THE ATHENEUM and has, in every play here submitted, from twinkling farce to twinkling tragedy, reduced our Heaven knows not too mature humanity consistently to terms of mincing precocious childhood? Let us grant that once or twice repeated this still has its exquisite charm, as of a tiny Mozartian melody twinkling from a minute music-box. To this charm, certainly, one surrenders in Manikin and Minikin ": in Lima Beans" and Jack's House," however, one is now and then just perceptibly annoyed by the persistent sentimentality with which the poet reduces his persone, not indeed merely to terms of childhood, but more exactly to terms of dollhood. The boy and girl regard each other with eyes perpetually like saucers, their mouths for ever shaped to the "Oo!" of puppet wonder, their gestures unvaryingly rectangular and affectedly awkward. What, even from Mr. Kreymborg's viewpoint, is gained by this? One perceives readily enough, of course, his wish to present his personæ in a light," in the light of human futility and its charming (or ridiculous) helplessness. The puppet, particularly in a tragic rôle, does this to perfection: it is an artifice, or indeed a mechanism, admirably suited to its purpose. But once done is there any use doing it again? Is it wise of Mr. Kreymborg to make this one note the burden of everything he writes? The themes of "People Who Die," it is true, or " Blue and Green," are unalike, and are played upon very often with great delicacy and precision, with a subtlety of perception which has beauty and dignity. But here also the hero and heroine are dolls, studiously restricting themselves to rhythms and ideas which frequently suggest nothing so much as Mother Goose. It is high time these precocious children grew up. October 10, 1919 are of no less utility to every person who wants to learn all the best that is known and thought in the world." Bibliography ought to be a part of every curriculum, Children are taught to read. They should also be taught how to read. The book habit and then the library habit should be instilled in early years. School libraries should not only be universal and abundantly supplied with books, but should, further, be models of instructive arrangement and graphic illustrations of how to find the way from book to book. They should be a lesson in map-reading, and book-selection should be taught as the art of making maps for oneself, since at some not distant date the child will have to carry on his own education, unless the merely preliminary work of schooling is to lose more than half its fruits. Accordingly, the uses of the different kinds of books, including the abibliadictionaries, encyclopædias, atlases, and guides to readingought to be a prominent item on the school time-table, together with the ways to avoid waste of effort in reading, and the training not only of a literary sense, but also of the art of discriminating between original and secondhand. The young reader, in short, since he is soon to be thrown on his own resources, must learn something of the craft of research, and must realize that we pursue knowledge, not for its own sake merely or for ourselves, but for the sake of all. And Mr. Kreymborg must surely be aware that as long as he stages for us merely this parade of dolls-no matter in what lights or costumes or charming quarrels or exquisitely naive psychological self-searchings-these things will be but the surface twinkle, and the basic idea will remain "doll." The cords of a convention are about him. If Mr. Kreymborg wishes range for his speculations, variety for his moods, will he not do well to abandon his whimsical flute-not altogether, for it has its beauties of clarity and liquid modulation, its droll breakings into the squeal of falsetto-and try now and then another instrument? There are limits, after all, to what one can say through a flute. And there is no doubt that Mr. Kreymborg has more to say. CONRAD AIKEN. THE LIBRARY ARTS OCTO PUBLI Gourmo very eas in a mo interest "Le L Unfortunately, the Library Arts are not yet comprised in any scheme of elementary education. Most grown-up people know surprisingly little about bibliography, classification, or indexing. The ordinary person, in the daily problem of what he or she shall read, is at the mercy of the journalist, who is too often at the mercy of the advertising publisher. So instruction in the Library Arts is very pressing; there are serious arrears to make up. The sum of human effort wasted because few know how to classify, or to index, or where to look for what has already been done, discovered, or recorded, is beyond computation. The Index to Periodicals, which was begun under the ægis of THE ATHENÆUM a year or two ago, had to be undertaken by a small group of private enthusiasts. The Germans are expert indexers. This was one of the main bases of their efficiency. They never forgot what had been done by themselves or by anyone else. They knew exactly where to look for the useful