of the stores of information compressed by M. Sébillot into a comparatively few pages. But our debt to him does not end here. He has added a final chapter modestly entitled "Notes Additionnelles," in which he sums up the results of the enquiry. The practices treated are not the remains of a highly organized religion such as is dominant in Christendom, though there are here and there signs of the survival of a priesthood. They do exhibit the frame of mind found in peoples beyond the range of European culture whom we compendiously call animistic. Of all the ancient cults that which is best preserved is that of water. Some of the observances have a form purely pagan; in others primitive practices and those of Christianity are mingled together, while some are pagan simply varnished with Christianity. Almost equally strong and certain are the relics of the worship of megalithic monuments. Naturally, however, they are confined to the districts where such monuments exist. The author speaks doubtfully of the hypothesis that in some of the superstitions he has touched we have relics of totemism. He points out that though many of the taboos and beliefs do look like totemism there are others susceptible of quite a different explanation. His caution is wise; and the opinion of such an authority must weigh in the decision of the question. Yet it may be urged that Mr. Gomme has recently shown a probability that certain institutions, customs and beliefs in the British Isles are only to be explained as the remains of totemism. If this be so the probability of totemism in the British Isles enhances the probability of totemism among a similar population on the other side of the Channel.

A bibliographical list of the authorities made use of is always welcome to students. M. Sébillot has added such a list as well as an index. He is one of the most accurate of men ; and in case he have occasion to revise the book for a second edition, as I hope he may, he that Galloway (p. 132) is not Stones (p. 313) in Cornwall. is to make such trifling slips.

will be glad to be reminded in Ireland, nor the Rollright Everyone knows how easy it

E. SIDNEY HARTLAND.

more than one class of student. Statesmen, historians and sociologists, as well as those whose attention is concentrated on the problems offered by folklore, may learn lessons of value here.

The book is divided into three parts. The first is concerned with the course of human life. It commences prior to birth with the rites to promote or retard fecundity and the treatment of pregnant women, including a paragraph on the taboos incident to pregnancy. Birth-ceremonies, the protection of mother and infant during the time of special danger from invisible foes, which extends until after churching and baptism, the diseases of earliest childhood and the means to promote the growth and well-being of the offspring, youth, love, marriage, the treatment of disease in general, magical practices to cause sickness and death, presages, dying and all the mournful and precautionary rites performed by the survivors, and lastly, the beliefs concerning the journey of the departed soul, the life after death and the periodical return of the dead are exhibited in detail. The second part deals with human occupations and labour. The building of a new dwellinghouse and removal to it, the dangers to be apprehended, the vestiges of a fire-cult, the building and use of boats, the protection of the stable and the poultry, and their management, the cultivation of the land, the protection of the crops, first-fruits, rain-making, the plantation of trees, rites of fructification and the sacredness of trees are all treated under this head. The forces of nature occupy the third and last part. Among them may be enumerated the heavenly bodies and the vestiges of their worship, traditional meteorology, fountains, rivers, lakes and the sea, the earth, the mountains, rocks and megalithic monuments and the acts performed in connection with them, which appear to be relics of a cult that has never been wholly abandoned through all the changes since the dawn of history. An appendix discloses a variety of practices in relation to the churches which are either non-Christian in character or spring from a confusion or combination of ideas in which other influences than those of Christianity are unmistakable.

of the stores of information compressed by M. Sébillot into a comparatively few pages. But our debt to him does not end here. He has added a final chapter modestly entitled "Notes Additionnelles," in which he sums up the results of the enquiry. The practices treated are not the remains of a highly organized religion such as is dominant in Christendom, though there are here and there signs of the survival of a priesthood. They do exhibit the frame of mind found in peoples beyond the range of European culture whom we compendiously call animistic. Of all the ancient cults that which is best preserved is that of water. Some of the observances have a form purely pagan; in others primitive practices and those of Christianity are mingled together, while some are pagan simply varnished with Christianity. Almost equally strong and certain are the relics of the worship of megalithic monuments. Naturally, however, they are confined to the districts where such monuments exist. The author speaks doubtfully of the hypothesis that in some of the superstitions he has touched we have relics of totemism. He points out that though many of the taboos and beliefs do look like totemism there are others susceptible of quite a different explanation. His caution is wise; and the opinion of such an authority must weigh in the decision of the question. Yet it may be urged that Mr. Gomme has recently shown a probability that certain institutions, customs and beliefs in the British Isles are only to be explained as the remains of totemism. If this be so the probability of totemism in the British Isles enhances the probability of totemism among a similar population on the other side of the Channel.

