Oct. 20, 1887] 



NA TURE 



599 



The Experimental Production of Chest types in Man, by G. 

 W. Hambleton. — The author contended that the type of man 

 after birth was produced solely by the conditions to which he is 

 subjected, and that hence a wide and most important field is 

 open for our investigation, for if we can ascertain what the con- 

 ditions are that produce those changes in each part of man that 

 together form a class or type, we may produce the type that is 

 most suitable for different places and occupations, and then we 

 shall have a true Science of Man. 



The Scicntijic Treatment of Consumption, by G. W. Hamble- 

 ton. — At the last meeting of the Association the author read a 

 paper on that part of his research that referred to the prevention 

 of consumption, and he now completed the subject by giving an 

 explanation of the mode in which the disease is produced, and 

 by laying down the principles that must guide us in its successful 

 treatment. These principles are four in number, and may be 

 stated as follows : to establish an equilibrium between the amount 

 of interchange required to be effected and that effected ; to enable 

 the other organs of the body to perform their ordinary functions ; 

 to restore to the lungs the power of adjustment to their external 

 conditions ; and to effect the above without producing indications 

 of friction. The effect of this method of treatment is to arrest 

 the process of irritation, to gradually restore the general health, 

 and to develop the lungs. This is shown by a gradual cessation 

 of chest symptoms, a healthy appearance, and a greatly increased 

 vital capacity, range of expansion and size of chest-girth. The 

 author has invariably obtained these results in his experiments, 

 and also in the few cases he has had an opportunity of treating. 

 Sydenham undoubtedly cured consumption by ordering continu- 

 ous horse exercise in the country till the patient recovered. And 

 the author is satisfied that if we carefully treat consumption — 

 before the disease has been permitted to become too extensive — 

 on the principles advocated in this paper we shall be able to 

 secure complete recovery. 



Tattooing, by Miss A. W. Buckland. — The object of this 

 paper was to show that although tattooing seems to have been 

 almost universal among savages, yet the mode of performing the 

 operation varies so much, and the various methods in use seem 

 to have such definite limits, as to make them anthropologically 

 valuable, as showing either racial connexion or some intercourse 

 formerly subsisting between races long isolated. 



The Early Ages of Metal in South-East Spain, by Henri and 

 Louis Siret. — The authors explored a coast region, about 75 

 kilometres in length, between Cartagena and Almeria. They 

 investigated some forty stations belonging to three prehistoric 

 epochs: (i) the Neolithic, (2) Transition between Stone and 

 Metal, (3) the Metal Age. In the Neolithic period man em- 

 ployed instruments of bone, stone, and flint ; and ornaments 

 made of bone, stone, and shells were used. The dead were 

 buried in polygonal spaces, surrounded by stones. In the 

 Transition period bronze bracelets and beads were used ; and 

 cremation of the dead was practised. These new customs were 

 probably introduced by some foreign people ; but at the same 

 time there is evidence of the first attempts at a native metal- 

 lurgy, utilizing the ores of the country ; arms and utensils are 

 found cast in metal, and imitating the form of those in bone 

 and stone. During the Metal epoch, copper and bronze were 

 employed simultaneously, as in the preceding age ; but copper 

 predominates, and stone implements are still common. MM. 

 Siret also found several silver ornaments, and this is a new fact 

 in the early Bronze Age ; in this region prehistoric man found 

 and utilized the native silver gathered on the surface of the soil. 

 No less than 1300 sepultures were explored by the authors ; all 

 the bodies were interred, and not cremated, the bodies being 

 usually placed, doubled up, in large terra-cotta vases. An enor- 

 mous number of copper and bronze arms and utensils were found, 

 together with vases in pottery ; also bracelets, rings, and ear- 

 rings in copper, bronze, gold, and silver ; and necklace beads 

 in bone, ivory, serpentine, bronze, copper, silver, and gold. 



The Origin of Totemism, by C. Staniland Wake. — The funda- 

 mental basis of totemism is to be found in the phase of hum^n 

 thought, which supposes spirits "to inhabit trees and groves, 

 and to move in the winds and stars," and which personifies 

 almost every phase of Nature. The problem of totemism re- 

 ceives its solution in the fact that the totem is the re-incarnated 

 form of the legendary ancestor of the gens or fa'nily group allied 

 to the totem. The totem is thus something mare than a "badge 

 of fraternity" or " device of a gens." It is regarded as having 

 actual vitality, as the em'jidiment of an ances'ral spirit. Any 



object is fitted for this spirit re-incarnation, and therefore totem- 

 ism may be looked upon as the expression of Nalure-worshii^ 

 and ancestor-worship in combination. 



