"In Art and Poetry, what do we owe to them? Nothing in Art. These nations have but little of Art in them; our Art comes entirely from Greece. In Poetry, however, without being their dependents, we hold in common with them more than one point of resemblance. The Psalms have become, in some respects, one of our sources of poetry."

The

"In Science and Philosophy we are exclusively Greek. The search into causes, knowledge for the sake of knowledge, is a thing of which there is no trace previous to Greece; a process we have learnt from her alone. Babylon had Science, but not the real element of science, an absolute fixidity of the laws of Nature. Egypt had knowledge of geometry, but she did not produce the Elements of Euclid. As to the old Shemitic mind, it was in its nature anti-philosophical and anti-scientific. In Job, the search into causes is almost represented as impiety. In Ecclesiastes, science is declared a vanity. The author, prematurely disgusted, vaunts his having learnt all that is under the sun, and of having found nothing but weariness. Aristotle, nearly his contemporary, and who had more right to say that he had exhausted the universe, never speaks of weariness. wisdom of Shemitic nations never rises above parables and proverbs. Arabian science and Arabian philosophy are often alluded to, and, in fact, during one or two centuries in the middle ages, the Arabs were our teachers; but it was only until we were acquainted with the Greek originals. This Arabian science and philosophy was only a puerile rendering of Greek science and philosophy. From the time when Greece herself reappeared, these pitiful versions became valueless; and it was not without cause that all scholars at the revival of letters commenced a real crusade against them. When closely examined, moreover, the Arabian science has nothing Arabian in it. Its foundation is purely Greek; among its originators there is not a single true Shemite; they were all Spaniards and Persians who wrote in Arabic. The philosophical part filled by the Jews in the middle ages was that of simple interpreters. The Jewish philosophy of that period is Arabian philosophy, without modification, One page of Roger Bacon contains more of the true spirit of science than all this second hand knowledge, devoid of true originality, and respectable only as a link in the chain of tradition. If we examine the question in a moral and social point of view, we shall find that Shemitic morality is at times very high and very pure. . . . As regards industry, invention, material civilisation, we owe, beyond contradiction, much to the Shemitic nations."

He sums up thus:

"We do not owe to the Shemitic race our political existence, our Art, our Poetry, our Philosophy, nor our Science. For what, then, are we indebted to it? We owe to them Religion. The whole world, with the exception of India, China, Japan, and nations yet altogether savage, has adopted Shemitic religions. The civilised world numbers only Jews, Christians, and Mussulmans. The Indo-European race, in particular, except the Brahmanic family and the feeble remnants

of the Parsees, has passed entirely over to Shemitic creeds. What has been the cause of this remarkable phenomenon? How is it that nations, which hold the guidance of the world, have abdicated their own creed to adopt that of those whom they have overcome ?"

The reasons which Professor Renan assigns for this fact must be read in Mr. Trübner's excellent translation. Professor Renan's concluding remarks will re-echo a sentiment of admiration in the minds of all sincere anthropologists, who study their noble science without d priori prejudices, or cringing concessions in favour of unscientific assumptions.

INHERITANCE OF AN ABNORMAL DISTORTION OF THE WRIST.

By CHARLES H. CHAMBERS.

SOME remarks of Dr. Waitz upon the persistency of deviations from normal forms in various races or groups of mankind, have made me think it worth while to communicate a fact which came under my notice some years since, and which, as the evidence on the subject is accumulative, is not I think unworthy of being signalised. I happened three years since to be in the Shetland islands; I was at a place in the south of the mainland, called Koningsborough, and one day, having seen the herring boats take their departure, was returning home, when I was accosted by a fisherman, who asked me to give him advice about his son who had had a dangerous fall from some cliffs. I assured him I was neither a physician nor surgeon, but he still insisted upon it, and I examined the boy's arm which, though bruised, was unbroken; I remarked that it was, as I thought at first, dislocated, but, on further examination, found that what I imagined was dislocation was an abnormal growth of the bone above the joint which projected to the height of nearly three-quarters of an inch; finding that it was a bruise, I said I would send down an embrocation from Lerwick, and on getting to it I went to the medical man there and told him of the case. When I mentioned this abnormal growth, he said that that was not singular there, as he had remarked that bony excrescence on the wrist in very many of the natives. There is no doubt a great deal of intermarrying among relations, and it is possible that an accidental deformity has, in this way, become perpetuated among the natives of the islands.

