I t CURRENT LITERATURE
COMMUNICATION . HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED By Astley J. H. Goodwin
Mr. Goodwin, who is the lecturer in archaeology at Capetown University, covers a wide range in his scholarly book on the evolution of roads, wheeled vehicles, and nautical craft and signalling through the ages (Methuen, ios. 6d.). He scours the world, literally from China to Peru, for examples of early road- building, and his account of primitive boats made of reeds is aptly confirmed by reference to the similar boats that are used today on the lakes of Central Africa. The invention of the spoked wheel was epoch-making and is clearly described, but the author holds that the two- wheeled cart was employed for cere- monial or for war long before it was used in trade. He says, too, that, for lack of a swivel in the under-carriage, there was no practicable four-wheeled waggon until the sixteenth century. Mr. Goodwin's interesting chapter on " Sounds and Signals " is illustrated from his African experiences. He says that " the negro peoples are the great experts in develop- ing transmission by sound," and explains this by the fact that in their languages the tones are all-important. His book is, indeed, full of curious information.
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