February i, 19 12] 



NATURE 



451 



(umbilical cord, serves as an attachment for the spirit, 

 which is en rapport with them. 



The polity and government of the Baganda was a 

 very perfect form of that kind of feudal monarchy 

 which is frequent in Africa. The description of this 

 system, and particularly of the functions of the King, 

 forms the dominant feature of Mr. Roscoe's book. 

 It is a remarkable chapter in political evolution. 



The royal family is distinguished by a straighter 

 nose and less protruding' lips. Its descent is 

 traced back, along with the history of the 

 people, for thirty-two generations, about a 

 thousand years, to the first monarch, Kintu, who 

 made the Baganda a nation. Oral history of this 

 type is a very real thing, transcending time and space 

 more efficiently than written records, and probably 

 avoiding many errors inseparable from literature. 

 The other great landmark of Uganda history is the 

 reign of King Mutesa in the middle of last century. 

 Mutesa was a broad-minded and far-seeing ruler. He 

 initiated liberal reforms, and broke away from the 

 previous policy of isolation. It was by him that 

 Speke was welcomed in 1861, and Stanley in 1875. 

 Through the latter 's representations Christian mis- 

 sionaries were admitted. But Mutesa also welcomed 

 the Arabs. After his death there was a struggle 

 between the Christian and Muhammadan parties for 

 the succession to the throne, which was ended by 

 the British Protectorate. 



The succession, it may be noted, is hereditary, but 

 n committee of chiefs selects and appoints one of the 

 princes. There is much that is equally logical among 

 the rights and duties as between king and chiefs and 

 •clans. Take away from the states of mediaeval 

 Europe their Greco-Roman culture and inheritance, 

 and you have a civilisation little, if at all, more 

 advanced, both politically, socially, and industrially, 

 than that reached independently by the Baganda. The 

 king is invested at the coronation by "the King's 

 Father." The "Father" saj's to him: "You are 

 king. Rule over your people well, and always do 

 what is right." The king answers : " I agree to do 

 so." " Always give just judgment." " I will." Side 

 by side with this is the curious custom of killing men 

 so that their lives may invigorate the king. But such 

 atrocities, though differing in intention, have actually 

 been more common in Europe. 



Mr. Roscoe has lived with the natives for twenty- 

 five years. He not only knows their character and 

 ■customs, but has studied them as an anthropologist. 

 His book is full of new and important facts which 

 only scientific insight could have unearthed. Both the 

 ethnologist and the constructive sociologist will find 

 it the most significant and valuable study of a native 

 race that has appeared since "The Northern Tribes 

 of Central Australia." Nor must the author's human 

 quality go without mention. There is an indefinable 

 atmosphere of sympathy permeating his pages, the 

 result of which is that the people as he describes them 

 are a living reality. A. E. Crawi.ev. 



THE EVOLUTION OF AH AEROPLANE.' 

 13 E.\DERS of the first two numbers of the twenty- 

 -^^ seventh volume of "Smithsonian Contributions 

 to Knowledge," who have not forgotten the pleasure 

 they derived from the study of Dr. S. P. Langley's 

 work in aerodynamics, will welcome the publication 

 of this third number, on mechanical flight. While 

 experimental aerodynamics and the theoretical study 

 of flight respectively may form the sole subject of an 



' Sinitlisonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. xxvii., No. 3 : " Lanjtley 

 Memoir on Mechanical Flight." I'art i., 1887 to iPq6. By .S'. P. Langley. 

 Kdited by (?. M. Manly. Partii., tSp; to iqo^. By C.;M. Manly. Pp. xi f 

 (Washington : Smithsonian Institution, 191 1.) 



investigation, the successful flight of models and of 

 full-scale machines cannot be attained without both 

 the guide of theory and the possession of accurate 

 numerical data gathered by means of careful experi- 

 ments. Appeal to nature is even necessary to obtain, 

 through the observations of bird flight, some starting 

 point in a line of research by trial and error that 

 cannot be struck at random. For this reason the 

 pursuit of success in actual flight is the most com- 

 prehensive branch of the science of aviation, and it 



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will be enough to say that the work before us deals 

 with the history of Dr. Langley's cfl"orts to realise 

 artificial flight to convey the impression that the 

 account put before us is pregnant with details of the 

 utmost interest to men of science and to non-technical 

 readers alike. ^ 



Those indeed who have appreciated Dr. Langley s 

 indomitable perseverance in overcoming the ever- 

 recurring obstacles that stand in the way of any experi- 



No. 2205, VOL. 88] 