Certain Degenerations of Design in Papuan Art, by S. J. 

 Hickson.— (i) On a prau figure-head is a design which, although- 

 considerably modified, can readily b* recognized as a d.sign of 

 the human figure. The long crimpled hair of the Papuan, two 

 tufts of which are coloured red, in imitation of the red mud 

 with which the Papuans complete their coiffure, the eyes, nose, 

 and mouth of the face are clearly indicated, but the rest of the 

 body is degenerated into a mere conventional sign. (2) Upon 

 the same prau figure-head, as in (i), there is a figure of an 

 animal (probably a gecko), fairly good and complete as a work 

 of art, but upon the same is a design, evidently degenerated, of 

 this, in which all that remains of this unconventionalized is the 

 anterior pair of legs. The designs are wrought by the old men- 

 or priests of the villages, and are made for the purpose of keep- 

 ing off spirits of storm, sickness, &c. Modifications are pro- 

 duced by the artist by want of time, ability, or inclination, and 

 these modifications become permanent by being copied by sub- 

 sequent artists, and 1 hus in some cases mere conventional signs 

 take the place of figures of men, birds, and other animals. 



Gypsies, and an Ancient Hebrc^v Race in Sus and the Sahara^ 

 by R. G. Haliburton. — The province of Sus, as respects the 

 customs of its people, is, and always has been, a terra incognita. 

 Excepting a few lines by Herodotus on the subject of these 

 people, nothing has yet been written, and this paper is the first 

 attempt to describe them. The people of Morocco are divided 

 into the Rifl's and the Susis : the first light-haired, anc? 

 large men, living in the mountains ; the latter smaller, darker, 

 and generally nomadic. The Susis speak a dialect of the Ber- 

 ber, and are most of them Gypsies of different descriptions. 

 They are famous for their skill as artificers. Most of them tell 

 fortunes — some by sand, others by beads ; others, again, by a 

 flower, and some by watching a fowl after its head has been 

 struck off. The women, in some tribes, tell fortunes by the 

 hand, but the men never do so. These people have been for 

 many centuries connected with the Timbuctoo gold trade ; and 

 have secret signs and passes, called the words of the Kafila 

 (tent or lodge), which is probably the same word as the 

 well-known "Cabala" of the Jews, The author showed that 

 there are vestiges of the Osirian cult lingering among these 

 people. The author described an ancient Hebrew race inhabit- 

 ing the Sahara, and pointed out that the Jews and the Gypsies 

 must have been cast in the same mould, but must have been- 

 made of very different material. That mould, he believed, was 

 the life in common in North Africa for thousands of years, in 

 connexion with the gold trade and the caravans of that country. 



Colour-Names amongst the English Gypsies,hy W. E. A. Axon. 

 — Considerable discussion has taken place as to the development 

 of the colour-sense within the historic period. The colour- 

 vocabulary of the English gypsies is limited to " green," "black,"' 

 "red," and "white," so that we have the notable fact that 

 " blue," on which so much stress has been laid in the discussion 

 of the colour-sense, is entirely absent from the English gypsy 

 vocabulary. This is emphasized by the fact that the gypsies 

 sometimes use the word bhic-asar, the suffix being that which is 

 generally added in Romany to disguise a borrowed word. So 

 their word for " toadstools " is hlue-lcggi, because ihe Agaricus 

 personata, which they regard as a delicacy, has blue stalks. 

 Clearly, if they had now in Romany a wOrd for "blue," they 

 would not appropriate that of Gaujo. And if any evidence 

 were needed that the Romanies are not colour-blind, it is 

 afforded by their appropriation of the English word for " blue." 

 It only remains to add that Ycuk and Erescare are both given 

 by Pott as gypsy equivalents for "blue." If these words are 

 genuine — which may be open to doubt — it is apparently possible 

 for a race to possess and to lose a colour-name. This brief in- 

 vestigation of the English gypsy colour-vocabulary will show the 

 danger of accepting the negative testimony of philology as con- 

 clusive. The positive evidence of linguistics no one need doubt. 

 It is clear that there is no relation between the colour-perception 

 and the colour-nomenclature of the English gypsies. 



On the Migrations of Pre-glacial Man, by Henry Hicks,F.R.S. 

 — Referring to the further researches carried <m this summer at 

 Cae-Gwyn Cave, North Wales, the author stated that the addi- 

 tional evidence obtained proved most conclusively that the flint 

 implement found there last year in association with the remain* 

 of Pleistocene animals was under entirely undisturbed glacial 



