538 



NATURE 



[June 23, 192 1 



read a paper on •'Conifers in English Gardens," and 

 illustrated her remarks by a large number of speci- 

 mens ; great interest was shown by the delegates in 

 this popular exposition of native and introduced 

 conifers. A third botanical paper was by Prof. G. S. 

 Boulger on "The Origin of the English Flora." 



The Silchester rooms at the Reading Museum were 

 crowded when Mr. Mill Stephenson gave a demon- 

 stration on the Silchester discoveries. The thorough- 

 ness with which the excavations were carried out 

 revealed a complete picture of Romano-British life, 

 including temple, baths, silver refinery, amphitheatre, 

 hypocaust, dwellings, latrines, and all that went to 

 make up a centre of commercial life of the period. 

 The cemetery remains unexcavated. The city is now 

 again buried, the walls alone showing, whilst outside 

 there still remain the earthworks of an earlier period 

 still, when Neolithic Britons planned a camp of wider 

 dimensions. Roman ornaments in bronze called for 

 special notice, these being beautifully executed. A 

 carpenter's plane was remarkable in that it was of 

 metal, and included screws for adjusting the blade. 

 A visit to Silchester enabled many inembers to pick 

 up fragments of Roman brick and Gaulish ware. 

 Regret that no portions of the buildings or the founda- 

 tions had been left uncovered was expressed. It is 

 inconceivable that our British Pompeii was again 

 buried out of sight almost as soon as it was 

 excavated. 



A visit to Windsor enabled members to see St. 

 George's Chapel and the King's library and to ascend 

 the Round Tower. Papers were read by the Hon. 

 J. W. Fortescue and Dr. A. V. Baillie. A popular 

 lecture was given by Mr. H. E. Peake on "Racial 

 Types in South-East England," and this gave rise to 

 an animated discussion as to whether all the portions 

 of the Eoanthropus skull had been properly fitted as 

 parts of one and the same skull. It was pointed out 

 that portions of at least three individuals had been 

 found. A paper bv Prof. John Percival on "Species 

 and Races of Wheat " was of valuable economic 

 interest. Growing plants of Acf^ilops ovata were ex- 

 hibited and the part it has taken in the evolution 



of modern wheat expounded. Specimens of various 

 wheats were shown, including the hard, snow-resisting 

 Triticum spelta. 



The afternoon excursions included a visit to the 

 relics of Reading Abbey, of which the Chapter House 

 is the most important and extensive. The hall 

 measured 79 ft. by 42 ft. One of the tablets on the 

 wall commemorates that ancient musical composition, 

 " Sumer is icumen in," which is stated to have been 

 written down at the abbey about a.d. 1240. A visit to 

 the economic garden of Dr. J. B. Hurry showed the 

 great care here exercised to make the garden of an 

 educational nature. The medicinal plants growing 

 numbered twenty-five, food plants twenty, fabric plants 

 eleven, and dye plants twenty ; vi'hilst the herbal 

 garden contained a verv large number of useful plants 

 which were grown extensively in the Middle Ages, 

 and alluded to by Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, 

 and others. In the museum attached were many 

 commercial derivatives from the plants. A fine fabric 

 made from the common nettle was noticeable. 

 Archaeologists paid an afternoon visit to the quaint 

 Upton Court, with its many-gabled roofs and its 

 hidden priest-holes, and to Padworth and Aldermaston 

 churches, when Mr. C. E. Keyser acted as guide. 

 The University College was also visited, after which 

 the party proceeded to the Experimental Gardens at 

 Shinfield. 



It is worthy of note that Reading Museum pos- 

 sesses a copy in needlework of the famous Bayeux 

 tapestry, executed by the Leek Needlework Society. 

 We remember that when we last saw the original at 

 Baveux it had suffered mutilation by a relic-hunter, 

 and the three-cornered piece which had been snipped 

 out, having come into possession of the South Ken- 

 sington Museum, had been returned to Bayeux, but 

 instead of being replaced in position it was mounted 

 separately on a block. Perhaps it has since taken 

 its proper place in the tapestrv and the modern piece 

 which had been worked in been removed. 



An important portion of the business, of the con- 

 gress was the complete revision of the rules, which 

 after discussion were passed as presented by the council. 



The Orientation of the Dead. 



A T a meeting of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 

 •**■ held on May 31, Prof, H. J. Rose read a paper 

 on "Celestial and Terrestrial Orientation of the 

 Dead." Two forms of orientation were distinguished 

 and illustrated by examples; namely, graves 

 orientated (a) on a point in the heavens, as the east ; 

 (b) on a point on the surface of the earth, e.g., Mecca. 

 The former Prof. Rose called celestial, the latter 

 terrestrial, orientation. The deciding factor was 

 normally the ix)int towardsi which the face of the 

 buried corpse turned. This point was often the former 

 habitat, whether real or supposed, of the dead man's 

 people. 



The author compared the custom, common among 

 many peoples, of burying in or near the hut, or 

 facing towards the supposed home of the man's spirit 

 at or before birth. This was combined with a belief in 

 reincarnation ; the ghost, feared and avoided as such, 

 was welcomed when it became a baby, born of a 

 woman of its own clan or tribe ; but as the rebirth of 

 some persons, e.g. notorious criminals, was not de- 

 sired, means were taken to place their bodies in such 

 a position that the ghost would get lost. Thus only 

 the desirable people were buried in the normal place 

 or with the normal orientation towards the dwelling- 

 place of their potential mothers or towards Hades, 

 whence in many cases the souls of the new-born come. 



Belief in reincarnation, however, need not of neces- 

 sity lead to the practice of orientation. 

 NO. 2695, VOL. 107] 



Celestial orientation was not alwavs possible in 

 low grades of culture which might have no 

 knowledge of anv such thing as cardinal points. 

 Where celestial orientation existed such knowledge 

 could not be assumed without further evidence. It 

 might indicate (a) the departure of the dead to a 

 land of darkness, marked by the position of the 

 setting- sun ; (b) the departure to a land of light, 

 marked by sunrise. Moreover, as some were too bad 

 to be wanted back on earth, some also (e.g., import- 

 ant chiefs) were too exalted ever to become babies 

 again. Hence to find a cemetery containing a number 

 of bodies most of which face to one quarter while 

 a considerable number face to another rather proved 

 than disproved deliberate orientation. This applies, 

 for example, to the burial-ground of Megara 

 Hvblaea. 



Orientation E.-W. was frequently accompanied by 

 orientation N.-S. Houses were frequently con- 

 structed so as to facilitate observation of the position 

 of the sun. If this was done, it was a matter of 

 indifference whether the house ran N.-S. or E.-W^ 

 The grave was regarded as the /house of the dead. 



Another possibility was that the grave, as a sleep- 

 ing place, was so arranged that the rising sun would 

 warm and vivify the sleeper. This applies only to 

 the E.-W. position. 



The idea of the journey of souls to a place on earth, 

 but far distant, may often be distinguished from 