thing at the right Take an instance that is particularly relevant to our subject. We have in this country some defective directories of publishing and the book-trade. There is a German directory of an exhaustive kind, which in mere bulk could swallow up all our perfunctory attempts. In the routine of industry what genuine superiority belonged to Germany rested to a large extent on efficient indexing and the systematic method which is a leading feature of library economy. THE probability is that those who do read read too much; or perhaps we should put it that we read not wisely but too well. A famous publicist who continually makes audiences stand agape at the depth and variety of his erudition exclaimed, on entering the fine library of a friend of mine, "Too many books, far too many books! Life and skilled conversation with all sorts and conditions of those who have read, worked, researched, and acted, had produced a remarkable example of what Bacon had called a ready man, though possibly not a full man. Not well-read in the ordinary sense, he was yet vastly superior to most of those who have read vastly more. He was, indeed, exceptional; but the instance serves to bring out the sovereign importance, in the matter of reading books and developing the mind, of the old distinction between quantity and quality, method and judgment, in comparison with mere energy and persistence. moment. sudden ignoran one's us, at steppi for th langua exam becom tion. extra For though classification as practised by librarians may be open to the reproach that it is unscientific, being a classification of books rather than of knowledge, of novels as well as philosophy, books on painting as well as history and economics; and though it is necessary to depart from logical procedure by taking form into account as well as subject; nevertheless, the methodology of a well-ordered library substantiates the librarians' claim that to bring the reader into the library is to train his mind. What is described as the Open Access system has helped innumerable readers, who were thwarted and confounded by the traditional closed library, not only to acquire the sense of literature that comes from the mere handling and the physical charm of books, but, furthermore, to order their minds and organize their intellectual attainments on lines corresponding to the scheme of human thought. But it is given to few to pursue this line of education under competent tutors. The value of the living voice, of personal contact with the teacher, was rated high when populations were not unmanageably huge and education of the million was not compulsory. Now, as soon as we have passed a certain elementary stage, we depend for our intellectual, if not our material, progress almost entirely on books. Hence the importance of what Americans call the Book Arts or the Library Arts, a more satisfactory phrase than Library Science. The subjects taught in a School of Librarianship have two opposite but complementary aspects. From the librarian's point of view it is a matter of collecting, arranging, cataloguing, and making readily accessible "all the best that is known and thought in the world." But everything given is a thing received and, presumably, wanted; every export is an import, everything sold is a thing bought. The Library Arts From Bee whi De St The Library Arts include things useful in daily life and in all departments of business. To all classes of literary workers they are indispensable, and if they are nowhere taught the individual has to evolve his own bibliography and his own apparatus of research. Six months' training in a good library would have eased the labour and multiplied the results of how many patient researchers! A course in the study and care of archives would have saved priceless records from disappearance or burial with the mass of the unsifted and worthless. When the Library Arts are properly taught we shall doubtless awake to the value of the undeveloped library resources that are now running to waste, and to a sense of what the public library might be if we gave it its proper place in the intellectual economy of the social State. ERNEST A. BAKER. LITERARY NOTES PUBLISHED Six years ago in a limited edition, Remy de Gourmont's "Le Latin Mystique is a book which is not very easy to come by now. It might well, we feel, be issued in a more popular form, for it contains material of the greatest interest that is not readily accessible in any other place. "Le Latin Mystique is one of the books that make one suddenly and painfully conscious of those vast gulfs of ignorance which yawn in all directions across the surface of Mediæval Latin poetry-for one's commonplace culture. us, at any rate, it was a vast, black lacuna. De Gourmont's anthology and critical history provide at least a series of stepping-stones across the void. We come away from the book with a renewed respect for the Latin tongue and its possibilities. Was there ever a language so