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the suggestion that the archaic features might have been empha- sised to explain the pecuHarities of the evolution of Arunta society. It seems to me to explain the curious position of the totem-group to which I find great difficulty in applying the term " primitive," even by courtesy.

In conclusion, I may point out that the theory, that in the development of human thought and practice magic preceded religion, does not depend on the primitive character of the Arunta. In Dr. Frazer's hands their practices, regarded as primitive, have indeed lent substantial support to it, but if, as M. Durkheim tries to show, they cannot be regarded as primitive, the theory in question, whether right or wrong, rests on other grounds, independent of Arunta support. It may be argued further that the development of the magical side of religion among the Arunta is an additional and striking example of a process which is always going on, and illustrations of which are to be found in the highest as well as in the lowest religions of the world. On these points, however, I will not here express any opinion.

E. Sidney Hartland.

[We would direct the attention of readers to the address of Professor Haddon as President of the Anthropological Section of the British Association Meeting at Belfast, 1902.— Ed.]

FABULiE Celtics.

Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland. A Folklore Sketch. A Handbook of Irish Pre-Christian Tradition. By W. G. Wood-Martin, M.R.I. A. With illustrations. Two vols. Longmans.

The author of this voluminous work seems to share that tendency to agglomeration which has made works dealing with the folklore, history, and traditions of the sister-island so repellent to the ordinary reader, whether Irish or English. He begins at a sufficiently remote period with what he calls " Speculative Geological Archaeology," and he devotes some chapters to a semi-imaginative reconstruction of the period of the Mammoth and the Cave-dweller, illustrated

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