European Civilization. Its Origin and Development by Edward EyreReview by: M. F. Ashley-MontaguIsis, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Dec., 1936), pp. 232-234Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/225097 .

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232 ISIS, XXVI, I

edited by him and published by the Bureau Of American Ethnology, Bulletin 40.

It is very amusing to find BOAS' observations on the changes in head- form of immigrants dismissed with the brief statement that they " have not generally been accepted," p. 285. Certainly they have been accepted by all who are capable of judging the evidence for themselves, and indeed, BOAS' observations are at this moment about to receive a most spectacular confirmation, which is not to say that they have not already upon previous occasions been confirmed by independent workers.

Finally, it is strange to find no mention.of either growth, demographic or population studies, studies which at the present time are among the most promising of the numerous progeny of Anthropology.

New York University. M. F. ASHLEY-MONTAGU.

European Civilization. Its Origin and Development.-By Various Contributors, Under The Direction of EDWARD EYRE. Vol. I, Prehistoric Man And Earliest Known Societies. vI+844 PP. I9 Maps. New York: Oxford University Press, 1935, $8.75.

The present volume is the first of a series, of seven which Mr. EDWARD

EYRE, under whose direction they are being brought into being, tells us in his preface will exhibit " with the necessary fullness (sic) but without detailed narrative, the rise of Europe and the distinctive character of European civilization." The idea is an excellent one, and the quality of the contributions to this, the first volume, promises well for the whole work. If I cannot agree with, any one of Pater WILHELM SCHMIDT'S statements and notions in the opening contribution of 77 pages entitled Primitive Man, A brief critical examination of the subject and a systematic statement based on demonstrated facts, that is perhaps due to the peculiar situation that Pater SCHMIDT'S and my own notion of what a " demonstrated fact " is do not agree. Pater SCHMIDT, who has for many years been an extraordinarily prolific writer in the field of ethnology, is an orthodox Catholic and a Director of the Lateran Museum of Ethno- logy and the Missions... His religious beliefs apparently prevent his acceptance of what most scientists consider to be as nearly demonstrated fact as one may rightfully expect, namely, man's origin from an ape-like stock. Reading Pater SCHMIDT one feels oneself transported back to the holy days of Bishop WILBERFORCE. Pater SCHMIDT does not like what he calls our " enthusiasm for the monkeys," and he goes on to show us that the authorities are by no means agreed among themselves upon this vexed subject of man's ancestry. As his most telling authority SCHMIDT gives us the late HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN (to whose surname he repeatedly affixes a gratuitous ' e ') who, as is well known, in his

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REVIEWS 233

last years rejected the idea of man's ape ancestry, substituting instead man's origin from what he called a " dawn-man." The chicken, in short, is not derived from the egg but from the chick, for if man is not derived from an ape-like stock but from a " dawn-man " stock, from what stock was the " dawn-man " stock derived? OSBORN never seems to have been troubled by this question, and Pater SCHMIDT feels that "Our best attitude with regard to the question of the descent of man, so far as his bodily form is concerned, must be a patiently expectant one, with an evenly balanced mind, waiting till further discoveries and researches give us a decisive result as has already been attained with regard to the question of the descent of the soul of man from some earlier existing forms of life. This latter question has already been settled in the negative with complete certainty" (p. 8i). The view of the very learned Bishop of Birmingham, Dr. BARNES, that " a general acceptance of the Darwinian hypothesis demands an entire reconstruction of theology, and an abandonment, or at least revision, of fundamental doctrines, which have been regarded as truths for more than nineteen hundred years," causes Pater SCHMIDT to express surprise that " his Lordship is prepared to replace truths of such venerable antiquity by myths that came into fashion about a century ago." Here, too, Pater SCHMIDT'S notion and my own as to what a myth is do not agree. Pater SCHMIDT'S discussion of the morphological facts relating to man's ancestry is throughout that of the strongly biassed objector, nevertheless he makes very stimulating reading.

Pater SCHMIDT'S discussion of religion and morality is likewise stimulating because it is so excessively one-sided. For example, Pater SCHMIDT believes that the belief in a Supreme Being, in a Creator, is universally distributed among the peoples of the world, and that this Supreme Being is invariably considered to be morally good. On this subject Pater SCHMIDT has for the last thirty years been our greatest authority. Yet I venture to disagree with him. It is impossible here to go into details, and I must here content myself by briefly stating the facts about one people, the Arunta of central Australia. These people believe in an eponymous ancestor, a sort of being who came out of nothing, as the natives say, Numbakulla, who brought them all into being; the Arunta do not regard this ancestor as a Supreme Being, they do not worship him, and what is most important, they do not invest him with any moral attributes whatever. Actually, they believe that after Numba- kulla had performed his labours, i.e., in causing the Arunta world to be peopled, he disappeared altogether. Such facts cannot be reconciled with Pater SCHMIDT'S views, unless, of course, they are forced to fit into his Christian view of these matters. But Pater SCHMIDT'S

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234 ISIS XXVI, I

contribution must be read, for its value lies in its great power of producing fruitful disagreements.

There are an unnecessarily great number of errors in the spelling of proper names.

The succeeding contributions to this volume are unexceptionally exemplary. There are two comprehensive essays from the pen of Professor J. L. MYRES, the first entitled The ethnology and primitive culture of the Nearer East and the Mediterranean world, and the second, which supplements the first, The ethnology, habitat, linguistic, and common culture of Indo-Europeans up to the time of the migrations. These essays could hardly have been better done, and only one thing is to be regretted in connection with them, and that is the absence of a select bibliography which would have much increased their value. In the next essay Professor C. F. JEAN gives us an exceptionally clear account of The East from protohistoric times to the period of Hellenization. There is a good short bibliography. The late T. E. PEET (I882-1934) then deals with Ancient Egypt from Predynastic times to the Persian period. There is a short bibliography. In what is virtually a book in itself (274 pp.) A. W. GOMME treats of The Greeks from the Bronze Age to the end of the Classical period following the Macedonian conquest. There is, unfortunately, no bibliography. In a final essay, Additional Notes on the East, Professor JEAN devotes himself to giving an account of Phoenicia from the 20th to the I3th century B.C. In a second part of the same essay India and Sumeria in the third millennium B.C. are dealt with in the light of recent excavations. This essay provides a valuable summary of the archaeological findings up to July I933. References are supplied in the footnotes. The volume is completed by an excellent index.

New York University. M. F. ASHLEY-MONTAGU.

A. S. Diamond.-Primitive Law. x+45I pp. LONGMANS GREN & Co. London, I935, 25/-.

T had looked forward to reading this book with some pleasure, for a work on primitive law has for long been a most urgent desideratum, a glance, however, at the description of the book printed upon its dust- jacket made it clear that if what was there promised were realised in the text such a work would now more than ever be urgently desirable. And so it has proven.

Mr. DIAMOND is a lawyer with a more than ordinary interest and equipment in law who has realised that MAINE'S belief in the religious origin of law (Cf. Ancient Law, i86i) will not, in the light of modern knowledge, bear examination. That MAINE'S views are still very much

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