A bibliographical list of the authorities made use of is always welcome to students. M. Sébillot has added such a list as well as an index. He is one of the most accurate of men ; and in case he have occasion to revise the book for a second edition, as I hope he may, he will be glad to be reminded that Galloway (p. 132) is not in Ireland, nor the Rollright Stones (p. 313) in Cornwall. Everyone knows how easy it is to make such trifling slips.

E. SIDNEY HARTLAND.

PRIMITIVE SECRET SOCIETIES. A Study in Early Politics and Religion. By HUTTON WEBSTER. Macmillan Co., 1908. LES SOCIÉTÉS SECRÈTES AU BAS-CONGO. Par ED. DE JONGHE. (Extrait de la Revue des Questions scientifiques, Oct. 1907.) Bruxelles Polleunis, 1907.

DR. WEBSTER's account, in eleven chapters, of the initiation rites and secret societies of barbarous communities is of great value as a collection of references to most of the literature on the subject, independently of its importance as a study, although one could wish sometimes, in reading it, that consideration of the author's deductions and opinions were facilitated by their clearer separation or summary apart from the great mass of references. The first chapter discusses the various forms of "men's house" used by primitive tribes as a means of sexual separation, and suggests that its presence anywhere points to the previous existence of secret initiation ceremonies. The men's house is sometimes used for puberty initiations, and is also sometimes the seat of secret societies regarded as successors of earlier puberty institutions. The second chapter deals with the puberty institution which furnishes the most important of the various ceremonies by which males pass from class to class of the early age-classification system. These classes and ceremonies are held to be the origin of the degrees and initiations of the later secret societies. The effect of the puberty ceremonies on on tribal solidarity and evolution is emphasised. The next two chapters deal with the secret puberty rites and the training of the novice. The ordeals intended to render indelible the instruction given, and the mutilations which are a sign of the reception of a male into full tribal life, are discussed in detail with a great wealth of illustration. The puberty ceremonies for girls, naturally less important, are also very fully dealt with, and the theories of Dr. Frazer and others as to the origin of puberty rites in general are touched upon. The fifth chapter discusses the power of the elders which arises from their control of the initiation ceremonies and which is utilised for selfish purposes

novices. The next chapter attempts to establish that, upon the shifting of social control from the elders to tribal chiefs, the initiation rites and organization become unnecessary for tribal purposes, and limitation of membership gives rise to secret societies with grades based upon the earlier age groups. It is argued that this conversion of mysteries, concealing the tribal religious beliefs, into political secret societies governing by fraudulent pretences of connection with the dead and either struggling for power against the chiefs or serving as tools of the tribal leaders, has proceeded from the tendency of the elders to use the initiation ceremonies for their personal advancement and for the terrorising of the women and uninitiated. Many examples of puberty institutions in apparent decay or transition are cited. In Africa and Melanesia the power of the chiefs is still limited by the secret societies which have arisen on the earlier initiation basis and have become located in definite places as "lodges" with a series of degrees and limited membership, especially in the upper ranks. In Polynesia and North America the power of the chiefs is fully developed, and the tribal secret societies have become religious and dramatic fraternities of priests or shamans. Chapter VII. is devoted to the functions of the tribal societies, and the relations of the societies and tribal chiefs are examined. The following chapter deals with the decline of tribal societies, which with tribal progress may either collapse, become social clubs, or develop into magical fraternities. One characteristic of the disintegration of the societies is the admission of women, and the most effective cause of their decline is the civilising agency of traders and missionaries. Chapter IX. deals with "the clan ceremonies," and tries to prove that the origin of all the secret organisations-whether puberty institutions, secret societies, or magical fraternities-is in the "primitive totemic clan." This is argued chiefly from instances in Australia, Torres Straits, and North America. Chapter X. deals with magical fraternities, and contends that the primitive clan rites have as central characteristics dramatic and magical features, which re-emerge when the social and law-god functions of the secret society decline. The final chapter deals with the diffusion