January 20, 192 1] 



NATURE 



677 



required in different azimuttis to ascertain that we 

 are dealing with a single circular disc, and not with 

 two neighbouring discs, as in the case of Capella. 

 TJie resulting angular diameter is 0045' ; Prof. 

 Eddington had predicted 0051' from the visual 

 magnitude and assumed surface brightness, and Prof. 

 Seeliger deduced 0042' in a somewhat similar 

 manner. The linear diameter found (about 300 times 

 that of the sun) depends on the assumed parallax, 

 which, unfortunately, is decidedly uncertain ; further 



determinations seem urgently to be called for. Prof. 

 Lindemann pointed out the extraordinarily low 

 density that such a diameter implies if we assume 

 that the mass is of the order of twenty-five times that 

 of the sun. 



Other stars for which a diameter determination is 

 hopeful are Antares r.nd Aldebaran, and possibly 

 .■\rcturus. Sirius and Vega will doubtless be 

 attempted, but with less prospect of success. 



A. C. D. C. 



Culture and Environment in the Cameroons. 



■p E\V areas in the African continent present 

 ■^ problems of greater interest to the anthropo- 

 logist than the Cameroons. Although the Germans 

 produced a considerable amount of literature relat. 

 ing to the area while it was under their rule, there 

 'is still a great deal of work to be done before 

 the complex ethnology of the country is elucidated. 

 Capt. L. W. G. Malcolm, who saw service in the 

 Cameroons during the war, is preparing a monograph 

 which will be one of the first-fruits of our occupa- 

 tion. At a recent meeting of the Royal Anthropo- 

 logical Institute he gave a preliminary account of 

 certain questions connected with the distribution of 

 types of culture and its relation with the geographical 

 environment. 



In the Cameroons there are three main racial 

 stocks, namely, the Bantu-speaking tribes, the 

 Sudanese, and the Pvgmies. Subsidiary immigrant 

 races occupy certain areas in the north-east. Between 

 the Bantu-speaking tribes and the Sudanese there are 

 a numbor of tribes, some of which do not speak Bantu 

 languages, and there is a distinct boundary between 

 the B.-intu-speaking and Sudanese races which is 

 determined solely by the geographical nature of the 

 country. 



The material culture of the grassland area reveals 

 the fact that the problem is of a most complex 

 character. When dealing with tribes of mixed affini- 

 ties it is extremely difficult to determine the various 

 strata. Not onlv is there a local mixing of the tribes, 

 but there are also various elements which have been 

 brought in by invading tribes. This is particularly 

 the fav in Bagam, where the tribe has been in- 



liutncecl particularly from Bamum, in the north-oast, 

 while from Babanki, in the north, various forms of 

 iron weapons have been introduced. The Balis have 

 introduced among the grassland tribes the sleeveless 

 gowns worn by the men. After Hnusa and Fulani 

 elements and the influence of the forest-belt tribes 

 have been eliminated, it would appear that the chief 

 characteristics of the grassland culture are weapons 

 of copper, iron, and brass; socketed spearheads; a 

 simple bow made from raphia palm, with a flat bow- 

 string; arrows with wooden points; shields, either 

 plaited or reinforced with wood; wocnion slit-gongs; 

 drums with skin tympana and wooden tautening 

 wedges ; flanged iron bells ; iron-working (smelting 

 and smithing); brass castings (Bagam and Bamum); 

 pottery (coiled in the north-east) ; jutan cloth and 

 woven fibre ; decorative art with triangles and zig- 

 zags; cicatrisation; filing or chipping of the incisors; 

 smoking pipes of metal and clay ; animal and ances- 

 tral cults ; and the use of carved masks and images. 

 One of the most obvious and striking peculiarities of 

 the grassland culture, however, is the quadrangular 

 hut, with pyramidal or conical roof, ranged in streets, 

 which differs distinctively from the forest-belt hut 

 standing in its own irregularly placed clearing. 



Capt. Malcolm's careful analysis of the culture of 

 one area only of the Cameroons, even in this pre- 

 liminary form, was not merely an indication of the 

 extremely interesting material which still awaits 

 investigation ; it was also a valuable object-lesson 

 of the method of studying a backward population 

 which should form the essential basis of our ad- 

 ministration in this and similar areas. 



The Science Masters' Association. 



\T the invitation of the Board of the Faculty of 

 Natural Science, the annual meeting of the 

 - ii-nce Masters' .\ssociation was held in Oxfwd on 

 J.inuary 4-7. About two hundred members attended, 

 :in<l bv the kindness of the Master of Balliol and the 

 I'ti ; i. nt of Trinity they were housed in the.se two 

 Kill. ^;.,. 



The ni<'<'iing Ix-gan on the evening of January x 

 with Ihi- aildns'; ol the president (Mr. A. Vassall, of 

 Harrow) on ".Some .'Xspects of Science and Educa- 

 tion." Mr. Vassall dealt with education in science 

 from the preparatory school to the university, and 

 showed the evils of teaching in the earlier stages as 

 if nil \\v boys were ultimately to become specialists. 

 The teaching should be such as to give everv bo\ an 

 opportuniiv of rc-iVning the scope and aims of science. 

 It ■.liinilil iiiii'ui ti. .vrv boy the understanding of 

 srij-nlilK jiiciMi iiis ruii^s.iry for the equipment of a 

 modern State, and not b<' merely a training for future 

 work in science, which in many rases will never be 

 taken up seriously. 

 A lecture on spectroscopy, Riven by Prof. T. R. 



NO. 267?, VOL. I061 



Merton, was concerned largely with the part played 

 by observation and technique; observation cannot be 

 effective with faulty apparatus. In the spectroscopy 

 of gases the influence of traces of impurities is very 

 great, and many Ix-autiful experiments were shown 

 to illustrate the methods of dealing with them. The 

 conditions under which nitrogen gives a band spec- 

 trum and a line spectrum were shown ; a tube was 

 exhausted and filled with Iv'lium sufficiently free to 

 enable the conditions for obtaining either a band 

 spectrum or a line spectrum to be dpmonstrate<l. 

 .Also, a striking experiment was shown by which the 

 presence of neon In the atmosphere was made evi- 

 dent. The method of getting hvdrogen into and out 

 of tubes by means of a heated sidc>-tube of palladium 

 was illustrated, and the curious fluorescence of parts 

 of the human body was shown by illuminating the 

 audience by light of wave-length about 3660 A.U., 

 obtained by using a quartz mercury vapour lamp and a 

 screen of special glass devised hy Prof. R. W. Wood. 

 There were demonstrations in the various Univer- 

 sity laboratories, illustrating much of the teaching 



