630 



NATURE 



[February 3, 1916 



merce to carry out a constructive commercial policy 

 for this country." In moving this resolution, Sir Alger- 

 non Firth said that the President and officials of the 

 Board of Trade have every desire to promote trade, 

 and within their powers are efficient; but they have 

 many functions and are choked with administrative 

 work. Frequently since 1869 chambers of commerce 

 have urged the appointment of a Ministry of Com- 

 merce. Twice a resolution in its favour has passed 

 the House of Commons, and in 1905 a Bill was pro- 

 mised in the King's Speech. It is essential to have 

 a new Minister who will gather round him men of 

 experience and judgment, and confine himself to steps 

 to be taken after the war for the development of trade. 



The interest of the recently issued report of the 

 Development Commissioners for the year ended March 

 31, 1915, lies not so mufch in its record of successful 

 effort in the promotion of agricultural education and 

 research, which have figured so prominently in former 

 reports, as in its outline of the efforts of the com- 

 missioners to apply their energies and resources to- 

 wards the practical necessities of the abnormal 

 national situation which confronted them during the 

 greater portion of the period under review. In the 

 earlier days of the war, when widespread unemploy- 

 ment was generally anticipated, the attention of the 

 commission was directed to the inception of pre- 

 ventive measures, but with the happy falsification of 

 these fears it soon became necessary rather to dis- 

 courage the inauguration of works requiring labour 

 suitable for enlistment. At the same time, the com- 

 missioners have not lost sight of the possibility of 

 a serious need for labour-employing works after the 

 war, and have devoted their attention to the solution 

 of the initial difficulties of certain projects of develop- 

 ment, of which the construction of light railways, 

 land drainage and reclamation, and afforestation are 

 specified, with the view of ensuring that such 

 schemes may be brought into operation quickly in 

 case of emergency. The increase of the production 

 and preservation of home-grown food supplies has 

 been regarded as the chief question for immediate 

 consideration, and substantia^ aid has been given to 

 schemes designed to secure this end. The report con- 

 tains much of interest with regard to the progress 

 of schemes outlined in previous reports, but the 

 amount of new work authorised and entered upon 

 during the year was naturally but small. This is 

 particularly the case in connection with the valuable 

 scientific research work supported by the commission. 

 It is gratifying to note, however, that no effort has 

 been spared to ensure the continuity of the work of 

 the newly-founded research institutes, although the 

 inevitable depletion of staffs has necessarily greatly 

 curtailed their activities. 



The Psychological Bulletin (vol. xii.. No. 12) sum- 

 marises in a useful form the recent published work 

 on social and religious psychology. Perhaps the 

 section of widest general interest is that relating to 

 the causes and treatment of crime. All students of 

 social problems, whether from the theoretical or prac- 

 tical point of view, will find much that is of value 

 in this number. If the relation between crime and 

 NO. 2414, VOL. 96] 



feeble-mindedness, for example, were realised more 

 consciously, then as a corollary the State treatment of 

 the criminal would have to be modified. Progress in 

 criminal legislation is being made slowly, but the 

 need for a definitely scientific study of those social 

 phenomena we vaguely subsume under the concept of 

 crime is still insistent. 



The Bureau of American Ethnology has for some 

 time employed Miss Frances Densmore on the task of 

 collecting by means of the phonograph the music of 

 the Indian tribes. About one thousand songs have 

 already been recorded. Many of those procured from 

 the Chippewas have to do with the belief in the Mide, 

 or Great Medicine, the object of the ritual being to 

 secure health and long life for its members, and to 

 promote temperance and other virtues. Many of the 

 songs were handed down by tradition, and the singers 

 were assisted by a system of mnemonics recorded on 

 a strip of birch bark. A collection of songs, known 

 as "Dream Songs," are said to have come to the 

 Indians in the course of dreams and trances. These 

 are used in treating the sick. One of their medicine- 

 men demonstrated his supernatural powers by feats of 

 jugglery, releasing himself from bonds in a manner 

 familiar to European performers. Indian music, except 

 the songs of daily life, is closely connected with the 

 supernatural, and hence it is carefully guarded by the 

 people. 



The important piece of apparatus known as the 

 respiration calorimeter was invented by Atwater and 

 Benedict at Middletown, Connecticut, in 1892. Since 

 that time the instrument has played an important part 

 in investigations on the metabolism in man and other 

 animals. Many improvements have been intro- 

 duced, and the present form of the Atwater 

 apparatus is now installed at Boston in a building 

 specially devoted to metabolic research under the 

 supervision of Prof. F. G. Benedict. Modifications are 

 also set up in New York and various other American 

 universities, and the latest form of improvement has 

 just been described by Drs. Longworthy and Milner, 

 of the Home Economics Department at Washington. 

 This is fully described and figured in the Journal of 

 Agric. Research issued by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture (November 22, 19 15). Various 

 other changes have been introduced from time to 

 time to suit other animals than men. In this 

 country the unfortunate lack of funds which charac- 

 terises all efforts in research has prevented the prose- 

 cution of this branch of work. So far as we are 

 aware, there is only one respiration calorimeter in 

 Great Britain, and this was set up by Prof. Macdonald 

 at Sheffield University. When it is possible to divert 

 funds from the present urgent necessities of the 

 country, we trust that the installation of respiration 

 calorimeters will not be neglected. 



The annual report of the Dominion Museum of New 

 Zealand for 19 15 contains some valuable notes on the 

 Tuatera " lizard " {Sphenodon punctatus), which have 

 been furnished by the lighthouse-keepers and others 

 on Stephen Island, The Brothers, Cuvier's Island, and 

 the Little Barrier bird sanctuary. To judge from 

 these reports, it would seem that a great deal of un- 



