I50 



NATURE 



[March 31, 192 1 



Dr. R. Karsten contributes to Acta Academiae 

 Aboensis, part i., an elaborate monograph entitled 

 "Contributions to the Sociology of the Indian Tribes 

 of Ecuador," divided into three parts, dealing with 

 agriculture, hunting and fishing, and birth customs 

 respectively. The last includes an account of the 

 magical practices intended to promote the growth 

 of the crops and modes of attracting animals and 

 fish. Many curious details are given regarding 

 birth customs. These are closely connected with 

 peculiar, but vague, ideas of conception and super- 

 natural birth. They do not, like the Arunta of Aus- 

 tralia, believe that conception is entirely due to spirit 

 influence, but they think that the influence of the 

 new moon is a potent cause. Monstrous or defective 

 children are the direct result of demoniacal opera- 

 tion, and the same belief extends to the birth of 

 twins, even where there is nothing abnormal in their 

 outer appearance. 



If the theory explained in a paper entitled 

 "Buddha's Diadem" by the eminent scholar Dr. 

 L. A. Waddell, and published in Ostasiatische ZeiU 

 schrift (iii., 2), be accepted, the current views of the 

 development of early Buddhism must be modified. 

 The popular view is that the deification of Buddha, 

 unknown to the orthodox primitive school, did not 

 prevail among the " Northern " school until the age 

 of Kanishka (ist century B.C. to 2nd century a.d.). It 

 is now shown that as early as the 4th or 3rd cen. 

 tury B.C. Buddha was invested with the attributes of 

 the supreme Brahman god N^rdyana — Vishnu. One 

 of the two chief conventional symbols of this god 

 was the supernatural diadem, now represented by 

 the curious protuberance of the skull in images of 

 Buddha, the prototype of which is the serpent- 

 hood of Varuna, the Vedic god of the firmament. By 

 the artists of the Gandhdra school Buddha was iden- 

 tified with Apollo, and the skull protuberance became 

 a symbol of divine wisdom, emitting flames which 

 become divine messengers. It was at a later time 

 conceived by Buddhists as the seat of the Dharani, 

 or magical protective spells. In short, the diadem 

 is the lineal descendant of a primeval cosmic ideo- 

 graph imported into ancient India from the West 

 long before the rise of Buddhism, expressing the 

 divinity in Nature's order,, or Law. The paper is 

 attractively written, and forms an important con- 

 tribution to the study of early Buddhism. 



Two recently published maps show some important 

 aspects of the distribution of population in Siberia. 

 They accompany an article in Petermanns Mit- 

 teilungen for December, 1920, by Dr. A. Schultz 

 entitled "Die Verteilung des Landbesitzes in Sibirien." 

 Of most interest is the location of the colonies of 

 free settlers from European Russia and the colonies 

 of Cossacks. The maps show clearly the small hold 

 in real settlement that Russia has on the rich lands 

 of eastern Siberia, especially the Amur and Ussuri 

 valleys. They illustrate also the strong predomin- 

 ance of Cossacks and native Siberiaks around the 

 head- waters of the Amur system and Chita and Trans- 

 baikalia generally. In western Siberia Russian 

 settlers predominate north of the steppe provinces 

 NO. 2683, VOL. 107] 



and south of the marsh and forest lands. The 

 statistics on which the maps are based date from 

 1913, or even earlier in some cases, but this is un- 

 avoidable ; even under the old regime Russian 

 statistics were very slow to appear, and now they are 

 unobtainable. 



In an address on " International Organisation and 

 Public Health," read before the Society of Medical 

 Officers of Health on February 18, Dr. G. S. 

 Buchanan reviewed the International Health 

 Organisation which will shortly come into being as 

 a result of a series of detailed resolutions which were 

 passed by the Assembly of the League of Nations at 

 Geneva last December {Lancet, February 26). By 

 the Covenant of the League of Nations the members 

 of the League pledge themselves to take steps in 

 matters of international concern for the prevention 

 and control of disease. These include (i) advising 

 the League in matters affecting health, (2) co-ordina- 

 tion of administrative health authorities in different 

 countries, (3) organisation of means for the more 

 rapid interchange of information on matters such as 

 epidemics where precautionary measures may be 

 required, (4) the revision of international agreements 

 affecting the public health, (5) assisting international 

 labour organisations in securing protection for the 

 worker against sickness, injury, and disease arising 

 out of his employment, and (6) the organisation of 

 missions in connection with matters of health at the 

 request of the League of Nations. 



We have received a brochure entitled " Approved 

 Technique of the Rideal-Walker Test," by Dr. S. 

 Rideal and Mr. Ainslie Walker (H. K. Lewis and 

 Co., IS. net). It contains a clear and full account of 

 this test, which is employed for estimating the germi- 

 cidal value of disinfectants, comparing the particular 

 disinfectant with a standard carbolic acid solution 

 under stated conditions. The test was originally 

 devised about 1902, and the present description intro- 

 duces some modifications of detail, though not of 

 principle. The term "approved" which appears in 

 the title may mislead, as it here means "recommended 

 by the authors," and not a statutory or general 

 approval. 



Mr. Hector Colwell cqntinues his " History of 

 Electrotherapy " in the Archives of Radiology and 

 Electrotherapy for February (No. 247). The work of 

 Duchenne (1806-75) particularly is dealt with. 

 Duchenne was the first to discover that individual 

 muscles can be stimulated electrically by the applica- 

 tion of suitable moistened electrodes to the overlying 

 skin, and he is regarded by Mr. Colwell as the 

 founder of modern electro-therapeutics. 



The attention of workers on water-mites (Hydra- 

 carina) is directed to the account by Messrs. C. D. 

 Soar and W. Williamson (Journal of the Quekett 

 Microscopical Club, vol. xiv., November, 1920) of the 

 twenty-two species of Eylais which occur in Britain. 



Mr. E. Avery Richmond has published (Bull. Amer, 

 Mus. Nat. Hist., \ol. xlii., 1920) some interesting 

 studies on the life-history and biology of water-beetles 



