While there is much truth, probably, in Mr. Wallace's contention, we think he carries his statement too far. It is impossible for man to clearly define the limits of the intelligence of the higher order of animals and to set a bound, we will say, for example, to that premonition of suffering which occasions in man as much agony as the thing itself. Any ob. server of canine life will remember innumerable cases of suffering in dogs entirely separate from any physical pain at the time, and a clear anticipation, shown by all the signs of fear, of an impending shock or blow. We hold it impossible for a man to reason accurately on the subject, as the facts must of necessity be largely indeterminate. Though the intelligent reader will find, probably, much to differ from in Mr. Wallace's exposition, it will be for all such a most stimulating and delightful work. Certainly no scientific writer has set forth the principal points of Darwinism with more brilliant and convincing clearness, or has thrown more light for the ordinary understanding on phases of the question which are obscure and difficult to grasp. It is only proper to call attention to the style of the author, which is simple, bright, and vivid, a model for the scientific expositor. Mr. Wallace has that most desirable of all gifts for the scientist, a powerful and well-ordered imagination, which shows itself not only in its higher uses, but in the charm which it lends to presentation. THE ORIGIN OF THE MARRIAGE RELATION. THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY. Its Origin and Development. By C. N. Starcke, Ph.D., of the University of Copenhagen. (International Scientific Series.) New York: D. Appleton & Co. The facts of sociology have attracted the attention of observers to such a large extent within recent years, and such a vast mass of material has been brought together, that more important advances have been made in this field than in any other department of scientific thought. Professor Starcke in his studies of the primitive family and the origin of society has been fortunate in the profuse wealth of material at his hand. To this material our author has also added much by original investigation. But it is rather to his genius for generalization, his penetrating judgment and width of view, that in our brief consideration of this book we would draw attention. The dis cussion on which the book enters is so wide, and covers so many great questions, that it is within our power to touch only a few of them. An important point which he develops with great clearness is that ties of blood, in the problems connected with the formation of society on the basis of the family, are trivial as compared with social influences and the power of tradition which may have occurred from special reasons in particular tribes or peoples. For example, the Jewish command to marry the widow of the dead brother is purely a matter of duty to the social group, and cannot be accounted for on the principle of natural affection, or even of natural passion. Our author says: "Since in the joint family group the brother succeeds to the headship of the community, and its interests and general protection are committed to his care, so also the widow and her young children are committed to him, and under primitive conditions these relations take the form of marriage. In proportion to the importance of the property of the deceased is the difficulty of allowing the widow to return to her own family. It is altogether irrational to seek for the causes of the connection between the widow and her brother-in-law in polyandry. That the brother-in-law had exerted marital rights in the husband's lifetime (polyandry) would only become a necessary condition, if carnal considerations formed the corner-stone of the development of the family; but all we know of the life and habits of primitive men clearly shows that this was not the Carnal pleasures certainly took the most prominent place in primitive life, but they were also the most easily obtained, and case. therefore customs were not formed under the influence of considerations with respect to the means of sensual enjoyment." Professor Starcke does not hold with many of the ethnologists and sociologists that the primitive status of man was one of promiscuity in the carnal relations of the sexes, as is the case with the beasts. He cites the fact that, among the earliest nations, side by side with what we would call incest was to be found the most rigorous prohibition against unions between persons not of the same blood. In fact, there seems to have been no law generally governing the evolution of the sexual relation, except that each tribe or people put restrictions on license to meet its own sense of need, or some fancied demand of religion, or some other convention peculiar to itself. Yet such restriction, be it in one shape or another, existed. Again, our author says: Too high an