take place, especially if assisted by blowing through a hollow cane presented to the very large stem hole.

The pipe is now in the private collection of the author and is believed by him to be much older than any of the hundred or more Kentucky pipes in this collection. So far as he is aware, this form of pipe has not heretofore been assigned to any particular linguistic group, tribe or culture.

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY,

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY.

BOOK REVIEWS

METHODS AND PRINCIPLES

Human Origins; A Manual of Prehistory. GEORGE GRANT MACCURDY. New York and London: D. Appleton & Co., 1924. 2 vols., LIV, 956 pp., 410 illustrations. Price, $10.00.

There being available already about twenty general treatises on European prehistory, mostly of recent date, the man who proposes to add yet another to the list should, it would seem, have some special reason for doing so. Fortunately, the present author, Research Associate with professorial rank at Yale University, possesses all the excuses necessary under the circumstances in the shape of special qualifications for the task. He has given, as he says, all of thirty years to the patient accumulation and study of the great multitude of facts upon which rests today the illuminating account of early man and his culture. Indeed, it is entirely safe and proper to say that no other professional student in America, or in Europe either for that matter, has a first-hand acquaintance with the facts in question equal to that of Dr. MacCurdy. American anthropologists, therefore, while leaving congratulations to others, may take genuine satisfaction in that one of their number has been enabled finally to finish this long contemplated work.

The two sumptuous-looking volumes appear to contain everything that could be expected, from Preface to Index, including such features as a five-page analytical Table of Contents, eleven pages of glossary, various bibliographies, three appendices covering 178 pages, and an index of 38 pages. The work is liberally, almost lavishly, illustrated; and the mechanical quality of these illustrations, as well as of the typography itself, seems all that could be desired.

Volume 1, devoted chiefly to Paleolithic man, opens with a historical introduction giving a brief account of the rise and development of prehistoric archaeology, the results of which are summed up in the still briefer form of chronological tables. The second chapter treats of the Ice Age and its bearing on man's antiquity, the discussion being re-emphasized and clarified by means of correlation schemes. Chapters three to six, inclusive, are devoted respectively to the

Eolithic Period, the Lower Paleolithic, the Mousterian Epoch, and the Upper Paleolithic Period. The treatment here conforms in all essentials to the now practically stereotyped plan followed by all the compendium writers. That is, for each culture level the principal forms of artifacts are named and illustrated, their modes of occurrence are given, the accompanying faunas are listed, and something is afforded by way of outline schemes and maps to indicate the probable distribution of the given culture over the Old World at large. Chapter VII, covering about 86 pages, presents an excellent and comparatively original account of Paleolithic art. This account, while necessarily limited, gives through both text and illustrations a clear idea of all the successive phases of sculpture, engraving, and painting. The very latest finds and determinations are included. Tabular analyses with maps showing the geographic occurrence of various typical representations, such as the human form, the horse, etc., are given; and all other organisms, animal and vegetable, treated by the cave artist, as well as the more distinctly ornamental designs of geometric character, are duly dwelt upon. Altogether this strikes one as the most appealing subject dealt with in the book. In Chapter VIII under the title of Fossil Man the author furnishes a complete descriptive catalogue-fully 130 pages long-of all the known skeletal remains of early man and his progenitors, together with brief citations of the prevailing opinions regarding the character and value of the data. An additional short chapter summarizes the outstanding characteristics of the Old Stone Age and closes the volume.

The second volume treats in 296 pages (Chapters x to xv) all the remaining divisions of prehistoric time. Thus a short chapter is devoted to the Transition Period, in which have been included the Azilian-Tardenoisian and Campignian culture phases. The Neolithic Age comprises two long chapters, one descriptive and the other explanatory in character; while the Bronze and Iron ages receive each a chapter of moderate length. The work proper ends with a very brief chapter describing the physical characters of post-Pleistocene man. All the rest of the volume, some 220 pages, is given over to index and appendices. One of these latter furnishes interesting legislative data regarding European classification and preservation of antiquities; another lists the principal art objects and the sites at which they were obtained; while the third and most valuable gives, in brief outline form, all the important archaeological stations which have yielded stratified remains, together with notes on their discovery and

exploration, as well as citations of the principal bibliographic references pertaining to each.

