December 22, 192 1] 



NATURE 



549 



tion with the movements of historical times, explains 



(the well-known features of the present-day popu- 

 lation. 



In declaring the subject open for discussion the 

 president, Lord Abercromby, referred to the high per- 

 centage of broad-headedness found in the Island of 

 Borreby, and expressed a doubt as to whether, at any 

 rate in very earlj' times, immigrants into these islands 

 had used the direct route across the North Sea. 



Dr. J. F. Tocher dealt mainly with the modern in-, 

 habitants of Scotland. In the course of his investiga- 

 tions of the physical character of the Scottish people 

 he had made observations on some 13,000 individuals 

 in all, the data obtained including head measurement, 

 stature, and pigmentation. He had found the average 

 stature to be (y~\ in. The cephalic index showed wide 

 variation, the inhabitants of the north-east being 

 broad-headed and of the south-west long-headed. In 

 absolute size the Aberdeen head was less than that of 

 the rest of Scotland. In the north-east there was a 

 significantly greater proportion of red hair. Speak- 

 ing generally, he deprecated any conclusion as to the 

 origin of the Scottish people based upon physical 

 character on the ground of the relative paucit}- of the 

 data. 



Prof. R. W. Reid said that as a result of a number 

 of obser\"ations made upon the inhabitants of North- 

 East Moray, it appeared that the average stature was 

 5 ft. 75 in., while the head form was mesaticephalic, 

 approaching broad. They were almost identical with 

 the young men of Norway. An examination of 

 skeletal remains of the short cist people, approxi- 

 mately from the same tract of country, gave a stature 

 of 5 ft. 4 in., with a cephalic index of 85. It might 

 be agreed that a combination of long and broad heads 

 afforded a clue to the physical characters of the 

 people of this part of Scotland. 



Prof. Jehu said that man existed in Scotland at the 

 time of the formation of the 45-ft. raised beach, for 

 which the accepted date was 10,000 vears ago. while in 

 southern England Neolithic implements had been 

 found in the submerged forest. When man entered 

 Scotland the Highland valleys were filled with ice. 

 Owing to lack of evidence, it was dangerous to speak 

 of the physical characters of the "harpoon " folk. 

 There were no data to show thev came from Scan- 



dinavia. The Scottish people were a very mixed race, 

 and more evidence was needed before any conclusion 

 was drawn as to their origin. 



In a communication from Prof. W. S. Watson, 

 who was unable to attend on account of illness, it 

 was argued that, although language was no criterion 

 of race, it afforded evidence of influence, political, 

 cultural, or economic. It was possible to trace the 



' Celtic language in Scotland with certainty back to the 

 fourth century B.C. The chiefs are described as uni- 

 formly fair-haired with blue eyes, like the rulers of 

 Gaul in Caesar's time, and as it by no means follows 

 that all the population was of one type, they probably 

 ruled over a dark-eyed subject people. Among non- 

 tribal names preserved in early writings there were 

 elements which well might be pre-Celtic. 



Mr. H. J. E. Peake took exception to the loose use 

 of the term "Nordic," which should be confined to 

 the tall, fair-complexioned, blue- or grey-eyed people, 

 whose chief characteristics were strength, courage, 

 activity, and an intense admiration for the horse. 

 Such a people were not likely to be descended from 

 a sedentary, maritime race such as the "harpoon" 

 folk, but must have been derived from a race which 

 had evolved in the open spaces necessary for the 



! taming and exercising of the horse. The Scottish 

 people had evolved from a generalised type of long- 

 headed people, but there was no true Nordic type 

 until the end of the Bronze age. The leaf-shaped 

 sword people had arrived on the east coast of Scot- 

 land about 1200 to 1000 B.C., and were in all prob- 

 abilitv the fair rulers to whom reference had been 

 made. He had already suggested a possible Siberian 

 origin for the "harpoon" or Maglemose folk, and 

 had also suggested that they were responsible for the 

 broad, possibly Mongoloid, element occurring amcMig 

 Scandinavian skulls. Still, they might be derived 

 from a Palaeolithic race in south-western Europe. 



Prof. Fleure urged the desirability of a careful 

 search, especially in the remoter parts of Scotland, 

 for nests of survivals of Palaeolithic types such as he 

 had found in Wales. 



Mr. D. Mackenzie pointed out the necessity fw 

 distinguishing between the Maglemose and Azilian 

 harpoons, the former being of bone, while the latter 

 were of horn. 



An Agricultural Enterprise. 



A N interesting and important development is re- 

 ■'*- corded in the report under notice.* The 

 Olympia Agricultural Co., Ltd., is a comparativelv 

 recent enterprise which is farming nearly 10,000 acres 

 of land on strictly business principles, one of the 

 first examples of the application of industrial methods 

 to the exploitation of land in this country. The com- 

 pany's land lies in six estates, and, in addition, the 

 Suffolk estate of the chairman of the company, Mr. 

 Joseph Watson, amounting to some 7000 acres, is 

 linked up with the operations of the research depart- 

 ment. It is not possible here to discuss the actual 

 operations of the company in equipping its estates, 

 the additions to and reconstructions of the buildings 

 in order to fit them for large-scale farming, the pro- 

 vision of cottages, water-supply, etc., nor, again, the 

 stocking and management of "the farms. From this 

 purelv cornmercial side it is evident that an experi- 

 ment is being made of extraordinary value in handling 

 English land in a wholesale instead of a retail fashion 



* O'ympia Ajricultural Co.. Ltd. 

 'Report, 1921. 



Research Departirent. First Annual 



NO. 2721, VOL. 108] 



and in providing for agriculture an organisation and 

 an equipment comparable to that appertaining to any 

 other great industry. It has often been thought that 

 in such a way only can intensive production and 

 adequate labour conditions be ensured in agriculture, 

 and the enterprise therefore becomes one of the utmost 

 importance in our social and national economy. 



The aspect of the enterprise that will, however, be 

 of the most interest to the readers of Nature is that 

 the directors have from the outset been convinced of 

 the necessity of scientific investigation in the conduct 

 of their business. They have, therefore, set up a 

 research department, just as a steel works includes 

 a laboratory-, and they have, further, been public- 

 spirited enough to give to the public for the general 

 benefit of agriculture the results of their investigations 

 in this first annual report. The headquarters of the 

 research department have been established on one of 

 the company's estates at Offchurch, near Leaming- 

 ton, where in the old mansion a ven,' complete equip- 

 ment of laboratories, both biological and chemical, 

 has been installed. Dr. Charles Crowther, formerly 