estimate of the sexual impulse has led to the erroneous assertion, which we have disputed above, that the first human community lived in promiscuous intercourse and that monogamous marriage was gradually developed from this condition by reflections on the sexual relation." The theory of the author upholds that love as between the sexes was the offspring, not of pure carnal passion even among the early peoples, but of usefulness to the family or tribal group, and the consequent necessity of children. That tribe was strong and powerful in the conflict of savage existence, which produced the greatest number of strong and healthy children. These alone could be pro duced by restriction on promiscuous relations between the sexes. The professor goes on to say: Erotic enthusiasm is closely allied to the sexual impulse, but conjugal love is derived from another source. We have seen above that no tender sentiment-at any rate not what we call love-inspired man with a desire to marry, and that primitive marriage as hard and as dry as primitive life itself, had its origin in the most concrete and prosaic requirements." We will close our notice of this interesting and suggestive study by quoting the author's views on the question of woman's rights, as urged to-day by so many enthusiastic advocates even among men : "The movement in favor of the greater independence of women, which is now so strong, has received its peculiar character from the fact that it is mainly upheld by unmarried women. It was owing to the division of labor which took place in the primitive family, and which assigned to the man the duty of providing sustenance, to the woman that of keeping the house, that the nurture and development of the two sexes were so different. The struggle for xistence was chiefly fought by the man, and his mental faculties were consequently stimulated to greater exertions than those of the woman. . . . We are not disposed to concede that the unmarried woman, when thrown on her own resources, can without reserve be placed on a level with the man who is a bread-winner. Independence with respect to the possession of property must inevitably lead to independence with respect to its acquisition, and a woman's life must become the copy and not the completion of that of man. It must not be forgotten that in the hard struggle for existence, to which the woman is now drawn, man has lost the tender refinement of feeling which enables a mother to be the cherisher of childhood. A woman cannot take a man's burden on her shoulders without succumbing to a like fate." THE GLACIAL PERIOD. THE ICE AGE IN NORTH AMERICA AND ITS BEARINGS UPON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN. By G. Frederick Wright, D.D., LL.D., F.G.S.A., etc. With an Appendix on the Probable Cause of Glaciation, by Warren Upham, F.G.S.A., Assistant on the Geological Surveys of New Professor Wright in this comprehensive treatise has given the public a study of the whole subject of the glacial period. He shows himself a perfect master of the whole literature of the subject, and he himself has been engaged in studying glacial phenomena for the last fifteen years. He has traced the glaRocky Mountains, but has followed it to cial area, not only in the regions east of the Washington Territory and Alaska. His com. petence not only as a master of what his pre decessors have said and done, but as a careful and patient observer and a keen inductionist, is amply shown in the beautifully executed volume, in itself a charming specimen of bookmaking, which comes to us under the imprint of the Appletons. haustive treatise are: What is the relative imThe principal problems discussed in this exportance as regards erosive power of glacial ice and running water? Has ice been the faces? What was the cause of glaciation? chief agency in moulding continental surWhat was the date of the glacial period? What was the relation of man to the ice age? Professor Wright thinks that ice was far less efficient in moulding the surface of the continents than water, if for no other reason than that the latter has been working through countless ages and never ceases its action, while the ice action on a general scale throughout any large portions of the world did its work within a limited period. The acids in water also make it a most effective chemical solvent. In regard to the cause of the glacial period, our author differs from other glacialists-Whitney, Geikie, Wallace, Croll, and Lyell, though he goes further in accepting the theories of the latter two than of the others. Lyell's explanation of glacial action, which attributes the growth and disappearance of glaciers entirely to changes in the distribution of land and water over the surface of the earth, he regards as an efficient minor cause, but not as fully accounting for the phe nomena. His examination of the theories of Croll and Geikie also shows the great respect he has for their