April 20, 191 1] 



NATURE 



251 



India to worlc on the tea gardens. The population under 

 his care amounted to about 25,000, consisting of many 

 races from widely different parts and climates of India, 

 scattered over a large extent of country in settlements, each 

 containing about 2000 inhabitants. The part of Assam in 

 which Dr. Gregorson laboured has a climate admirably 

 suited for the spread of malaria and ankylostomiasis, which, 

 along with cholera and dysentery, were the chief diseases 

 he had to combat. His work was carried on under very 

 considerable difficulties in regard to the extent of country 

 to be traversed and number of cases to be seen and treated, 

 but he dealt with the various problems presented in a 

 vigorous and effective manner. His success was evidenced 

 by the respect in which he was held throughout the 

 district, and by his having been invited to sit on a Govern- 

 ment commission to inquire into the conditions at a garden 

 where the death-rate had been exceptionally high. 



The Secretary for Scotland has appointed the following 

 to be a committee to consider and report on certain ques- 

 tions relating to forestry in Scotland, viz. : — Sir John 

 Stirling-Maxwell, Bart, (chairman), the Right Hon. Lord 

 Lovat, C.B., K.C.V.O., the Right Hon. R. C. Munro- 

 Ferguson, M.P., Mr. John D. Sutherland, Sir John 

 Fleming, Sir Matthew Wallace, and Mr. R. H. N. Sellar. 

 Mr. H. Warre Cornish, Dover House, Whitehall, S.W., 

 will act as secretary to the committee. The terms of the 

 reference to the committee are as follows : — " To report 

 as to the selection of a suitable location for a demonstra- 

 tion forest area in Scotland ; the uses, present and pro- 

 spective, to which such area may be put (including the use 

 that may be made of it by the various forestry teaching 

 centres in Scotland) ; the staff and equipment required for 

 successful working ; the probable cost ; and the most suit- 

 able form of management. To report as to any further 

 steps following upon the acquisition of the said area which, 

 in the opinion of the committee, it is desirable should 

 be taken with the view of promoting sylviculture in Scot- 

 land, due regard being had to the interests of other rural 

 industries." 



In T/ie National Geographic Magazine for February 

 Mrs. M. L. Oliver gives an interesting account of the 

 remarkable Snake Dance performed by the Hopi Indians 

 at the pueblo town of Oraibi, illustrated by a valuable 

 collection of photographs. This is one of the fertility rites 

 fully described by Prof. J. G. Frazer in the last edition 

 of his " Golden Bough," the legends indicating that the 

 snakes, the progenitors of the tribe, are conciliated as 

 representing the earth spirits. The dance is performed by 

 members of the Antelope <lnn ami by the Snake priests. 

 The latter dance with livi- rattl<■'^llakes in their mouths, 

 and these at the close of the rite are released at ilv four 

 points of the compass to wander where they please in the 

 desert. Tli- dam • i^ followed by ceremonial alilution and 

 the liberal u.-" of a powerful emetic to remove the taboo 

 from the ofticiants. 



'//)(■ >-i ' ;:,',(/; Mn<, 11)11 joiiniiii, (if wiiicli \h<- fir^l nunilier 



wa-, i--ii-! ill |-'.l,i wai\' la-~l, niake^ a <j;<)(u\ -.lail willl a 



ciilleit ioi, I I iiilei. --I Imj^ papei.s de^criiiiiii^'- the re^niii-ei'^ and 



lieiiple (,| \]],- Slal-. in llie <lii!ifiliiL;'i al Holes we I'lml a 



full a('couiit of ihi- r>inai-kali' ;''|ii;4 -.iipei'stil ion 



which i- lui'i'^iil anioiiL; ihe - i ^ ancj pail icularh' 



anioni; llio~e iiahf-, v/hieh are liirlhe^i reniovcd from 



(i\ili-ai;:: I. 'ihe 1 -L^end-- of ils ori;4in are noi nniform. 



