to the circle of primitive Neolithic ideas. The connection of these with the Last Supper, and finally with the feasts in commemoration of the Martyrs, is clearly demonstrated; and thus the Church is seen, here as everywhere, incorporating primitive and Pagan ideas and customs into her system. He also writes on the curious legend connected with the town of Agaune, situated about sixty miles from Geneva, which "became celebrated owing to a story, whose historical accuracy remains disputable, which locates there the episode of the massacre of an entire legion in the early years of the fourth century."

The notes and references are as full as ever, and leave one amazed at the patient and laborious research of which each article is the fruit; while no less than 105 illustrations, besides reproductions of inscriptions, embellish the text. Students of liturgiology and of Christian antiquity owe a debt of gratitude to Dom Cabrol and his learned coadjutors, of whom Dom Leclercq is certainly so far the chief, for this unrivalled contribution to the literature of the subject. One can only hope that they may be spared to bring their great undertaking to a satisfactory conclusion. Meanwhile, there must be many among ourselves who will contribute towards the success of the work by subscribing for it as it is issued.

From Messrs. Asher and Co., of Berlin and London, we have received the first Part of a new work by Professor OSCAR MONTELIUS, of Stockholm, entitled Die älteren Kulturperioden im Orient und in Europa. The whole work is intended to be a history of the older periods of culture, as exemplified by the ornamentation of weapons and implements, whereby the relationships and contrasts between the styles of Western Asia and Egypt and those of the earliest historic periods of Greece, Italy, and the lands of Middle and Northern Europe will be described and illustrated. It is intended to consist of six to eight parts, each to cost 25s. net, of which the first is. before us. In this the Professor unfolds his "method," and describes the process of his classification. His "method" is what he calls the "typological;" and, as he describes it, one sees that it is the only scientific means of arriving at the period to which any particular type in any of these countries belongs.

The author distinguishes first between "absolute" and "relative" chronology. Relative chronology answers the question whether one object is older or younger than another. Absolute chronology shows us to which century before or after Christ that object belongs. In order to understand relative chronology, we must decide (1) which types are contemporary, and (2) in what order the different periods follow one

another. To understand this we must decide what constitutes a "type," and what a "find." A "find" in this connection may be described as the sum of those objects which have been discovered under such conditions, as that they may be considered to belong to an absolutely contemporary deposit. This being settled we can decide on the "types," and the typological method becomes possible.

Thus Professor Montelius opens up a new field of research, in which he shows how the older Neolithic types are carried on into the Bronze Age, and these into the earliest Mycenean and Etruscan periods, and compares them with the products of Egypt, Assyria, Middle Europe, and Scandinavia. In these we can see how the older types are reproduced and modified, and how, for example, the horizontal lines on later Bronze celts are derived from the thongbindings of the Neolithic and earlier Bronze forms; how the Swastika, and spiral, and cup- and ring-ornament, are universal; and how the beautiful lotus and palmette ornament of Egypt is found to have travelled eastward to Assyria and northward as far as Scandinavia, through Greece. "The typologic evolution" of this latter, says the author, "deserves special attention and study," and he devotes nearly forty pages to its discussion. The present Part contains 110 pages of letterpress, and is embellished with nearly 500 illustrations. These comprise axe-heads fibulæ and urns of bronze, as well as clay urns and other articles from Greece, Italy, Scandinavia, and elsewhere, showing the rise and progress of the motifs of ornament and the survival of details, which were at first useful, as ornament, when their meaning and use has been forgotten; together with every variety of the lotus and palmette ornament, and the " egg-anddart-moulding" derived from it, from Assyria, Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, Etruria, Cyprus, Italy, and the northern lands. The book is very handsomely got up, and will form, when complete, a large quarto volume, which will be of the greatest service to all students of preand proto-historic ornament. We could wish that an English translation might be hoped for; but such works seem only possible in Germany, where research is encouraged by the Government, and finds a public fitted to avail itself of its benefits.

Obituary.

MICHAEL LLOYD FERRAR.

Michael Lloyd Ferrar, of the Bengal Civil Service (retired list), died suddenly at his house, Little Gidding, near Ealing, on April 23rd, 1904. He was born at Coleraine, co. Antrim, November 24th, 1839, and was the third son of M. L. Ferrar, of Belfast, and grandson of William Hugh Ferrar, J.P., Resident Magistrate of Belfast, 1825, and a descendant of an old English family (Ferrar, of Little Gidding Manor, in Huntingdonshire), settled in Ireland since the siege of Limerick, 1691. Several members of that family had taken an active part in the founding of the American Colonies, especially of Virginia; but they are better known in history by their retirement from a political life, and forming themselves into a semi-religious community, under the guidance of Nicholas Ferrar, at Little Gidding Manor,

in 1622.

