THE MASARWAS AND THEIR LANGUAGE. 225 



is quite in keeping with many other Bushmen dialects, and is an 

 essentially primitive characteristic in most languages. Adverbs, 

 prepositions and conjunctions exist, though to a much smaller 

 degree than in other languages. 



On the whole, a comparison of the language of the Ma- 

 sarwas with other I^)Ushman dialects as given by Muller and 

 Planert shows a greater or lesser degree of resemblance between 

 them, and emphasizes the fact that they all belong to one distinct 

 family of languages, but that they have diverged so widely as to 

 be considered independent languages rather than dialects of one 

 language. The same remark applies to the relation of Namaqua 

 to Sesarwa, and to most other Bushman dialects. I have derived 

 much help from Planert's article on the " Language of the Hot- 

 tentots and Bushmen," in the Proceedings of the Berlin Oriental 

 Seminary. He has brought together many striking facts, show- 

 ing the relation, near and remote, between the various Hottentot 

 and Bushman languages. From these facts it can be inferred 

 that Plottentot and Bushmen had a common ancestral language, 

 of which the various Bushman types are the more primitive on 

 the whole, with certain exceptions of which Sesarwa is one, and 

 that Hottentot has advanced further in the stage of develop- 

 ment. Sesarwa may be said to have nearly reached in some 

 respects the stage of grammatical evolution that Namaqua has. 



Colours of Iodine Solutions.— Recent investiga- 

 tions b\' J. Amann have shown that the violet solutions of iodine 

 rarely contain ultramicroscopic micellae, which, however, abound 

 in the brown solutions. This, he holds, establishes the polymeri'^a- 

 tion of iodine. 



Canadium— A New Element.— Mr. A. G. French, 

 in the Chemical Nczvs (V^ol. T04, p. 283) describes what is claimed 

 to be a new element, probably of the platinum group, discovered 

 by him in British Columbia. The metal, which the discoverer 

 has named Canadium, occurs in metallic grains and scales along 

 with other platinum metals in igneous dykes in the granite. It 

 is white and lustrous, softer than platinum, ruthenium and os- 

 mium : it is easily melted by the blowpipe, dissolves in nitric 

 acid, 1>ut is not precipitated by soluble chlorides. It is not acted 

 on either by damp air or by sulphuretted hydrogen. From its 

 soilution in nitric acid it may be precipitated by zinc, from which 

 it m.ay be collected and cupelled with lead. The discoverer 

 expects it to replace palladium for search-light mirrors, as it is 

 more brilliant than the latter metal and easier to work: it is also 

 expected to be adapted for use in articles of jewellery as a setting 

 for diamonds. 



