Oct. 24, 1889] 



NATURE 



^11 



Latin, Greek, Celtic, and Teutonic peoples, as they had the same 

 name for the tree prior to their linguistic separation. The 

 Lithuanian and Slavonic tongues must have originated east of 

 this line, as their name of the beech is a loan-word from the Ger- 

 man. The early home of the beech seems to have been limited 

 to France, Central and Southern Germany, Northern Greece, 

 and Northern Italy. If, as has been contended, the cradle of the 

 European Aryans was in Central Asia, where the beech is unknown, 

 it is difficult to explain how the ancestors of Celts, Latins, Greeks, 

 and Teutons migrating, at diflferent times and by separate routes, 

 to lands where the beech abounds, should have called it by the 

 same name, modified in each case by the fundamental phonetic 

 laws of the various languages. It is easier to believe that the 

 cradle of the Aryans was, so to speak, astride of the beech line, the 

 ancestors of Celts, Latins, Greeks, and Germans living to the 

 west of it, and those of the Lithuanians and Slaves further to the 

 east. 



In a paper by Mr. Hyde Clarke, on the right of property 

 in trees on another's land, as an origin of rights of property, 

 the author stated that his attention was first called to the subject, 

 as a Land-judge or Commissioner in Asia Minor, in 1862, in 

 granting compensation for olive-trees belonging to one or more 

 individuals on the fields of others, and for honey-trees or hoards of 

 wild honey in State or Communal forests. The author had found 

 evidence as to the existence of the custom in Borneo, with regard 

 to Tapang or honey-trees, and in Chota Nagpore as to the 

 Mhowa, a tree furnishing food, spirit, oil, &c. In China a 

 lessee has the right to bamboo, &c., grown by him. The 

 practice in the Turkish Empire he found extended into the 

 European provinces, as applied to plum-trees in Bosnia. In 

 Ireland it was recognized in the Brehon Laws as an individual 

 property separate from tribal property. It is probable that the 

 personal right of the first discoverer of honey and similar trees 

 is to be regarded as the origin of an individual right of property 

 rather than any right in land, which is of no value in a primitive 

 community. Even cultivable land belonged to the community, 

 and was distributed by lot yearly. 



A paper by the Rev. J. Wilson, on an hypothesis of a 

 European origin of early Egyptian art, was also read. 



On Monday, September 16, Dr. Garson exhibited an anthropo- 

 metric instrument specially designed for the use of travellers. 

 This instrument occupies very little space, and its weight is 

 scarcely more than that of a detective camera. It can be used 

 for taking all measurements of length and diameter with ease 

 and accuracy. 



Mr. Francis Gallon, F.R.S., exhibited an instrument for 

 measuring the reaction time to sight and sound signals, and ex- 

 plained that they heard much about the quickness of hand and 

 eye. When anyone saw or heard a thing he made a movement, 

 and between the sight and the movement many physiological 

 processes took place so quickly that the flash of lightning was 

 nothing to it. The instrument he exhibited was intended to 

 make an accurate measurement of the time which elapsed between 

 the seeing or hearing of anything and the time occupied in 

 making a certain movement afterwards. 



Dr. Thomas Wilson gave an account of the Smithsonian 

 Institution in the United States of America, and its work relating 

 to anthropology. 



In a paper by Dr. MacLaurin, on the British race in Australia, 

 the author said that he did not think there was any distinct type 

 of configuration in the Australian-born inhabitant which was 

 sufficient to distinguish him from the ordinary Englishman, 

 Scotchman, or Irishman. The muscular vigour of the British 

 Australian race could be estimated by the readiness with which it 

 entered into athletic exercises, and .the result of this had been 

 evident in the number of sculling champions and cricket teams 

 that had recently visited this country- The population was in- 

 creasing through the excess of births over deaths, which showed 

 that the vitality of the race had not been diminished by trans- 

 plantation to Australia. 