dense, so weighty, so sonorous ? We see it, for example, in the hands of the exquisite Sidonius Apollinarius becoming a perfect vehicle for terse, precise, realistic description. Sidonius's account of the invading barbarians is extraordinary in its closely-packed exactness: Hic glaucis Herulus genis vagatur, lumine glauco Albet aquosa acies. But the poetry of Sidonius comes too early to exhibit the new beauties with which the language later adorned itself. Rhyme was little used in his day, and quantitative verse still held the field. The new system of versification developed slowly; its bright consummate flower," from the technical point of view, was Adam of St. Victor, who lived in the twelfth century, seven hundred years after Sidonius. A recent English edition of his poetry exists to prove that he was a versifier of incredible ingenuity, a juggler with words and rhymes and very little else. The really great poet of his century is St. Bernard; less ingenious, perhaps, than Adam of St. Victor, but far more genuinely lyrical than his contemporary. St. Bernard had that profound conviction of the reality, the inevitability and the horror of death, which gives to so much mediæval poetry its peculiar intensity. The flesh is bruckle, the fiend is slee: Timor mortis conturbat me; the refrain is sung in many different keys by other writers besides Dunbar. St. Bernard returns to this theme again and again. In the following lines, for example, he sings, harshly and fiercely, the tune that Villon was later to make beautiful and melancholy Dic ubi Salomon, olim tam nobilis, Vel Dives splendidus, totus in prandio? .. It is curious that the conviction of death should have inspired, even among Christian writers, much more fine poetry than the hope of immortality. THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS have lately published two books which will rejoice the book-lover of moderate means--and are not the means of the true book-lover always moderate ? One is a reprint of Mrs. Gaskell's "Life of Charlotte Brontë" (2s. net), in the excellent format of "The World's Classics," with an admirable introduction by Mr. Clement Shorter, doubly valuable because it contains the text of an unpublished letter by Mrs. Gaskell which gives an even more vivid picture of the tragic household of the Brontës than any to be found in her book. The letter is a masterpiece of quick and passionate apprehension, and if only for the reason that the letter is contained in it, the new edition of the book is bound to supersede the old. The other book is a pretty little volume of selections from the work of Walter Savage Landor, edited with a discriminating enthusiasm by Mr. John Bailey (2s. net). The sovereign power has not merely laid hands upon all that portion of yearly produce which should go towards the accumulation of national capital, but it has closed to the native population every avenue to power or to distinction. There is no office in the civil or military establishments of government accessible to a native, which a European would not disdain to accept. Let us quote a little from our author. Prosperity withers under our shade. We have grasped and monopolized everything—the field of honourable ambition, every lucrative post of a great and extensive empire; by the activity of our free traders we have superseded even the coarsest manufactures of the country. The business of life has been compressed into its dullest routine: to worship images; to go on pilgrimages and to grow strong in religious prejudices and immorality, through ignorance and poverty. . . . The Hindoo can only become rich in religious grace by prayer and fasting; and may possibly acquire a treasure of mental resignation, the boon of Britons to men of dark complexions." What will be the fruit of this administration? asks the reviewer. The country, it is true, is still under our control, but "India," says Sir John Malcolm, who belongs to the oppression school India is as quiet as gunpowder." . . . Of this we may be assured, that should the day of insurrection ever arrive, it will be bold, and bloody, and tremendous in the same degree as the people who shall rise against us will be barbarous, ignorant and exasperated. Under the heading " Prices of Pictures on the Continent " is given an account of "a late picture sale at Bremen " The highest price bidden was 285 thalers (the thaler being worth 3s. 2d.), but this lot was not sold, as the sum bid was considered below the value of the picture. The picture was a Paul Potter..) it was remarkable for its truth to nature. A picture attributed to Van Dyck, a portrait of a prince, full length and of the size of life, for 200 thalers, was purchased for the present splendid and known collection of the Prince of Bückeburg, as were also a Rembrandt (man's portrait) for 75 thalers; a Rubens (Hero and Leander) 72 thalers. A Teniers fetched 72 thalers; a landscape of Poussin 50; a Giulio Romano 57. This sale, it is remarked, shows a