conclusions. The outline of their theory we present in the words of another writer: "During the present winters of the northern hemisphere we are 3,000,000 miles nearer the sun than we are during the summers. But by reason of what is called the precession of the equinoxes the northern hemisphere was 10,500 years ago 3,000,000 miles farther from the sun during winter than during summer. This fact, according to Messrs. Croll and Geikie, was of itself favorable to the production of glacial conditions. This agency was, however, at certain epochs, powerfully supplemented by another cause of glaciation, namely, such a change in the eccentricity of the earth's orbit as would make the distance of the earth from the sun not 3.000,000 but 14,000,000 miles greater in winter than in summer. According to Mr. Croll's calculations this coincidence of conditions propitious to glaciation has been very unevenly distributed. One such coincidence occurred 200,000 years ago; another 750,000; another 850,000; a fourth 2,500,000. In the future they will occur 500 000, 800,000, 900,000 years hence. In the present condition of the earth's orbit this supposed cause of glaciation is at a minimum. But if there had been several glacial epochs in the past there ought to be traces of them discoverable in the successive geological strata. Mr. Croll himself confesses that such traces are very scanty indeed. Another weak point in this theory is the general state of uncertainty as to the laws regulating the absorption, retention and distribu tion of the sun's heat upon the earth. It is by no means certain that when the winters of the northern hemisphere occur in aphelion they will be colder than now. Whether they would be so depends upon the action of forces whose laws cannot now be accurately calculated." While Professor Wright finds all these theories unsatisfactory in view of all the facts involved in the glacial period, admitting however, that there are strong points, convincing to the reason as regards many of the phenomena, in the theories of Lyell, Croll, and Geikie, he is not prepared to put forward any hypothesis of his own in their place. He contents himself with asserting that science has not yet hit on the ultima ratio. As regards the time of the ice age, our author sets it as chronologically much nearer our own period than has been the view of other geologists. His reasons for this conclusion are put with a good deal of force, yet they are not by any means more convincing than those of his opponents. In truth, the subject is so vast and presents so many conflicting facts, that there is plenty of room for honest and intelligent variance. As regards the relation of man to the great glacial epoch, our author is quite as non-committal as on the problem of the cause of gla. ciation. His admission that man was coincident in life with the ice age, at least its closing epoch, merely affects the question of his minimum age on the continent. As regards the question of his prior existence and the problem of whether or not the present man is descended from the type of glacial man there is field of doubt. Professor Wright suggests that the utter difference between the paleolithic and the neolithic instruments indicates a sharply defined distinction between the two races. The Eskimo, however, is admitted to be a race just such as the man of the glacial period would have been under all the conditions of his life. He calls attention again, on the other hand, to the fact that many competent scientists regard the human remains, such as have been found in the Trenton gravel, as belonging to a race distinct from and probably prior to even the Eskimo. With these brief intimations of the character and importance of Professor Wright's able work, we must cease, merely remarking that it will be a valuable acquisition to the scientific library and to the book shelves of all those interested in the great problems in. volved in the discussion. FOREIGN LITERARY NOTES. THE Athenæum has just published its usual articles on the literature of continental countries during the preceding twelve months. Among them are Belgium, by M. de Laveleye and Professor Fredericq; Bohemia, by Dr. Mourek; Denmark, by M. V. Petersen ; France, by M. J. Reinach; Germany, by Hofrath Zimmermann; Holland, by Miss Van Campen; Italy, by Commendatore Bonghi ; Norway, by M. H. Jaeger; Poland, by Dr. Belcikowski; Russia, by M. Milyoukov; Spain, by Don Juan Riaño; and Sweden, by Dr. Ahnfelt. THE principal business transacted at the recent Literary Congress at Paris, over which M. Jules Simon presided, was the passing of the following resolutions, which it is to be hoped may be imported into the Convention of Berne, to which nearly every civilized nation, the United States of America excepted, adhered, and has legislated accordingly: 1. As an author's title to his work includes the sole right to translate it, or to authorize its translation, the author, his successors, and assigns enjoy the right of translation during the term of copyright, even though they may not have the sole right to reproduce the work in its original form. 2. There is no reason for an author notifying in any way that he reserves the right of translation. 