Mr. Ferrar was educated at Trinity College, Dublin; was ex-scholar and prizeman. He entered the Bengal Civil Service in 1863, as "Assistant Magistrate," and was successively "Joint Magistrate." "Settlement Officer," "Magistrate," "Deputy Commissioner," "Sessions Judge and Commissioner" of Fyzabad, in Oudh, 1889 and 1890; when, in 1891, the two provinces of "Oudh" and the "The North-West were amalgamated under one Lieutenant-Governor, he was appointed the first Commissioner of the new "Division of Gorakhpur," which high appointment he held until his retirement, in 1896. During his tenure of it he was called upon to display courage and judgment in dealing with the "Cow Killing" disturbances, in 1893.

The Commissioner's presence at Azamgarh gave the needful support to the youthful and inexperienced local oflicers, and the three European officials who had to face the crisis were able to report, after a few anxious days, that the danger was past.

Mr. Ferrar was a man of exceptionally amiable disposition, popular among both Europeans and natives, and to all classes he was kind, just, and generous. He joined this Association soon after his return from India, and was a constant attendant at Congresses since. He was not often able to attend the evening meetings, but after becoming a Member of Council he took an increasing interest in its proceedings, and his sudden death has been felt as a personal loss by all who knew him among its members.

VISCOUNT MELVILLE.

We regret to record the death, from pneumonia, of Viscount Melville, which took place recently at Cotterstock Hall, Oundle, his seat in Northamptonshire. Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville and Baron Dunira, succeeded his uncle as fifth Viscount on February 18th, 1886. He married, June 18, 1891, the Hon. Violet Cochrane-Baillie, youngest daughter of the first Lord Lamington, and sister to the present Baron, who is Governor of Bombay. He leaves two daughters,

the Hon. Maisie and Montagu Dundas. He is succeeded by his brother, the Hon. Charles Saunders Douglas, I.S.O., his Majesty's Consul-General at Christiana.

The members of this Association will remember the courteous entertainment given them by Viscount Melville at Cotterstock, in 1898, during the Peterborough Congress; soon after which he joined the Association, and continued a member till his death.

NORMAN MAC COLL, M. A.

It is with much regret that we record the sudden death of Mr. Norman MacColl, formerly editor of the Athenaum, on December 15th last. He was not a member of this Association, but the present writer can testify to his interest in archæology, and to his readiness to admit anything archæologically interesting into the columns of that journal, as also to his uniform kindness and courtesy of disposition. His will be a real loss to all those to whom literature and science are more than a mere name. From the notice in the Standard, we make the following extracts :

"Mr. Norman MacColl was a Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge, a barrister, a scholar, and for thirty years Editor of the Athenæum. He was born of Scotch parents, the family being residents of Edinburgh. His connection with Cambridge was always a close and intimate one. One of his Undergraduate contemporaries there was Sir Charles Dilke. It might almost be said that from college he stepped into the editorial chair of the Athenæum-at the age of twenty-seven, and in the year 1870. In much the same way, a quarter of a century later, Mr. MacColl chose his assistant from Cambridge, selecting Mr. Vernon Rendall, the present Editor of the Athenæum, from the ranks of Cambridge journalism. In 1900, after thirty years of honourable and useful work, Mr. MacColl finally retired from his editorial labours.

"Many good things were said of Norman MacColl. For instance, that he began life in well-preserved middle-age; and that he was an ideal editor for a journal of criticism, for the reason that he was not amenable to any sort of personal influence. Though fond of congenial society, he was fastidious in his intimacies, and selected his friends as carefully as his books and his wines. But he was no hermit. At one time he used to take long walks, chiefly in Surrey, with Sir Leslie Stephen, Mr. George Meredith, and a few other members of a select little fraternity. The circle which comprised Rossetti, Swinburne, and their chosen intimacies, knew Norman MacColl well. His quiet independence was immovable; his passive, unswerving justice invulnerable to attack. Habitually a rather silent man, when led into a congenial vein, he was an interesting talker, He was devoted to golf, and played an excellent game. He was a fine historical scholar, a sound classic, and an authority on Spanish literature, his last work being an admirable translation of the Exemplary Novels of Cervantes,' issued only two years ago. Other publications were 'Greek Sceptics from Pyrrho to Sextus,' published in 1869, and 'Select Plays of Calderon,' which appeared in 1888."