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Sir F. Galton, F.R.S., pleads for the study in the interests of anthropological science. He says "nearly every individual is notable for some peculi arity of mind or disposition, and in some few persons the sanguine, melancholic, nervous, or lymphatic temperament is well marked. All such peculiarities should be noted, as they are strongly hereditary, and may throw much light on the faculties of the family. Moreover the study of them is peculiarly attractive."

This study is rendered difficult by the circumstance that the usual manifestations of the temperaments are so often modified by the conditions of life. "In business pursuits," says Alexander Stewart, "the sanguine man finds that he must curb his impetuosity and pursue business much as the cool-headed bilious man does. The lymphatic man has to bestir himself, and telegrams and messengers waiting reply on business of importance compel the man of nervous temperament to put aside his doubts and act promptly."* Also Froude says to the same purpose in his essays, "Every one of the many professions has a personal character of its own, which, with rare exceptions, it inflicts on those who follow it. There is the shopkeeper type, the manufacturing type, the medical type, the lawyer type, the soldiers', the sailors'. The nature of

man is,

"Like the dyer's hand,

Subdued to what it works in,"

and we can distinguish with ease on the slightest intercourse to what class a grown person belongs; *Our Temperaments,"

it is seen in his look, in his words, in his tone of thought; his voice, gesture, and everything he does." In addition to this passive modification of temperament by surrounding influences, it may be affected by conscious intention, in which the first

step

is the development of the inhibitory powers. It may safely be asserted that the intelligent cultivation of the will, and the deliberate training of self-control, steadily continued of course after the close of school life, would be the most effective means of checking the steadily increasing tendency towards insanity in all degrees which is so deplorably manifest in our own day. The human mind is the region of civil war between the upward tending and downward tending forces of man's higher and lower natures. Under these circumstances, if he is to save himself from wreck and disaster he must make his will supreme.

We ought to extend our sympathy to, and make abundant allowances for, all persons imprisoned as it were within the framework of temperament and struggling to be free; and especially with children and young people. How often is the child misunderstood and made to suffer by well-meaning but ignorant adults! The temperament of some children is so placid that they easily accommodate themselves to the ever-changing circumstances of life, taking everything as they find it; they grow up without giving a jar to the nerves of their friends or receiving one themselves. There are others of a more nervous temperament, in whom logic and idealism rapidly develop to a far higher degree than is generally realised, and they experience severe

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shocks as they are roughly and repeatedly wakened from their dream world of purity and bliss to the ugly realities of life. We are apt to forget in our benumbed sensibility how life looks to the quick and eager little soul with the inquiring eyes, and do not guess that in the intervals of questioning a wonderful summing up is being conducted, and a verdict given. The spirituality of Christianity is understood by such a child in a moment, and breathed as native air; and then follows that surprise with its keen reproach when the contrast with real life is perceived. These natures need very careful training so that their brightness is not dulled, nor their sensibility too deeply wounded, nor their intelligence outraged by evasive explanations. This delicate task seems to be peculiarly the high function of a wise and loving mother.

PLACE NAMES IN AND AROUND ROME, LATIUM, ETRURIA, BRITAIN, ETC., WITH EARTHWORKS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART ILLUSTRATING SUCH NAMES.

BY DR. PHENÉ, LL.D., F.S.A., F.R.G.S., F.R.I.B.A.

[Read January 12th, 1898.]

IN a delightful ramble on the Apennines I had wandered too long, and finding myself short of time I looked for some signs of approach to the mountain village I was bound to, which with its grey tower-like houses, their brilliant colours being made grey from lying between me and the sun, cut sharply against the sky.

The place lay to the south, and the paved road I was walking on was leading eastward.

I was pleased, therefore, to see a narrow paved way on my right, which led me to think it was a peasant's path and a shorter journey.

Charmed with the flowers and the wildness of the scene, I walked on it, till I was surprised at seeing my shadow on the path before me. I had started facing the sun, which I often consult as

VOL. XX.

4

watch and compass, for it is dangerous to take any article of ornament or of value on these mountain wanderings. I saw I had lost time and was going in the wrong direction. I was too far on my way to go back to the broader paved road I had left. There was the choice of going as the crow flies, and perhaps meeting with swamps and precipices, or following the narrow footpath which might lead me to another place of rest. As I followed it, I found myself facing the sun again.

There was nothing to show why the road had turned, but as I went on my way I remembered that on a former occasion, years before, the same thing had happened to me in a ramble in Hertfordshire. I could make nothing of it, nor could I arrive at a conclusion as to the cause till some years later the same thing took place in the far west of Ireland. This last gave me the clue. In Glen Columkil, in Donegal, the paths, in a long circuit, turn quite round and then back again; but the reason was clear. In each of the almost complete circles stood an upright stone, no doubt originally an object of worship. These stones had been carved with Christian emblems, the cross being the chief; but I felt sure, on examining them, that such work was later than the placing of the stones, as the carving had clearly been done while the stones were erect, and not prior to their erection. I had found such a stone in Brittany, carved in the form of a serpent.

The part of Donegal referred to is distinguished by the most graphic legends of serpents or serpent worshippers, and the sinuosities of the paths

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