great improvement in prices within the last few years. The then. improvement" has been even more remarkable since The first article in THE ATHENÆUM for October 7 is a review of Benjamin Constant's Mélanges de Littérature et de Politique.' The reviewer says: If we were called upon to point out the most characteristic distinction which separates French writers of the present age from those of any former generation, we should without hesitation fix it in the superior spirit of truth which appears to us to animate the whole of their labours. Not of truth metaphysical, political or economical; but of truth as it is open to all men-of truth in disposition and intention of mind. This quality at best had but a languid existence in the works of the most eminent men of the last age in France. The leading ranks in society had reached that point of corruption in which they did not recoil from the consciousness of dishonesty and debasement, or object to the satirical exposure of their vices in the history, the poem, or the drama. But they still laid claim to similar sort of menagemens to those which might be exacted by an old dame of ci-devant doubtful reputation; and which would consist not by any means in abstinence from sportive or satirical reminiscences, but in caution not to call things by their right names, and not to press too closely on the sore points of character which there are none but have the grace to be ashamed of. " "" A regular weekly advertisement of the Colosseum, Regent's Park, appears in the columns of THE ATHENÆUM at this period. It seems to have been an expensive kind of "Funland," for "to view the Panorama alone cost 1s., to view the Panorama, with the original Ball removed from St. Paul's Cathedral-the Prospect from the summit of the Building— and the Saloon for the reception of Works of art," cost 3s., and to view the Conservatories, Fountain and Swiss Cottage" was another 2s. T Science THE INERT GASES WENTY-FIVE years ago those gathered together at the annual meeting of the British Association must have found one subject almost monopoFor it was in lizing their thoughts and conversation. 1894 that Rayleigh and Ramsay announced the discovery of a new elementary atmospheric gas, argon, and new elements were already becoming rare aves at the end of the nineteenth century. In the territories of experimental science there appear from time to time junctions where trains of thought and action seem to arrive and to leave, from and to all parts of the country. The discovery of argon is one of these strategic points. The long-distance train from Cavendish's investigations of the atmospheric gases, the "local bringing hitherto inaccessible supplies of liquid air, arrived at this station; soon after the departure was to be observed of the inert gas and the periodic law expresses, travelling, as was later to become evident, on parallel lines to the busy centre of Radio-activity, the first stop for the theory of Isotopes. It is a fascinating occupation to follow each one of these routes, taking a given discovery and a definite period as the centre, and the history of chemistry probably shows more of such points of concentration than that of any other science, largely because of its intermediate position between the exact and the empirical sciences. ordinary pressures causes the argon to volatilize first, at The brilliant achievement to which Mendeleeff pays such It was in 1785 that Henry Cavendish published his "Experiments on Air." This pioneer of quantitative chemistry-remarkable alike for his love of solitude and horror of strange faces, and for his immense wealth and complete indifference to comfort-was the first to demonstrate the exact composition of water; hardly less important were the results of his work on the atmosphere's composition. He took a glass tube full of air, sealed at one end, inverted it over a solution of caustic potash, and passed a series of electric sparks between wires sealed into the tube. The potash rose in the tube, showing that the phlogisticated air (nitrogen) and the dephlogisticated air (oxygen) had combined under the influence of the charge, and that the oxides of nitrogen thus formed dissolved in the solution. By passing in a sufficiency of pure oxygen. it was possible to make all the nitrogen disappear, and the potash should have risen right to the top of the tube. It never did so; there was always left a small bubble of gas, which On this no amount of further sparking could remove. said Cavendish: "If there is any part of the phlogisticated air of our atmosphere which differs from the rest, and cannot be reduced to nitrous acid, we may safely conclude that it is not more than 1/125th part of the whole." argon in its refusal to combine with any other element, and could therefore, like argon, only be characterized by such physical properties as density, spectrum, and boilingpoint. The most remarkable thing about it was its extreme lightness, for it proved to be only twice