HUMAN REMAINS IN LOUGH GUR, COUNTY LIMERICK. IN the Reader of January 23rd, appears the abstract of a paper, read by Dr. Carte, before the Geological Society of Dublin, on the 13th of January, "On the Recent Discovery of Bones of the Polar Bear in Lough Gur, County Limerick; with observations on their comparison with Bones of the Cave Bear in the Collection of the Earl of Ennis

killen." The facts by Dr. Carte were corroborated by Prof. Jukes, Mr. Blyth (of Calcutta), and the Rev. Dr. Houghton. The most interesting anthropological fact was disclosed by Mr. Scott, who said, "that two distinct kinds of human remains had been found in Lough Gur. One of these was evidently very ancient. There was a skull, however, which did not appear to have been very long in the lake. He would ask anatomists to say whether some of the skulls found in the lake did not point to the existence in Ireland, at a remote period, of a race totally distinct from its present inhabitants. Dr. Blyth stated that there was not sufficient of the skull remaining to warrant an opinion being formed." The Reader goes on to add, "subsequently, however, we learn that that gentleman has been shown a fragment of an ancient Irish human skull, with wide glabella and prominent frontal sinuses, which he thought there could be little doubt appertained to the now Arctic race of mankind, which is known as the hyperborean Mongol." This fact is most interesting to anthropologists. The skulls which we have seen from the "river beds" of Ireland, and especially from the river Blackwater, and from Bovies on the river Nore, present a type very distinct from that of the "Mongol," or from the brachycephalic "stone period" skulls. They belong to the same great group of skulls as the specimens from Muskham (Trent valley), Towyn-y-capel in Anglesea, and other localities, some of which have been described by Prof. Huxley, or by Mr. Carter Blake (Geologist, June, 1862). Our attention has been long drawn by Mr. W. Davies, of the British Museum, to the remarkable variation in the proportions of bones of cave-bear from various deposits, and we hope that some of them may be carefully compared with Thalarctos maritimus.

THE DANISH KITCHEN MIDDENS.

To the Editor of the Anthropological Review.

SIR,-As I was returning from a stay of some months in Norway, in the year 1857, I went to Copenhagen. The first object of my devotion was Thorwaldsen and his mausoleum, which, as most of your readers are aware, contains a complete collection of his works exactly copied in marble, as well as some of the originals, while some of his most famous works are in the town. My next was the fine ethnographic collections, especially of northern antiquities. I was also anxious to see Professor Worsaae. I was so unfortunate as to find the gallery, for a certain time, permanently closed to the public. Professor Worsaae's brother had just died, and he had gone into the country, and I was referred to Professor Thomsen in order to obtain leave to see the museums. He was most kind and courteous, and not only gave me permission, but himself came with me. I think it may not be uninteresting to some of your readers to give from my journals the impressions conveyed by what was then a recent discovery, and the substance of the remarks of so able and specially qualified a man as Professor Thomsen upon the ethnology and peopling of the north of

Europe, as well as to signalise what I think is not very generally known-the attention which has been paid to anthropology in Denmark. The following is the entry in my journal:

"The Professor was very civil, came with me, and explained the arrangement of the museum; it is in three divisions, representing the remains of three ages: first, aboriginal tribes of very great antiquity (he spoke of five thousand or six thousand years, at the same time saying that it might be much more) unacquainted with the use of any metal, who used implements of flint. In the first room is a large collection of their tools and weapons, not finished, but in process of manufacture, or else repaired after having been used. In another room are finished articles of peace and war; in this room was a very remarkable discovery-beds of oyster shells had been found in Jutland, and for a long time were supposed to be caused by raised beaches, but, on being cut into, were found to be composed of the shells of eaten oysters, the under shells being found in great numbers together; mixed with these are innumerable instruments of daily life, such as knives (of flint), combs, and the bones of animals which these early tribes have eaten; these are found to be extinct birds, mammals of the age of the gigantic ox, &c.—a curious fact, and a proof, as the Professor remarked, that they were very fond of marrow is, that all the bones have been opened for the purpose of extracting it. At this time, he observed, there were no inhabitants in Norway or Sweden. The next race, whose remains are quite distinct from the former, were taller, more slender, and evidently from the east; their ornaments were of gold, and their earthenware vessels more elegant in form. The ornaments of the first race were amber bracelets and necklaces of large size and uncut; a large number were found together in a morass in Jutland, evidently, the Professor remarked, the collection of some travelling merchant who traded in them. The second race prevailed till the Christian era, and Professor Thomsen believed were connected with the tribes who crossed Europe before the rise of the Roman power, perhaps akin to the Pelasgi; they knew not the use of iron, and none of their ornaments were of silver. The last were those who had the iron civilisation, and were, he believed, the first settlers in Norway and Sweden, and the progenitors of the present inhabitants."