3. There is no ground for limiting the period during which the author of a book or his representatives may translate it. MR. STOPFORD BROOKE greatly pleased the Shelley Society and his audience of three hundred by the lecture he recently gave them— Some Remarks on the Lyric Poetry of Shel ley." He praised the society's quiet and useful work, he forgave the small jokers who had exercised their small wits on it, he referred generously to the misconceptions of Matthew Arnold, and then he turned to some of the specialities of Shelley's lyric poetry: (1) the unconscious logic in the arrangement of some of his poems, illustrated by the "Ode to the West Wind"; (2) his nature-myths, as independent of man as if they had been written by a primitive heathen-nature before man's existence was often Shelley's theme, and he alone of poets had created nature-myths in the subjective nineteenth century; (3) his lyrics of humanity, of love, liberty, and hope, and confidence in the future; and (4) the music of his lyrical changes, the metre swaying with the varying pulses of emotion. Ar the seventy-ninth annual meeting of the Swedenborg Society it was stated that 3294 volumes of the society's publications have been issued during the past year, showing an increase over the previous one. Copies in the Welsh, Latin, French, and Russian languages are included in this total. Free public libraries and other institutions have received upward of 500 volumes, and ministers and theological students 364 volumes. 66 THE Athenæum quotes some particulars respecting "the currency of early New England" which were recently communicated to the New England Historic Genealogical Society by Mr. W. B. Weeden, the following facts being the most curious and least known: In the earliest colonial days barter was much resorted to in the absence or scarcity of coin. John Winthrop, the younger, was the father of paper currency in New England. He recognized the fact that specie must be at the basis of all systems of currency. He devised a famous plan for a bank with a currency receivable in the markets, yet which should not be convertible into specie. In 1670 wheat and moose skins were made legal tenders. Pork and cattle were also received in payment of taxes. In Hingham milk-pails were a legal tender. Wool was also much used as a standard in barter. A paper currency was desired as a means of relief from this state of affairs. In 1690 the colonial government issued fiat money. But the best will of promissor and all the power of state were not enough to make a paper dollar equal to money. In 1712 a Bill was passed making bills of credit current for the purchase of merchandise. They were receivable for public dues, and were to be equal to money. But a fiat money could not be maintained at par. The authorities made frantic efforts to keep specie at home. A law was passed forbidding the sending of more than a certain fixed amount out of the province at once. The pine-tree shilling was the most common coin then in circulation. The Spanish 'piece-of-eight' was much valued, and was the predecessor of the American dollar. Notwithstanding the efforts of the colonies, they found it impossible to keep their bills at par. The payment of taxes was finally deferred from year to year, as the collection would be a virtual redemption of the currency. Repudiation of public indebtedness followed. Some of the colonies, however, were able to maintain their bills at par much longer than others." If PROFESSOR SAYCE delivered an address at the Victoria Institution last month, on the cuneiform inscriptions of Tel el Amarna, according to the tablets belonging to M. Bouriant at Cairo and those in the Boulaq Museum. Professor Sayce's readings are right, the Palestinian localities of Gedor, Gath (Gimti), Keilah (Kilti), Gaza, Hebron, and others are mentioned in them as possessed by Egypt a century before the Exodus. The ubiquitous Hittites, of course, are not forgotten in them. THE University of Oxford will be represented by Professor Sayce, and the University of Cambridge by Professor Bensley, at the forthcoming international congress of Orientalists. Professor Max Müller will also be present as the guest of the King of Sweden and Norway. THE Hopkins prize for the period 1877-80 has been awarded by the Cambridge "Philosophical Society to Professor George Darwin. It is announced that the departmental committee appointed by the Treasury to inquire as to the best plan upon which to allocate the Government grant of £15,000 in aid of university colleges has reported in favor of the following to University College and King's Col lege, London; the colleges