A work of such scope and size as the above is entitled to more extended and judicious comment than the reviewer is in position to accord at the present moment. I have faithfully read it through; but as I have never done as much for the similarly comprehensive treatises by Déchelette and Hoernes, I have no clear conception of what it may be right to expect. What is a manual, a handbook, a summary treatise? For whom, precisely, is it written? It happens that I have already found this work useful in connection with the classification of certain museum specimens; but I trust that for every museum man who is likely to use it in this country the work will be perused by some thousands of university students and general readers. In other words, I take it that the presentation is designed to serve the wants of the great mass of intelligent readers who have no access to actual museum collections but who, for a correct idea of the data considered, must rely on illustrations. That being the case, one is moved to say that in spite of the liberal and generally judicious use of illustrations, something further is still to be desired along that line, especially in the second volume.

Broadly stated, the textual and illustrative presentations in the second volume are both much less complete and systematic, as well as more uneven in quality, than is the case with the first volume. Some important, i.e., chronological guide types of artifacts, are not illustrated at all; while certain other types are perhaps over-illustrated. This is noticeable from the Azilian-Tardenoisian chapter onward. But there are places also in the first volume, such as on page 92 or 93, where a diagram seems badly needed to illustrate the relations of deposits there cited. To compensate for such additions, one of the two illustrations of the Tuc d'Audubert cavern entrance, e.g., could well be omitted. In place of illustrations some sort of table showing the time of appearance of new implements might serve.

The author, obviously, has had some difficulty or has been uncertain with regard to the proper treatment of his subject from the end of the Magdalenian culture onward. It does not seem quite correct, for instance, to group the Campignian with the AzilianTardenoisian. The one culture was hardly derived from the other: there was a hiatus of some sort between them which is yet to be explained. Again, in treating, for example, of the Iron Age, the data, say for Sweden, receive no mention, the facts considered being

derived almost entirely from central Europe, including Switzerland and France. No doubt the difficulty of handling at once so many localized cultural variations is great; nevertheless, striking similarities are also present, sufficient at least to give uniformity to several general changes passing over the whole of Europe-as for example burial methods and should receive due consideration. As for the differences or the contemporary modifications involved, these could profitably have been set forth either by illustrations or else by brief tabular schemes. But as a matter of fact the volume affords ample room for textual treatment, if necessary at the expense of certain of the appendices.

Of minor errors of omission and commission it is not necessary to write here in detail. Slips, typographical and otherwise, are comparatively few. One may, however, question the advisability of some of the French terminology which has crept in, such as couche, mélange, non-remanié, pression, champhere, etc. On the other hand, Dr. MacCurdy's new interpretation of coup-de-poing as "cleaver," while suggestive, can probably do little more than add to our bewilderment. I note the omission of reference to shellmounds in the introductory chapter and have been told of the omission also of certain important Paleolithic stations in Austria. For myself, I regret the omission of some introducing note or paragraph to the chapter on Eoliths-something to help the general reader appreciate the significance of the facts he is about to encounter. I question the correctness of the introduction of the horse into Egypt as early as 2300 B. C.; likewise the spelling of "pole" as referring to axe blades; and also the propriety of devoting several paragraphs to a description of the Ipswich skeleton and its discovery, the whole to be dismissed in the last sentence by the statement that the discoverer has withdrawn his claim and the find is in the discard. Lastly, the omission of specific bibliographic references will probably be regarded as a serious fault by many. But after all, in a work which probably contains more well-ascertained facts than any other ever written on the subject, some defects and errors are to be expected.

Taken as a whole, Dr. MacCurdy's work impresses one primarily as a presentation of facts. This is precisely what it seems to me a manual should be; and it is as such that it fills a distinct want. Interpretation is a very desirable thing, no doubt; but we have already several books of that type and may expect many more, for those are comparatively easy and pleasant to write and, as a rule,