Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/120

1 1 o Rcviczc's of Books world, or even to the more highly developed among still more primitive peoples? Occasionally, too, there seems to be a want of imagination, and a consequent failure to allow for the contradictions and anomalies which appear in the character of the same individual. Thus he thinks it impossible that Odysseus, who behaved so cruelly to women, could truthfully be represented as wiping away a tear when he sees that he is recognized by his faithful dog Argos. Is it not, on the contrary, often the fact that men capable, on occasion, of extreme cruelty, have displayed great fondness for a favorite animal? It should be added, however, that the case of Odysseus is not a significant illustration for either the one view or the other. His emotional experience is dependent upon the total situation in which he finds himself, and the recognition by his old dog is merely the occasion for the overflow of feelings already highly charged with emotion.

compact little volume by the librarian of the Museum of Natural History at Paris is by all odds the best compendium of these sciences extant in English. It is far more complete and reliable than Brinton's Races and Peoples; more thoroughly digested and scientific than the recently published erudite volumes by Keane; and less narrowly Gallic in its sources of information than De Quatrefages in his Human Species. In this latter respect, as well as in its comprehensive scope, it most nearly approaches the type of Peschel's Races of Man; which for a quarter-century has been a standard classic. The principal defect, if it be one indeed, is that the learned author has sought to cram too many facts and too much detail of classification within the compass of a single small volume. The result may, not improbably, be to produce a blurred and confusing effect upon the mind of the undergraduate student or the general reader. Viewed as a defect from this standpoint, however, such a wealth of detailed knowledge renders the book for the specialist a veritable mine of information, suitable for comparative study and further elaboration.

The book naturally divides itself into three distinct parts. The first of these in three chapters is concerned with physical anthropology, including the relation of man to the anthropoid apes. In this domain our author in virtue of his own special investigations is at his best. We note with surprise, however, the absence of any reference to such standard authorities as Huxley, Hartmann or Darwin. Awkwardness of expression also results in many places from failure to adopt our English distinction between the cranial and the cephalic index. As would be naturally expected from the author's recent detailed researches upon the distribution of the cephalic index in Europe, especial stress is laid upon the