as dense as hydrogen, the lightest of all the elements. Its atomic weight was shown to be only 4, taking hydrogen as 1, while lithium, a metal, came next as regards lightness of atom, its atomic weight being 7. The discovery of these two "inert gases led to a modification of the Periodic Classification. The arrangement of the elements in order of their atomic weight causes them to show a functional relation between their chemical properties and the relative weights of their atoms and to fall into definite groups. A new group had to be created; helium was put before lithium, and argon before potassium, although its atomic weight is slightly higher than that of potassium. The utmost refinements of modern chemical methods have not been successful in reducing the atomic weight of argon, yet its situation between chlorine (35.5) and potassium (39.1), in spite of its own atomic weight of 40, has been fully established. For consideration of the positions thus assigned to helium and argon in the periodic classification, and of their properties, led to the foretelling of three undiscovered inert gases, with atomic weights round about 20, 80, and 130. During the next three years Ramsay and his pupils isolated Neon (19.9), Krypton (81.8), and Xenon (128), justifying the belief in the periodic classification as one of the most vital generalizations in the whole of chemical theory, and paradoxically justifying at the same time the departure from this scientific "law" in the case of argon. In 1894 Lord Rayleigh, engaged in redetermining the density of nitrogen for the purpose of more accurately establishing its atomic weight, observed that nitrogen obtained by the decomposition of pure nitrogen compounds was almost 1/200th lighter than that obtained from the air by the removal of all the other constituents. He and Ramsay then set to work, by different methods, to discover what was this heavier constituent of residual atmospheric nitrogen. They were able to concentrate it by diffusing air through a porous clay tube; they found that the nitrogen from the diffused air was markedly lighter than that left behind. Their method for finally isolating argon was to pass large quantities of atmospheric nitrogen repeatedly over heated metallic magnesium, until the residual gas no longer showed the spectrum of nitrogen. It is now possible to obtain comparatively large quantities of pure argon by freezing the impure gas in a bath of liquid hydrogen; fractional distillation of the resultant solid or liquid at These new elements were obtained by means of liquid hydrogen in the manner already outlined. Their different boiling-points enabled the separation from argon, with which they occur in the air, only in far smaller quantities, to be made with a degree of accuracy well within the limits of experimental error arising in the determination of their physical constants. The availability of liquid air in considerable quantities was the essential condition precedent to the production of liquid hydrogen, and the liquefaction of air was itself the practical outcome not only of a large number of experimental results, but also of purely theoretical mathematical speculation. There is a perfectly logical connection between the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the discovery of the inert gases. atomi from Jus Was t Cisco game of ra char Indeed, there is in the case of these very gases another remarkable instance of this interdependence of empiricism and theory. The determination of the number of atoms in the molecule of an elementary gas, its atomicity, is in of a general established by consideration of the results obtained from the analysis of a large number of the compounds of that element. This method clearly breaks down with the inert gases, which do not form chemical compounds. Theoretical considerations, however, show that the velocity of sound in a gas-which can be determined in a Kundt's tube with quite small quantities-bears a definite relation to certain thermal properties of the gas, and that these thermal properties in turn depend on the gas's atomicity. Ramsay showed, by measuring the velocity of sound in argon, that it must be monatomic, and similar results were obtained for the other gases of the group. Their atomic weights could then, and only then, be calculated from their atomicities and their densities. Just as the discovery of argon and the other inert gases was the culminating point of a large number of apparently disconnected theories and investigations, so the knowledge gained by their study has contributed to the new science of radio-activity; the regularity of the appearance of helium amongst the disintegration products of radio-active change is fundamental in modern physico-chemical views of atomic structure. When we consider how tenaciously the human mind clings to a belief in the material nature of substances, and how revolutionary a part many of the suggestions of modern physics and chemistry play in this quasi-philosophical field, we may recall for an instant that little refractory globule of gas which baffled all Cavendish's learning; we may reflect on the hundred and nine years that elapsed before his observation could be co-ordinated with the general body of scientific results; and we may, perhaps somewhat apprehensively, realize how the pricking of a very small bubble can, in the inexorable long run, lead to the bursting of a very large one. A. L. B. FORTHCOMING MEETINGS Fri. 10. King's College, 4.