difference between the two utterances, consisting in the exertion of some additional effort in the latter. be the cause of this additional effort? Can it But what can be attributed to anything but the further force expended in pronouncing a consonant of some sort at the beginning of the word in? From my own observation I should answer this question in the negative, and venture to add that the consonant assumed to exist is a feeble of the throat. This guttural, I assume, is the guttural produced by a very slight contraction meaning of the hamzated alif of the Arabs, and possibly of the spiritus lenis of the Greeks. Of course, the sound assumed to exist would generally be uttered only in words beginning with a vowel at the commencement of clauses. In other positions of such words its place would usually be taken by the preceding letter, Further, the slight additional effort expended owing to our rapid mode of enunciation. in the distinct utterance of two consecutive vowel sounds would also be better accounted for by the existence of this guttural than by the assumption of some vague power which we are pleased to call hiatus. In discussing the influence of this consonant has not a large share in producing that resemI would even go a step farther, and ask if it There is nothing in the actual manner of problance between the vowels which we observe. ducing the vowel sounds which should give them a relationship so close as that which exists between the sounds of the letters d, t; b, P, &c.; but certainly from some cause a closer relationship has been felt to exist. Witness the old alliterative poems, in which different vowel though d does not occur with t, nor b with p. sounds occur in the same line as alliterative, "The ende of alle-kynez flesch that on urthe meuez I Is fallen forth-wyth my face and forther hit thenk." (The Deluge.) |