( )ne lli,,I a t^aeal >nake onee desaslaled the 



iaiid, !, -piril amiounceil thai aiu'one who suc- 



'il;_;U" would e;iiii llle hei'rilil ai-\- laruh \ 



' : ■ ., i ■,. I ■ pam;, Ihal is lo -a\. a per-oii wdiose 



N< I. 2 I ()4. \'< iL. S(^ I 



head possessed the power of leaving its body, and after 

 working mischief during the night, could return to its 

 owner in the morning. Hence all kinds of evil are attri- 

 buted to such people, who are rigorously excluded from 

 intercourse with their neighbours ; and every paddy farm 

 must be carefully guarded with charms, which contain 

 sharp bamboo spikes intended to pierce the face and eyes 

 of any of the Tau Tepang community who may attempt to 

 injure the crops. 



Franz de Zeltner gives in L'Anthropologie (tome 

 xxii., p. i) an illustrated account of some caves containing 

 mural paintings which he has discovered in the French 

 Sudan, near Bamako, Boko, Eoudoufo, and Kita. They 

 occur near the entrance of rock shelters, so that no arti- 

 ficial light was needed to make them ; the colours employed 

 are yellow ochre, red, indigo blue, black, white, and rarely 

 pink ; they were laid on with the fingers, as there are no 

 brush marks, and there is no evidence that grease was 

 used in mixing the colours. He found only eight realistic 

 figures, and these occur in only one shelter ; everywhere 

 geometric designs predominate. The conventional repre- 

 sentations of man and animals recall the rock engravings 

 of Sahara and Egypt. There is no correlation between the 

 different signs, and their grouping appears to be quite 

 haphazard. The author does not believe that the caves 

 ever were dwelling-places, and he definitely rejects the 

 hypothesis of a magical and totemic origin of the painting ; 

 indeed, he states that " nothing in the traditions or actual 

 life of the blacks confirms it, quite the contrary, since the 

 representation of their protecting animal is forbidden to 

 them as well as contact with it." New discoveries are 

 recorded of rock pictographs in Aragon and Estremadura 

 {V Anthropologic, loc. cit., p. 119). At present only a 

 preliminary survey has been made ; the paintings appear to 

 correspond with the later phases of palaeolithic decorative 

 art, indeed, many of them recall the conventional designs 

 of Mas d'Azil, which mark the decadence of the great art 

 of paLxolithic times. No traces were found of a neolithic 

 or any subsequent period. 



Prof. Piii smin lonirihviies an interesting paper to the 

 current number of The Psychological Review on the 

 place of movement in consciousness. In America, the 

 modern tendency to explain mental processes in terms of 

 movement may be said to have begun with James's well- 

 known theory of the emotions. It has since been extended 

 by Dewey and his school, and has been lately utilised to 

 give impetus to pragmatism in philosophy. Space, even 

 from the time of Berkeley, has received a motor inter- 

 pretation. Time and rhythm have also been referred to 

 movement. I'-vei nienmries have been explained as a 

 reinstatement of past movements, and the next logical 

 step would be, as Prof. Piilsbury points out, to suggest 

 that the true i|ualitv of sensation is motor. " All ihat i- 

 necessary i- to as-unie that each sense organ is lomi ■. led 

 with delinile musejes, iliat these nuixles are exiiied when- 

 ,.v,.r lite sMise nT-aii is stimiilaled, and llial l!ie colour Or 

 tones tlial we see or hear Imve their orieiu in se;; ■ >..;. 



of musides ralhei than in a sense 01-aii or in th 

 •piir anilior points ont thai nothing is e.iin,.(l i.\ >ii. h 

 if u-e hold the eiirren; \iew thai niovenienl- 

 ,re onl\- known ihronLdi siiisa;'' 



>t" rel-ent e\])eriine|lls (.a the I!; 



livine man. wnieh show that the motor impuK- , ,^;..,ai- 

 aline froai the nmlor eorte\ (onirihiil- m>thinj^ d:i>e;!y lo 

 ,.ii,,. ' •■ (.lanted that ine,\-ein,.nts are on!\- known 



),v :' ', ■■'■ sriisat ions, ■,,, lran~-lale all eonscious 



iHi.ii' <v terms neieU- iran-.tornis all other 



-,,Mi- ' into the <nie sense, aiul that a sense 



(■onee|)iion- 



ih.MllselV's 

 Ihe resnhs 



