WATTS’S LITERARY GRIDE ■
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B E I N G A M O N T H L Y R E C O R D O F L I B E R A L A N D A D V A N C E D P U B L I C A T IO N S .
No. 65.]
A P R IL 15 , 189 1 .
[Price One Penny.
N E W P U B L I C A T IO N S .
O U R L I B R A R Y S H E L V E S .
Messrs. Watts & Co. have just published, for the Propagandist Press Committee, a remarkably useful pamphlet, ■ written by Mr. Frederick Millar, and entitled “ Darwinism and Religious Thought” (id.).
M rs. H. B radlaugh-Bonner announces that she has in preparation a biography of her father, the late Charles Bradlaugh. The biography will extend to two volumes, and will be published at about the beginning of next year.
T here is a pleasure, no doubt exalted and unique, to be experienced in tracing one’s pedigree hack to the Norman Conquest. There is, if not greater pleasure, at any rate a greater fascination and human interest, in searching for one’s primeval ancestry in grass-covered tumuli, heaps of castaway shells, the sands of rivers, or the dim recesses of caverns. No better guide to the mysteries of the antique world could be found than Sir John Lubbock’s
“ PREHISTORIC TIMES ”
A gnosco will shortly issue, through Messrs. Watts & Co., a small brochure dealing with the question, “ Why I am a Freethinker ” (id.).
M r . F. J . Gould’s novel, “ The Agnostic Island,” is in the printers’ hands, and will, it is expected, be published early in June.
M r . G erald Massey’s lectures are now published at a more popular price—sixpence each. They have already had a considerable sale, and it is expected that in the cheaper form they will have a wide circulation. They may be strongly recommended.
Messrs. Watts & Co. have added to their portraits o f celebrities a cabinet of the ex-Rev. Hugh O. Pentecost, who is by many regarded as a second Ingersoll. He is the editor of the Twentieth Century, one of the brightest of our American exchanges; and his weekly lectures in New York are, we understand, attended by enthusiastic and increasingly large audiences.
Mr. C harles C. Cattell has published, as a penny pamphlet, his “ Recollections of the Late Charles Bradlaugh.”
Mr. Forder has issued a facsimile reprint of the late Mr. Bradlaugh’s first pamphlet, entitled “ A Few Words on the Christian’s Creed ” (2d.).
Mr. J . M. Wheeler has published, through Mr. Robert Forder, the first part of a compilation entitled “ Freethought Readings and Secular Songs” (6d.).
M r s . L ouisa S amson has written an admirable pamphlet showing “ Why Women should be Secularists” (2d.).
M essrs. R eeves & T urner have issued a new edition o f Dr. Bridges’s “ Discourses on Positive Religion” (is.).
M essrs. Marshall B rothers announce the publication o f a booklet by Mr. J . B. Figgis on “ Agnosticism ” (is. 6d.).
“ S eeing Darkly : A Glimpse into the Inconceivable; being an Introduction to the Gospel of Infinite Ignorance ” ( is .) is the curious title of a little work recently published by Messrs. Harrison & Sons.
Mrs. C olyer F ergusson (nee Max Miiller) has just translated “ A Manual of the Science of Religion,” by Professor Chantepie de la Saussaye.
(Williams and Norgate; fourth edition, 18 7 8 ; 655 pp. ; i8s.). Sir John Lubbock pursued his researches with the enthusiasm of a Jesuit missionary and the practical attention to detail of a typical Briton. He peered into the treasures of a score of museums scattered over Europe, explored the gravel-pits of the Somme valley and hunted about the Kjokkenmoddings of Denmark, tramped about the Highlands, roamed the Swiss mountains, and dived into the gloomy caves of the Dordogne. With the minutest care he has had drawings made of pre-historic remains, and more than two hundred engravings of flint arrow-heads, pottery, bronze implements, dolmens, and the like. The book is a compact store of facts rather than a theoretical treatise ; but the theory is there, pervading every page. Sir John is a firm Darwinian, and very gently but unmistakably pooh-poohs Archbishop Usher’s chronology, and places the origin of man in a period immensely prior to Abraham, Noah, Adam, and all the tribe of Biblical fathers. The style is that of plain narrative. The author does not jingle rhetorical bells in our ear. I f occasionally he quotes a Greek poet, a Latin historian, or a French savant, it is only for the purpose of adducing new information on the subject in hand.
Sir John Lubbock deals in the first place with the Bronze Age. In passing he mentions that the “ brass ” of the Old Testament writings should be translated “ bronze.” That a mixture of copper and tin should be used for weapons, tools, and ornaments, instead of the pure metals, seems a most unlikely thing ; but the discoveries of anthropologists confirm the fact. Who introduced bronze into early Europe is left an open question ; but the author is disinclined to give the credit to the Phoenicians. The bulk of the work is taken up with an examination of the archteology of the Stone Age, as represented in four classes of evidence—the tumuli, or ancient burial-mounds ; the Lake Habitations of Switzerland; the Kjokkenmoddings, or shell-mounds of Denmark ; and the Bone-caves. As regards Stonehenge, some readers will be surprised to learn that there is ample proof to connect it with the Bronze rather than the Stone Age. In describing the various articles found interred with the dead, Sir John is not content with mere dry enumeration. He uses them as materials for constructing, as far as possible, a picture of the character and habits and customs of these strange men of old. This method is specially attractive in the case of the Lake-dwellings of Switzerland, which, somewhat darkly, and yet with sufficient distinctness
