Shells as Evidence of the Migrations of Early Culture. By
J. Wilfrid Jackson. (Longmans and Co. Cs. net.)—Mr. Jackson, of the Manchester Museum, has accumulated in this little volume much instructive evidence as to the geographical distribution of the shell-purple industry, and of the use of sholl-trumpets, of pearls, and of cowrie-sholls as currency. The famous Tyriain purple of the ancients was made, long before the days of Columbus, in Control America and the North-West of South America as well as in China and Japan. Professor Elliot. Smith agrees with the author in thinking that so laborious an industry as the preparation of this purple from shell-fish could not have boon invented in more than one district, and that its occurrence in Eastern Asia and America points to a migration from the Mediterranean. It is a plausible theory, but it is not proved.
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