-" The Beginnings of Christian Art," University College, 5." Italian Society in the King's College, 5.30.-" Modern Greek Drama," Lecture Mon. 13. King's College, 5.30." The History of Learning and L. King's College, 5.30.—“The Study of Paleography in Tues. 14. Royal Anthropological Institute, 8.15." Initiation Thurs. 16. University College, 5.-" The Romance of Assyriological Fri. 17 University College, " King's College, 5.30.-" Modern Greek Drama," Lecture 66 THE PHILOSOPHICAL CLUB OF ANNALS OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL CLUB OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. T HE Philosophical Club of the Royal Society owed its origin to the dissatisfaction felt by several of the younger and more able Fellows at the mere snobbishness which characterized the Royal Society in the early part of the nineteenth century. In 1847, when the Club was founded, the F.R.S. was almost valueless as a mark of scientific distinction. If a man came of good family and had collected a few sea-shells or butterflies he stood a very good chance of gaining a Fellowship. The Royal Society is not yet wholly free from reverence for exalted social position, but it is now certainly something more than a good club; the F.R.S. is, on the whole, one of the very few genuine honours that a man can gain in England. This desirable state of affairs is largely due to the part played by the Philosophical Club. As the oldest surviving member Dr. Bonney was asked to give an account of the history and activities of these reformers. We can imagine that, to an old member, the task would seem well worth doing. He would vaguely remember a series of delightful evenings, the faces of a host of famous men would appear again to his reminiscent eye, he would feel again the tension of controversies now forgotten. Unfortunately it requires a literary artist to reproduce these things; Dr. Bonney has given us the minute-books. The personal touches are of that frigid, wholly unilluminating kind with which we are familiar: "regarded by his many friends as a man of real ability, who was no less gentle than firm, was a sincere Christian, and a most attractive companion." When we come to the minutes we are still in the official atmosphere, but the actual subjects of discussion are usually interesting enough to give this part of the book the charm of an exceptionally well-chosen batch of presscuttings. Many of the points raised at these meetings led to researches or were the outcome of researches now famous in all the text-books. The minutes constitute an informal history of fifty years of scientific discovery. Occasionally the entries are too brief to enable us to grasp the real significance of the subject under discussion. For instance: Mr. Porter spoke of a cloth, the invention of Klaussen, and made half of sheep's wool, half of flax, some of which he was then wearing. Did this remark simply fall, as it were, into the void? Did the members merely gaze respectfully for a moment at Mr. Porter's clothing and then go on to something else? It is true that the next remark, by Dr. Hooker, stated that a museum was then being constructed at Kew for the exhibition of foreign products, but we are not clear whether this was related to Mr. Porter's clothing. It is possible that the disconnected air of these meetings is a result of Dr. Bonney's method. The nexus of casual remarks, interest, scepticism or what not is wholly absent from his record. Each member does his bit, without any reference to past or future, and then they all go home. It must have been more exciting than that. The solid value of the book lies, however, in its historical character. More than once a discovery of first-rate importance was made public for the first time at one of these informal gatherings. The very variety of the subjects dealt with, making the minutes rather hard to read, helps Dr. Bonney's important contention that the scientific men of those days had a wider range of interests than they have now. Specialization has been pushed so far that the specialists are now largely indifferent to any subjects but their own. Dr. Bonney's book is testimony to the fact that excellence in science was not always incompatible with general culture. S. Fine Arts GREEK VASE-PAINTING A HANDBOOK of Greek VASE-PAINTING. By Mary A. B. Herford, OTTERY is the most lasting product of industry. It is almost indestructible. True that the pot is easily broken, but there lies the