boa^] ANTHROPOLOGIC LITERATURE 777
traditions to the new customs. The author also considers the connec- tion between raven, sun, and death as proved by the myth telling of the son of a dead woman ascending to the sky, marrying the daughter of the Sun, and of the son of this couple who becomes the raven. The first part of this myth belongs to the long series of miraculous births ; and a comparison of other traditions of the same area proves that this is the essential element in the myth. Then, why are those forms of the myth in which the child of the couple is an animal other than a bird less im- portant than the present one ? In short, I find everywhere an entirely arbitrary interpretation of selected myths which seem adapted to prove the author's contentions. The few tales that are mentioned as not in agreement with these theories are said to be misunderstood or late distortions of the pure form of the original myth.
By following the methods pursued in the book anything and every- thing can be proved. It is fiction, not science.
Dr Frobenius is a man of wide reading and of brilliant ideas. There is certainly some truth in his " law of inversion," and a careful study of the history of customs and beliefs from this point of view might lead to valuable results. Franz Boas.
The Distribution of the Negritos in the Philippine Islands and Elsewhere. By A. B. Meyer. Dresden : 1899. 8°, (viii,) 92 + 2 pp.
This publication is a translation of the author's work on the Negritos of the Philippines (1893) brought up to date. Dr Meyer gives a thorough and critical review of the known facts pertaining to the distribution of the Negrito population on the northern coast of the Indian ocean. He shows that all records except those for the Philip- pine islands, Malacca, and the Andaman islands are open to doubt. He adheres to his opinion, previously expressed, that Negritos and Papuas, notwithstanding the difference of form of skull, belong to the same race. He points out that certain types of men in India, Ceylon, and Sumatra show affinities with the Negritos, but the difference in the form of hair is, however, so great, that they must not be considered as identical. The tendency of the book is to discourage, on account of lack of sufficient data, generalizations based on the supposed occurrence of Negrito types throughout southern Asia. Franz Boas.
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