24 proceedings: anthropological society 



with the name Belgium, the speaker explained the duality of languages 

 in Belgium and the ethnic differences between the users of the two 

 tongues. 



Immediately prior to the present European war one-tenth of the 

 entire population of Belgium were housed in dwellings which, on easy 

 terms, had become or were becoming the property of the occupants. 

 Thirty-five per cent of the people had accounts in the savings banks 

 and 49 per cent of the inhabitants, male and female, worked at regular 

 callings. Statistics were given to show the thrift of the people, the 

 fertility of the soil, the extent of their foreign trade, and the variety 

 and magnitude of their industries. On each square mile there were 

 598 inhabitants, and for each inhabitant the railroads annually carried 

 merchandise having a value of $145 as compared with Germany's per 

 capita of S60, and $30 for the United States. 



Considerable attention was given to the agricultural commissions 

 — a sort of university extension — which brings to the farmers of the 

 country speakers who tell of recent discoveries and improvements in 

 agriculture that would be of value to the people of each community. 

 To this wise provision can be ascribed a large part of the productivity 

 of Belgium. 



The profit-sharing dock laborers of Antwerp were described. It 

 was shown that the prosperity of that port was due to the efficiency 

 of its charging and discharging instrumentalities. 



The unique town of Gheel was fully described. In Gheel practically 

 every family cares for one or two feeble-minded persons under the 

 supervision of Government officials. If the family is unable to meet 

 the expense of this care it is borne by the state. 



The 516th meeting of the Society was held at the National Museum 

 on Tuesday, November 20, 1917, at 4.30 p.m. 



Mr. George Julian Zolnay addressed the Society on Roumania 

 and her -people, illustrating his subject by native music and by lantern 

 slides. 



Mr. Zolnay stated that, with the exception of the Roumanian Jews, 

 there are few natives of Roumania in the United States at the present 

 time, and of these a large majority are from Transylvania and the 

 Bukovina. This accounts for the dearth of accurate knowledge con- 

 cerning this picturesque country, wedged in between the Carpathian 

 mountains and the Black Sea. 



The history of Roumania began in 106 when Trajan conquered 

 Dacia, a country comprising the territory now known as Roumania. 

 At the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth* century the descendants 

 of the Roman soldiers and the Dacian women had become a distinct 

 nationality, speaking a slightly modified Latin which has remained 

 the language of the Roumanian people to the present day. The 

 established religion has remained that of the orthodox Greek Church, 

 although Roumania wds a vassal state of Turkey for more than 300 

 years. During the Russo-Turkish war Roumania regained her inde- 



