February 2, 191 1] 



NATURE 



445 



the man whose teaching has just ended, but whose 

 life-work has only beg^un to run its course. Rewards 

 came to Francis Galton— medals, honorary degrees, 

 corresponding memberships of many learned societies 

 — they came unsought, but not unappreciated. His 

 very modesty made him take an almost childlike joy 

 in these recognitions of his worth, and the present 

 writer remembers with what pleasure, but a few weeks 

 ago, Galton showed him his recently received Copley 

 medal. But these things were not of the essence of 

 his life. Few men have worked so little for reputa- 

 tion and so much for the mere joy of discovering the 

 truth. His three chief pleasures in life were first to 

 discover a problem, secondly to solve it bv a simple 

 but adequate process, and thirdly to tell a congenial 

 friend of the problem and its solution. What he 

 cared chiefly for was the sympathy of men who appre- 

 ciated his special type of work and understood its 

 relation to human progress. Had he spoken of him- 

 self and his feelings, which he rarely did, he would, we 

 think, have described his purpose in life much in the 

 words of Huxley : — 



'To promote the increase of natural knowledge, 

 and to further the application of scientific methods 

 of investigation to all the problems of life to the best 

 of my ability, in the conviction which has grown 

 with my growth and strengthened with my strength, 

 that there is no alleviation for the sufferings of man- 

 kind except veracity of thought and action, and the 

 resolute facing of the world as it is when the garment 

 of make-belief, by which pious hands have hidden its 

 uglier features, is stripped off." 



But in Uie fulfilment of his purpose Francis Galton 

 was an optimist. He believed that man can not 

 only physically control his environment, but with fuller 

 biological knowledge his future development. Not on 

 this or that contribution to the records of science, but 

 on the justification of this belief, will depend his fame 

 in the roll of the ages. There are some of us who 

 believe that among the great names cited at the com- 

 mencement of this paper, Galton 's will not be the last, 

 for he has given an inspiration which will grow to full 

 fruition. Our country- has been the land of dominant 

 scientific ideas rather than of massive contributions to 

 the records of science — gravitation, the survival of the 

 fitter, the electromagnetic theory- — may we yet add — 

 the biological control of human development? If so, 

 the name of Francis Galton will be closely associated 

 with the coping-stone of the edifice, which had its 

 foundations first securely laid by his half-cousin, 

 Charles Darwm. 



MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS AND PRE- 

 HISTORIC CULTURE IN THE WESTERN 

 MEDITERRANEAN.^ 



A MONG the many questions to which the atten- 

 -^*' tion of the British School at Rome is now 

 directed none is of more interest and importance than 

 the exploration of the megalithic remains and primi- 

 tive culture of the western Mediterranean which is 

 now in progress. 



Sardinia, much the, most promising field of study, 

 is in the hands of Dr. Mackenzie, the value of whose 

 report is greatly increased by the admirable plans pre- 

 pared by Mr. F. G. Newton. First among these 

 remains come the Nuraghe or fortified towers, of 

 which more than one type has been identified. The 

 most primitive form is perhaps the simple strong 

 tower of circular shape, to which succeeded the tvpe 



1 " Papers of th- BritisS School at Rome," Vol. v. Pp. xiv+471+47 

 plates. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1910.) Price 42J. net. 



NO. 2153, VOL. 85] 



represented by that of Voes, a massive triangular 

 building, having four circular chambers on ihe ground 

 floor and a central unroofed courtyard opening mto a 

 massively constructed corridor leading to smaller 

 inner rooms. Above this was a second storey, now 

 ruined, which may have formed the living part of 

 the house and the abode of the women, while the 

 lower floor was occupied partly by guards and at- 

 tendants and partly used as storehouses. These forms 

 soon develop into more complex types, until we reach 

 an elaborately fortified enciente with massive corner 

 towers, like that of Nossia. Dr. Mackenzie reason- 

 ably suggests that in the Bronze age the lords of 

 these Nuraghe may have possessed only limited 

 sovereignty, and that these elaborate fortifications 

 were designed in the event of incursions by the neigh- 

 bouring local chiefs. 



The chief interest of the report lies in the fact that 

 for the first time a seriation of the dolmens is 

 attempted, and that these are now brought into rela- 

 tion with the Nuraghe. First comes the dolmen in 

 its primitive form, familiar in western Europe — a 

 massive slab resting on upright supports and forming 

 a rude chamber. The next stage is illustrated by the 

 monument at Maone, which, instead of being a mere 

 cella with vertical supports, is partly hewn into the 

 sloping rock, partly built up with rough coursed 

 masonry, on the top of which rests the cover-slab. 

 Then comes the form, represented by the dolmen of 

 Su Covecco, which is on the ^^oint of being elongated 

 and becoming a so-called "Giants' Tomb." In the 

 latter the apse-like arrangement persists, but the 

 cella and well of the enclosure are much extended, 

 and exhibit a whole series of cover-slabs instead of 

 the single massive stone in the primitive dolmen t}pe. 

 The structure thus often simulates the form of an 

 inverted boat, like the Naveta tombs of the Balearic 

 Islands, which gained their name from this fact. 

 They were perhaps designed to symbolise the boat 

 which conveyed the souls of the people, immigrants 

 from beyond the sea, to a place of rest across the 

 ocean. But the original dolmen t}pe seems to have 

 survived into this later period, and in one case the 

 tomb is provided with a secret entrance, which 

 may have been intended for subsequent interments, 

 while the smaller portal hole in the front was re- 

 served for the periodical rites in honour of the ancestral 

 spirits. 



Mr. Peet's report on the prehistoric period in Malta 

 is mainly devoted to a criticism of the views of Albert 

 Mayr, who regarded the culture of prehistoric Malta 

 as mainly /Egean. Mr. Peet, dealing in succession 

 with the arguments based on the use of overlapping 

 or splayed masonry, the occurrence of the spiral form 

 of ornament, and the baet\iic or pillar worship, points 

 out that none of these have special .^gean or 

 Mycenaean provenience, and while not denving the 

 existence of ^gean culture in Malta, he regards it 

 impossible to attribute all that appears in the island 

 to this source. 



It may be hoped that the establishment of a new- 

 society- for the promotion of Roman studies will give 

 a fresh impetus and supply increased resources for 

 the sur\-ey which has been so well started by Dr. 

 Mackenzie and Mr. Peet. 



THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS. 



'T' O La Nature for December 11, iqto, M. Lucien 

 -•■ Fournier contributes a well illustrated article on the 

 flight of birds. One of the pictures, showing various 

 positions taken by the wings of gulls in flight, is here 

 reproduced. Three other of the illustrations, namely 



