500 



NATURE 



[June i6, 192 i 



A. B. Rendle. Members of Council: Prof. Margaret 

 Benson, Prof. V. H. Blackman, Mr. E. T. Browne, 

 Mr. H. Bury, Mr. S. Edwards, Prof. E. S. Goodrich, 

 Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, Sir Sidney F. 

 Harmer, Dr. B. Daydon Jackson, Mr. C. C. Lacaita, 

 Mr. G. W. E. Loder, Mr. H. W. Monckton, Mr. 

 R. I. Pocock, Capt. J. Ramsbottom, Dr. A. B. 

 Rendle, Lord Rothschild, Dr. E. J. Salisbury, Mr. 

 C. E. Salmon, Mr. Thomas A. Sprague, and Dr. A. 

 Smith Woodward. 



The nineteenth annual meeting of the South African 

 Association for the Advancement of Science will be 

 held at Durban on July 11-16, under the presidency 

 of Prof. J. E. Duerden, of Rhodes University College, 

 Graham's Town. As in previous years, the association 

 will meet in six sections, the presidents of which are 

 as follows :— Section A (Astronomy, Mathematics, 

 Physics, Engineering, etc.). Dr. J. Lunt, of the Royal 

 Observatory, Cape of Good Hope ; Section B 

 (Chemistry, Geology, Geography, etc.), Dr. J. Moir, 

 Chemist to the Mines Department, Johannesburg ; 

 Section C (Botany, Forestry, Agriculture, etc.). Prof. 

 J. W. Bews, of Natal University College, Maritzburg; 

 Section D (Zoology, Physiology, Hygiene, etc.). Prof. 

 H. B. Fantham, of University College, Johannes- 

 burg; Section E (Anthropology, Philology, etc.). Dr. 

 C. T. Loram, of the Natal Education Department; 

 and Section F (Education, Sociology, History, etc.). 

 Prof. W. A. Macfadyen, of Transvaal University 

 College, Pretoria. The general secretaries of the 

 association are Dr. C. F. Juritz, Department of Agri- 

 culture, Cape Town, and Mr. H. E. Wood, I'nion 

 Observatory, Johannesburg. Capt. H. A. G. Jeffreys, 

 P.O. Box 6894, Johannesburg, is acting as assistant 

 general secretary. It is announced that the 1922 

 meeting will be held at Loren<jo Marques under the 

 presidency of Dr. A, W. Rogers, Director of the 

 Geological Survey of the Union of South Africa. 



Evidence of considerable interest in relation to the 

 character and distribution of Iron-age culture in the 

 Balkan Peninsula has been obtained by Mr. Stanley 

 Casson in the course of a journey through parts of 

 Macedonia. This journey was undertaken vinder the 

 auspices of a research committee, of which Sir William 

 Ridgeway is chairman, of the British Association, 

 appointed to excavate early sites in Macedonia. Start- 

 ing from Dedeagatch, the port at the mouth of the 

 Maritza River, Mr. Casson worked westward through 

 Enos, Drama, and Cavala. He also visited Vodena 

 and Ostrovo. Excavations were undertaken at Chau- 

 chitsa, which during the war was one of the rail- 

 heads on the British Doiran-Vardar front. The 

 "finds" included bronze ornaments, pottery, some 

 gold, and a number of iron knives. The results of 

 Mr. Casson 's investigations of this area, of which 

 little is known archaeologically, will be described in 

 full in the Anthropological Section at the Edinburgh 

 meeting of the British Association in September next. 



The lectureship established to commemorate the 

 work of Mr. Moncure Conway was held this year 

 bv Dr. A. C. Haddon, who selected as his subject 

 "The Practical Value of Ethnology." After a pre- 

 liminary survey of the relations of sociology and his- 

 NO. 2694, VOL. 107] 



tory to anthropology. Dr. Haddon proceeded to discuss 

 the relations of peoples of the higher to those of the 

 lower culture under the heads of Conduct, Control, 

 and Care. In regard to "conduct," he urges that 

 dealings between groups, as well as those between 

 individuals, should be conducted with the greatest 

 possible consideration for their several sentiments and 

 prejudices. Under the head "control " he considers 

 the value of the knowledge of anthropology to the 

 statesman and administrator. By "care" he means 

 the efforts which can be made to check the evil results 

 which arise from the contact of the higher with the 

 lower civilisation in the prevention of epidemics, the 

 problem of the dying-out of native races, the avoid- 

 ance of meddlesome interference, and so on. Pro- 

 blems of this kind are familiar to all ethnologists, 

 but Dr. Haddon 's exposition of the subject is admir- 

 able, and it is illustrated by an interesting selection 

 of facts drawn from his wide knowledge of anthropo- 

 logical literature and practical experience as a 

 traveller. The lecture deserves the careful attention 

 which it is sure to receive from all who are interested 

 in the advance of our common humanity. 



An interesting phase of the social life of Roman 

 society in the Ciceronian age, is described by Messrs. 

 A. W. Van Buren and R. M. Kennedy in a paper 

 contributed to the Journal of Roman Studies (vol. ix., 

 part i) on Varro's aviary at Casinum. Marcus 

 Terentius Varro, author of the famous work on agri- 

 culture, "De Re Rustica," gives a long account of 

 this building, which is here quoted and translated. 

 It contained fish-ponds and duck-houses, the latter 

 enclosed by fine gut nettings, and spaces shut off by 

 nets for songsters, such as nightingales and black- 

 birds, supplied with water by means of a small 

 channel, while food was thrown to them under the 

 net. Several of the elements which enter into the 

 arrangement of Varro's aviary recur in a contem- 

 porarv Pompeian painting from the villa of Julia 

 Felix. 



The American Museum of Natural History has set 

 a good example in founding a new journal for the pub- 

 lication of preliminary announcements and the descrip- 

 tion of new species. It is to be known as the 

 American Museum Novitates. No. i, which has just 

 reached us, is devoted to an extremely interesting and 

 stimulating survey of the evolution, phylogeny, and 

 classification of the Proboscidea by Prof. H. F. 

 Osborn, who within the compass of a few pages has 

 provided food for thought and much debate for some 

 time to come. All interested in palaeontology will 

 note with satisfaction that the author frankly rejects 

 his earlier views in regard to Mceritherium, and sub- 

 scribes to the opinion originallv started by Dr. C. W. 

 .\ndrews, of the British Museum, that it is to be 

 regarded as an indubitable proboscidean. But they 

 will probably fail to grasp the precise meaning of 

 the author's contention that "the enlargement of the 

 second upper and lower incisor teeth . . . presents a 

 firm ground of affinity with a still unknown primitive 

 Lower Eocene proboscidean-stem form. There the 

 resemblance ends." We venture to think that when 

 Prof. Osborn 's studies of this remarkable fossil are 