salvation of the material: it is no longer good for anything. Broken earthenware is worthless for man, insensitive to time and weather, incapable of chemical change. Add its quick, cheap and universal manufacture, and you have most of the reasons why ancient pottery is now the most useful instrument of archæology. The archæologist handles vases primarily as historical documents, looking for classification and chronology, natural development, effect and origin of foreign influence. His ordered series leads to the arrangement of other material. So much can be said even of the undecorated pot. But painted pottery claims attention on its own merits, for the interest of the pictures which it bears, or simply as a work of art. It is in its artistic aspect that Greek pottery must be presented to the non-specialist readers" for whom Miss Herford has designed her book. The book is short, yet more than a third of its pages is filled with general information about the potter and his The historical section craft, vase-shapes and use of vases. begins with a sketch of prehistoric pottery in Greece. This period would have been better omitted, for it is outside the limits of the title, the account is too short to be useful, and contains some misleading statements, as, for instance, that the Cretan Kamares ware" iapidly made its way overseas "; that Cyprus" was never overpowered, even for a time, by Oriental or other outside influences"; and, in an earlier reference, that "magnificent Cretan and Mycenæan drinking cups of metal in animal form still exist.' Greek vase-painting properly begins with the Iron Age. Geometric style reveals the shock of the The strange new æsthetic impulse with which the last element of Hellenic culture entered Greece. The typical Attic variety, Germa animals enclosed in panels between groups of parallel Among Attic fabrics the author moves more safely. The Dipylon" Geometric, is described. " tall jars or mixingbowls, covered over every inch of their surface with tapestrylike ornament composed altogether of geometrical motives," but is not illustrated in this form. Artistic interest grows with the Orientalizing wares, which had their origin in foreign trade and expansion about the eighth century B.C. These naturally appeared first in the seaport cities of the mainland and the Asiatic colonies. In the latter group many different fabrics can be distinguished, but their naming is still a controversial matter. So Miss Herford Rhodian." calls Milesian what is usually known as The peculiar "Eolic" vases, gaily painted with red and white patterns on a black ground, are omitted altogether. It is a pity, too, not to have enlivened the dull catalogue of technical variations by quoting from a Danish excavator, Dr. K. F. Kinch, his ingenious and amusing explanation of the animal motives on vases which he found recently (1908) at Vroulià, in Rhodes. The vases are the ordinary Rhodian (or Milesian) jugs (not illustrated in Miss Herford's book), decorated with successive zones of animals; lions, goats, deer, geese-wild creatures faithfully portrayed in their natural surroundings of wood and mountain. The birds are usually on the shoulder of the jug, the animals on the body. Now the occasion upon which such different creatures are wont to meet is the evening watering; here at the foot of the vase is perhaps the water, indicated by stylized lotus-flowers. The scheme is shown better on the shallow bowls or dishes (Plate 5, a), where the rosette or group of flowers in the hollow centre is appropriately the pond. The surrounding bands have birds or heads of energy The athletes and revellers of the Panaitios painter, the satyrs and mænads of the painter whose vases were made by Brygos, are ordinary men and women caught up into a transport of rhythmic And nowhere, at all events in fifth-century art, has the genial unconscious type of humour been better caught than in the hook-nosed old men of Panaitios" vases, nor the self-conscious, and cynical than in the Brygos painter's half-gracious half-mocking maiden cup-bearers, with their fine disdainful nostrils and bold lips and narrow eyes. There are two pretty pictures of the little Brygan girls, but we search in vain for an illustration of the hook-nosed humourists of the Panaitios Master. The only Panaitios figure, a fantastic satyr, is hardly typical. The last few pages dispose of the survival of the red-figure style in Italy, in the fourth century and later. It cannot be said that the book makes good its claim, "to introduce non-specialist readers to Greek vase-painting as a whole." But the University student will accept it gladly as the book which contains the greatest quantity of up-to-date instruction in the smallest number of pages. It is too technical, not with the skill of the Potteries, but with archæological erudition of the schools. A tiresome trick of the class-room is the pairing common English words with their Greek equivalents, and in one instance even |