Strange Survivals: Some Chapters in the History of Man by S. Baring-GouldThe Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Fifth Series, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Dec.,1893), pp. 434-435Published by: Royal Society of Antiquaries of IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25508083 .

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( 434 )

Notice* of ISooitjs;

[Note.?Those marked * are by Members of the Society.']

Strange Survivals: Some Chapters in the History of Man. By S. Baring Gould, m.a. (London : Methuen & Co. Price Is. 6d.)

This work is an interesting collection of instructive articles on a variety of old-time subjects treated of in an entertaining manner, and written

in the author's usual attractive style. The opening chapter is on "

Foundations," in which the barbarous custom of sacrificing a human victim to mix the blood with the mortar, is referred to; sometimes a living person, commonly

a child, was im

mured to make the foundation strong.

The chapter under the head of " Ovens " treats of the primitive earth houses and their inhabitants, and this portion of the work is illustrated

fairly by sketches of a number of hut-circles and bee-hive cells, the latter

form of construction being in use in the Hebrides, where such huts, to

the number of twenty or thirty, are still tenanted. These dwellings are

found in places so far apart as the desert of Beersheba, the dunes of

Brittany, the Cornish Coast, and the Pyrenees, and nearly always asso

ciated with them are megalithic monuments, and frequently stone circles. " Arabia has its Stonehenge, precisely like that which figures on the

Wiltshire Downs." It is shown by the author that the "

cloam" ovens

in use now in the west of England are in structure identical with the

prehistoric bee-hive huts.

Under the head of "Beds" we have another chapter, and it is

remarkable the amount of historic lore that is displayed in treating of

this subject; from the boxed-in press beds of the Norsemen, dating from

the time when each man had to provide for the security of his life when

asleep, the evolution of the stone graves is traced ; the dolmens, crom

lechs, and the kistvaens, being, in the opinion of the author, derived

from the idea of a bed compartment backed, walled, and roofed with

stones, a resting-place for the last sleep.

Rushlight lamps and lucifer matches have their history and begin

nings treated of in "Striking a Light," and in "Umbrellas" we are

brought back to the days of Xenophon. In the first paragraph in the chapter on "Dolls" we are introduced

to a child's doll of the prehistoric period. In the article under the title of " The Gallows," we see how the execution on the wheel was, in its

original conception, a sacrifice to the sun.

The chapter on "Hats" is suggestive, and that on "Raising the

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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 435

Hat" shows how customs are allowed to pass without any idea as to

their meaning. In the chapter dealing with "Gables" of Houses, the author says,

that the balls so frequently seen on the apices of 17th-century buildings are the survival of the custom of placing felons' heads on prominent parts of the houses of feudal chiefs who, probably, exercised capital jurisdic tion. The introduction of human heads, as well as the heads of beasts, into prominent architectural features, as in arches, frieze, and other

parts, belongs to more remote periods, and the ball-like terminations

referred to are rather referable to the development of the ornament of

the Renaissance period, which was used alike in stone and wood, both

internally and externally.

The Chronology of Mediaeval and Renaissance Architecture : a Date-book

of Architectural Art, from the building of the Ancient Basilica of St. Peter's at Rome to the Consecration of the present Church. By J. Tavenor Perry, Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

(London: John Murray, 1893.)

This is a work of much interest to the Archaeologist, and it meets a distinct demand for a complete handbook of architectural chronology. The periods which it comprises are those of the greatest activity the world has witnessed in architecture and the kindred arts, embracing, as

they do, the whole history of the Gothic Schools from their rise upon the ruins of Imperial Rome to their decadence under the revival of the

ancient classical forms in the Renaissance. The volume is uniform with

Fergusson's Architectural Handbooks, and is intended to form one of the Series.

In the opening chapter there is an introductory Synoptical Table,

showing the characteristics which distinguish each of the periods of

Western architectural art from the decay of the classical styles until the Renaissance. From a.d. 300 to 500, imitations of older Roman forms, in

which the cornice and the column were the features chiefly used, and

the arch and dome were essentials in construction, and it is remarked

by the author that a large proportion of the buildings were erected from

the remains of older edifices.

From 500 to 800 the columns are applied to construction rather than

ornament; the arches become of increased importance, and are grouped in

arcades.

In the period from 800 to 1000 the imitations of older forms continue in a lesser degree, and the Lombardic and Byzantine Schools appear.

Arches are used in arcading and panelling as ornamental accessories, but

the cornice is used only as a string course, while the columns are replaced

by built piers, or are used as angle shafts or for ornamental purposes.

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