April 14, 192 1] 



NATURE 



219 



is generally held that their resemblances to racial 



Mongols are only "accidental." Dr. Cruikshank, j 



however, maintained that many of the characteristics i 



of these children are really Mongoloid, while others j 



are definitely simian and exhibit convergence towards | 

 the orangoid rather than the chimpanzoid or general 



type of great ape. It was pointed out that " Mon- j 



golian imbeciles " adopt the horizontal disposition of | 



the lower limbs in sitting that is characteristic of | 



racial Mongols and of orangs, in contradistinction to the i 



vertical disposition adopted by negroes and other non- \ 

 Mongoloid races, chimpanzees, and gorillas. The cor- 

 relation of the "habitual posture " with various struc- 

 tural peculiarities was insisted upon and discussed. 



An attempt had been made to explain away these 

 homologies by reference to the hypothesis of gland- 

 balance influence on racial peculiarities, first put i 

 forward by Dr. Cruikshank in the Lancet in 1912. j 

 He maintained, however, that this hypothesis was | 

 by itself inadequate, and that it was necessary to | 

 invoke the notion of a line of common descent, even | 

 though in consequence it became impossible to avoid | 

 acceptance of some such polyphyletic scheme of \ 

 human origin as that of Klaatsch. While there was | 

 abundant evidence, both historic and prehistoric, 

 making it impossible to exclude the persistence in 

 Western Europe of suflficient "Mongolian" blood to | 

 account for the Mongolian characteristics of these i 

 unfinished children we call "Mongolian imbeciles," ' 

 the orangoid homologies were not thus explained. ! 

 Further precise anatomical study was required, not j 

 only of the Mongolian imbeciles, laut also of the many 

 Western "Mongoloids " who are not actually imbecile 

 and of the Mongolian races themselves. 



Finally, it was shown that while " Mongolian " | 



imbeciles converge towards the orang, there is another I 

 type of mental defect recognised in Europe whereof 



the subjects converge markedly in respect of their I 



simian homologies towards the chimpanzee and away | 



from the orang. There was need then for the co 

 ordination of the observations of the physicians and 

 the anthropologists in the free discussion of their 

 observations. 



In the course of the discussion which followed the 

 reading of the paper. Prof. Keith, while congratulating 

 the author on his work as a pioneer in this subject, 

 maintained that the homologies to which he had 

 directed attention were superficial. Mongolism, he 

 held, was pathological, and arose out of some defect 

 in the working of the complicated internal mechanism 

 which was a common inheritance of man and the 

 anthropoids. Of this working we knew little except 

 that in certain obscure conditions it gave rise to such 

 abnormalities as acromegaly, cretinism, Mongolism, 

 and the like. Dr. Langdon Down directed attention 

 to certain peculiarities in "Mongolian" imbeciles 

 which had not been mentioned by the author. The 

 iris was frequently spotted and lacking in colour, the 

 hair grew further down the back of the neck than in 

 the normal, and the sides of the face were often 

 covered with a down. Prof. Elliot Smith expressed 

 the view that Mongoloids were purely pathological 

 specimens, and directed attention to the recent inves- 

 tigations of certain Dutch physicians which indicated 

 that these abnormalities were due to an interference 

 with pre-natal growth in the seventh week of intra- 

 uterine existence, and occurred in the offspring of 

 young or worn-out mothers. Dr. F. C. Shrubsall 

 described a number of cases observed among defective 

 children in the London area, and adduced statistics in 

 support of the view that they occurred with greatest 

 frequency in exhausted mothers. They were often 

 followed by a miscarriage. 



In his reply Dr. Cruikshank maintained that the 

 view that the Mongoloid arose from a disturbance of 

 the gland-balance or from an interference with pre- 

 natal growth was not inconsistent with his theorv of 

 common descent. 



The Alaskan Salmon. 



T N an article of exceptional interest contributed to 

 ■*■ the Scientific Monthly for February, Prof. Barton 

 W. Evermann, an American ichthyologist of emin- 

 ence, asks this question : Can the Alaskan salmon 

 fisheries be saved? These Pacific salmon are of 

 economic value for the whole world. The first 

 cannery was erected and operated in 1878, and by 

 19 18 the number had grown to 135. The pack was 

 8159 cases in 1878, and in 19 14 about 2,500,000, the 

 highest figure yet reached. In 19 19 the total pack had 

 been reduced to about 1,250,000 cases, and there is 

 every reason to fear that the decrease is progressive. 

 The most fertile fishery in the world is thus in danger 

 of practical extinction (from the commercial point 

 of view, at all events) owing to ruthless exploitation 

 unchecked by legislation and almost unguided by 

 State-directed investigation. 



There are five species of Pacific salmon (Oncorhvn- 

 chus spp.), all of which have much the same life- 

 history. They are anadromous, the adults ascending 

 rivers in order to spawn. They die, males and 

 females alike, as soon as they have spawned; not 

 one of them ever returns to the sea. For a brief 

 period of a week or two in every year each varietal 

 species is represented onlv by the developing eggs, 

 and no parent ever sees its offspring — surely some- 

 thing quite unique in the vertebrate sub-kingdom ! 

 The young fish remain in the rivers for one to several 

 years, and then descend to the sea. Each river con- 

 tains one variety, or elementary species, recognisable 

 to the fishermen and zoologists (this is the case for 

 NO. 2685, VOL. 107] 



the sockeye, O. nerka, at all events), and it is the 

 result of the "home stream" condition. The fry 

 reared in one river are said invariably to return to 

 the waters in which they have been reared. In all 

 cases the sockeye seeks streams which have lakes as 

 their head-waters, and the result is that the condi- 

 tions under which they are reared are highly indi- 

 vidualised. These conditions are most peculiar and 

 of exceptional biological interest, demanding the 

 fullest investigation. One would hesitate to believe 

 in them were not the statements made so positively 

 and on the authority of ichthyologists of distinction. 



How to arrest the decline whicii seems to threaten 

 the very existence of an industry of world-importance 

 is, however, the author's chief concern. Restriction 

 of the annual quantity of fish packed is, of course, the 

 only practicable remedy, but so powerful are the 

 interests involved and so hand-to-mouth are the great 

 financial enterprises that any suggestion of the kind 

 is certain to arouse intense opposition, and it can 

 scarcely be expected in these days that anv conceiv- 

 able Government will have so much courage as to 

 take the steps that the conditions obviouslv indicate. 

 But investigation must precede any such restriction. 

 It appears that hatching out frv artificially has had 

 no apparent effect — at least, with the methods so far 

 employed — and so restriction seems to be the onlv 

 remedy, the productivity of each river being found 

 and the rate of exploitation fixed at the highest point 

 compatible with undiminished yield. In a river 

 methods of investigation are possible that could not 