I shall not here discuss the question of the first inhabiting of Norway and Sweden. I am inclined to doubt the fact of the Teutons being the first inhabitants. I believe the race which inhabited the northern shores of Europe to have been akin to the Laps, Fins, and Esquimaux, and the Pickts or Pechts of Scotland, and to have given rise to many of the dwarf, troll, and fairy stories extant among the Sagas and elsewhere. The subject is one which, however, is still much in the realms of opinion.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES H. CHAMBERS.

Miscellanea Anthropologica.

Secretion of Milk in New-born Children. By NATALIS GUILLOT. (Archiv. Gén. de Méd.)

The breasts of healthy children of both sexes secrete milk immediately after birth. The function commences after the falling-off of the navel string from the seventh to the twelfth day, and ceases to flow after the lapse of a few days. The secretion is normal, and is only seen in a healthy child. The mammary glands are then perceptibly tumified. The milk may be obtained by pressure, sometimes by drops or jets. It is white, neutral, or alkaline, and becomes acid in atmospheric air. It consists of a serous and creamy portion, like women's milk, and presents, under the microscope, the same globules, containing casein, fat, and sugar. It is, in fact, a true milk. This secretion of milk in new-born children has been noticed before, but has been considered an exceptional case; hence its name in Germany, hexenmilch (witch milk). Schlossberger obtained from a boy a drachm of such milk. It consisted of 96 75 water, 0.82 fat, 0.05 ash, 2.38 casein, sugar and extracted matter. In the same paper Dr. Guillot strongly recommends the daily weighing of newborn children, which gives a positive index of their state of health. They ought to gain daily 10-15 grammes. The loss of weight frequently indicates an approaching disease.

On Longevity, with special reference to Hessen. By Dr. NEBAL, in Zweiter Berecht der oberheis. Gesellschaft fur Natur und Heilkunde. Giessen.

It has been computed that one in 4000 reaches 100 years. This proportion is found in the northern parts of England and Scotland, Sweden, and Norway. An example of the most advanced age is that of Patrecz Czartan at Karansebes, not far from Temeswar, in the Banat. He was born 1539, and died 1724, aged 185 years; his youngest son of his third marriage was 97. There is an instance of a more advanced age, ostensibly from an epitaph in the Leonhaud church of Linden, in which the age of Thomas Kars, died 1588, is stated to have been 207. Easten, in his Human Longevity, published 1799, gives 1712 instances of centenarians. Van Oven (On the Decline of Life) gives a list of 2000 centenarians. Among the Germans, George Wunder, born at Wülferstadt (Salzburg district) April 23, 1626, died in the hospital of Griez, December 12, 1761, aged 136 (well authenticated). Hannemann (Ephem. nat. cur., 1680) mentions a man of Rostock, who died at the age of 152. Hessen has produced an older man, George Burkhard, of Wettesingen district, Zreremberg. Winkelmann (Beschriebung von Hessen) says of him, that at the age of 180 he appeared in March 30, 1597, as a witness in the High Court of Marburg, and was then in full possession of his intellect. He enumerates 101 persons in and about Giessen, from 1559 to 1849, who had arrived at 100 years and upwards. John Hilcke died, aged 120, at Geismar; Joh. Casp. Drapp, aged 123, in 1715, at Petershain; Joseph Brunner, born in Treppstadt, November 26, died November 20th 1827, aged 121 years. He enjoyed a pension from the King of Bavaria.