Mr. H. H. Risley next read a paper on the study of ethnology 

 in India. It was shown that the population of Northern India 

 comprised three distinct types, viz, : — (i) A leptorhine dolicho- 

 cephalic type of tall stature, fair complexion, and high facial 

 angle, apparently corresponding in all points, except hair and 

 complexion, with the Aryan type as defined by Herr Karl Penka, 

 of Vienna. (2) A platyrhine dolichocephalic type of low stature, 

 black or very dark complexion, and low facial angle. The wider 

 racial affinities of this type are uncertain, and it is tentatively 

 and conjecturally described as Australioid. (3) A mesorhine, 



platyopic, brachycephalic type of low stature, yellowish com- 

 plexion, and low facial angle, described, in virtue of its low 

 naso-malar index, as Mongoloid. The types thus worked out by 

 anthropometric methods were shown to correspond with certain 

 ethnographic groupings independently ascertained. In the 

 Aryan and Australioid types the social status of each caste or 

 tribe is found to vary inversely as its nasal index ; tribes with the 

 highest index having the lowest social rank, and vice versA. In 

 the brachycephalic group social status appears to vary with the 

 cephalic index. An attempt was made to deduce a theory of 

 the probable origin of caste, and also to account for the custom 

 of exogamy by the operation of the law of natural selection. 



Prof. A. C. Haddon read a paper on some former customs and 

 beliefs of the Torres Straits islanders. The natives of Torres 

 Straits are divided into two distinct tribes — the eastern tribe, 

 which inhabits Uga, Erub, and the Murray Islands ; and the 

 western tribe, which occupies all the remaining islands. The 

 islanders were divided into clans, each clan having some animal 

 for its totem, such as the dugong, turtle, dog, cassowary, snake,, 

 shark, &c. The women used to have a representation of their 

 totem cut on the small of the back. In the western tribe the 

 lads on entering into manhood underwent a month's isolation in 

 the bush. In the eastern tribe two elaborate ceremonies at- 

 tended the initiation of the lads, but the discipline does not 

 appear to have been so severe as in the other tribe. It was the 

 custom in the western tribe for the women to ask the men in 

 marriage. On the other hand, in the eastern tribe the men pro- 

 posed to the women, and the women had to undergo a period 

 of partial seclusion previous to marriage. The eating of food 

 togetherwas a feature in marriage. Belief in sorcery was universal, 

 and all sickness and death were attributed to the charms of the 

 medicine-man. There were also rain and wind makers. 



Some observations on the natural colour of the skin in certain 

 Oriental races, by Dr. J. Beddoe, F. R.S., was read. The author 

 made numerous observations of this kind in the course of a voyage 

 round the world. In most cases he found the colour of the clothed 

 and protected body much lighter than is generally supposed. 

 The capacity to tan, or become darker by exposure, varies much : 

 thus the Melanesians are naturally lighter than the Australians> 

 but they burn much blacker. 



The following papers were contributed by Dr. R. W. 

 Felkin : the normal temperature of the Soudanese, Negroes, 

 and Europeans in Tropica! Africa ; and the diffisrences of sensi- 

 bility between Europeans and Negroes, and the effect of educatioa 

 in increasing the sensibility of Negroes. Some anthropological 

 notes collected by Mr. Edward Beardmore at Mowat, Daudai,. 

 New Guinea, were also read. 



On Tuesday, September 17, Dr. Fridtjof Nansen read a 

 paper on the Esquimaux. He said they were a race by them- 

 selves, and he did not think anthropologists agreed yet as to their 

 real origin. He thought that tradition showed the Esquimaux 

 really came from America. The Esquimaux of Greenland were 

 now divided into two classes — those on the west coast who had 

 been civilized by the Danes, and those on the east coast who 

 were uncivilized. Esquimaux were seen in the north in 1823, 

 The eastern Esquimaux had warmer clothes than the western 

 ones. The young girls wore their hair loose, but afterwards 

 they put it up in a knot at the top of the head, as a sign that 

 they were ready for marriage. The Esquimaux, as a rule, lived 

 in small tribes, and as many as ten families often lived in one 

 hut. The Esquimaux had no written laws, but they had un- 

 written laws, which were kept strictly. The head of the house 

 and the chief of the tribe was the best catcher of seals. As to 

 property, they did not really know that word. No man had 

 anything for himself, and any seals caught were divided between 

 the families. They did not steal from each other, but they 

 liked to steal from Europeans, Murder was not uncommon 

 amongst the Esquimaux, and the punishment was really nothing 

 at all. The men married as soon as they could catch sufficient 

 seals to provide for a wife. Near relations, such as cousins, 

 never married. On the east coast some men had two wives, the 

 reason being that one wife could not prepare all the seals they 

 caught. The children were not punished. Weak and deformed 

 children, and those who lost their mothers, were as a rule thrown 

 outside the house or into the sea. Old people, who were ill, 

 were often thrown into the sea. He thought the time would, 

 come when the Esquimaux would be extinct. 



The Rev. G, Rome Hall read a paper on Northumberland 

 in prehistoric times. On the east coast of England no trace of 

 the Cave- men had as yet been found further north than Norfolk. 