of Victoria University; the University Colleges of Bristol and Nottingham; Masons College, Birmingham; the Dublin College of Science; the Newcastleupon-Tyne College; and the Firth College, Sheffield. A SET of Arabic мss., lately purchased in Mossul for the British Museum by Mr. Ernest Budge, includes two rare and important works. One is al-Nawawi's commentary upon the Sahih, or collection of authentic traditions, of Muslim, a fine fourteenth-century copy of a work as yet unknown to European libraries. The other is a volume of the " Akhbár alDuwal al-Munkati'ah," a history arranged according to dynasties, by Ali Ben Záfir al-Azdi, who died A.H. 623. The only hitherto known copy of that valuable work is in the Gotha Library, and has been described by Dr. Pertsch under No. 1555. It is the chief authority followed by Freytag in his account of the Beni Hamdán, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morg. Ges., vol. x., and is also frequently quoted by Weil in his "Geschichte der Chalifen." THE REV. T. E. Threlkeld's publications on the language of the aboriginal inhabitants of New South Wales have long been difficult to obtain. His Grammar appeared in 1830, his Key to the Grammar in 1851. Mr. Threlkeld's statements have always proved most trustworthy, and much regret has been expressed that the Dictionary on which he was engaged at the time of his death has never been forthcoming. We are glad to hear that the мs. of that Dictionary, beautifully written out and ready for press, has lately been placed in the hands of the well-known missionary and scholar, the Rev. William Wyatt Gill-on whom the University of St. Andrews has recently conferred the honorary degree of LL.D. There is every prospect that the Government of New South Wales will bear the expense of the publication of this truly important work, and that, at the same time, Mr. W. W. Gill will bring out a collected edition of Mr. Threlkeld's literary works. In the forthcoming volume of the “ Dictionary of National Biography," which extends from Finch to Forman, Mr. Richard Garnett writes on Finlay, the historian of Greece; Mr. J. Bass Mullinger on Cardinal Fisher; Mr. Robert Dunlop, Professor Tout, and Mr. T. A. Archer on the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Desmond and Kildare; Mr. G. P. Macdonell on Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare; Mr. R. L. Poole on Fitzralph, Archbishop of Armagh; Mr. W. P. Courtney on A. H. Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton ; Mr. T. E. Kebbel on Earl Fitzwilliam; Mr. T. A. Archer on Rannulf Flambard; Miss A. M. Clerke on Flamsteed, the astronomer; Mr. Sidney Colvin on Flaxman; Mr. C. H. Firth on Fleetwood, Cromwell's general; Mr. Fran. cis Espinasse on Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun; Mr. A. H. Bullen on Fletcher and Ford, the dramatists; Mr. Sidney L. Lee on Phineas Fletcher and Simon Forman the astrologer ; Professor J. K. Laughton on Captain Flinders; Mr. G. F. Russell Barker on Flood; The Rev. Alexander Gordon on Fludd, the Rosicrucian; Mr. Cosmo Monkhouse on Foley, the sculptor; Mr. Joseph Knight on Foote; Mr. Leslie Stephen on Duncan Forbes; Mr. G. T. Bettany on Edward Forbes, the naturalist; and Mr. Ormsby on Richard Ford, author of the "Handbook for Spain." AMONG those talked of as possible successors of Mr. Gosse in the Clark Lectureship at Trinity College, Cambridge, are Dr. Garnett, Professor Hales, Professor Minto, the Hon. Roden Noel, Mr. Saintsbury, and Dr. Verrall. Another vacant chair of English literature is that of Glasgow, which is supposed to be worth some £800 or £900 a year. M. JUSSERAND, Councillor to the French Embassy in London, well known as a writer on certain aspects of social life in England during the reigns of the Plantagenets, has made considerable progress with a work on English literature, the publication of which may be expected in the autumn. MR. FRANK TURNER, Count Dillon's private secretary, is engaged upon a life of General Boulanger. Mr. Turner has accompanied the General on all his journeys, and is in possession of many important documents and facts such as would not be available to an ordinary biographer. The work will be written from an independent standpoint, and will, so far as possible, be confined to the facts of the general's life. Messrs. Sonnenschein will be the publishers. FOR the fifth edition of his Bampton Lectures on Sunday," which first came out in 1860, Archdeacon Hessey has written a new preface, bringing down his account of Sunday to 1889; and he has attached to it an excursus on two important cuneiform documents in the Museum which have been held to indicate an acquaintance with the Mosaic Sabbath on the part of the Babylonians. Messrs. Cassell are the publishers. THE Athenæum gives a most laudatory estimate of the "Century Dictionary" now pub. lishing by the Century Company. The following extracts are specially noteworthy : |