December io, 1914] 



NATURE 



397 



Prof. Boyd Dawkins, who contributes an intro- 

 ductory chapter, in which he fights gallantly for 

 opinions and conclusions put forward fifty years 

 ago. In the opinion of the veteran geologist of 

 Manchester we have not yet discovered a specimen 

 of the people who lived in the caves of the Alendips 

 during the Pleistocene period. The human skele- 

 ton discovered in Gough's cave at Cheddar he 

 regards as an interment of the Neolithic period — 

 whereas those who have investigated the evidence 

 relating to the antiquity of the Cheddar man 

 have formed an entirely opposite opinion — namely, 

 that he represents a race which inhabited Somerset 

 during Pleistocene time. Through the kindness 

 of Prof. Fawcett of Bristol the writer of this note 

 had an opportunity of examining two human 



Fig. 



-Relics of the Goat Hiad. B"r>m " Woo 

 a id CiVi D.vjl.:ri. " 



skulls dug from the cave earth beneath the 

 stalagmite of one of the Mendip caves. All the 

 circumstances attending their discovery show 

 that they are Pleistocene in age. What is riiore 

 to the point is that they are exactly of the 

 same form and show the same characteristics as 

 the Cheddar skull. More interesting still, those 

 ancient cave men are apparently of the same race 

 as the early Neolithic people of England. Those 

 who are following closely the progress of our 

 knowledge of the ancient inhabitants of Britain 

 expect much from the caves of the Mendips, and 

 from hints dropped by Mr. Balch in this work, 

 we have every reason to expect that these hopes 

 will be realised. . A. Keith. 



NO. 2354, VOL. 94] 



NOTES. 

 Dr. C. S. Sherrington has been elected Fullerian 

 professor of physiology at the Royal Institution for a 

 term of three years, the appointment to date from 

 January 13, 1915. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death, 

 at eighty-nine years of age, of the Rev. Sir John F. 

 Twisden, formerly professor of mathematics at the 

 Staff College, and also for forty years one of the 

 professional examiners in mechanics to the Depart- 

 ment of Science and Art, and afterwards to the Board 

 of Education. 



It is reported from Paris that Prof. A. Calmette, 

 director of the Pasteur Institute at Lille, who resumed 

 service at the beginning of the war in the capacity 

 of Medical Inspector of Colonial Troops, is a prisoner 

 at Munster, in Westphalia. Should any readers of 

 Nature have news of other men of science who are 

 interned or prisoners on account of the war, perhaps 

 they will send it to us for publication. 



The European war has unexpectedly checked scien- 

 tific exploration in South America. Dr. W. C. Fara- 

 bee, the leader of the University of Pennsylvania's 

 expedition up the Amazon, has sent home word that 

 he has had to cut short his journey owing to the fact 

 that " the lack of funds, due to the uneasiness over 

 the European war, made transportation difiicult." 

 The party had, however, already travelled about 4000 

 miles, and made some valuable anthropological collec- 

 tions. 



The eleventh award of the Reuben Harvey Memo- 

 rial triennial prize will be made on July i next. The 

 prize will be awarded to the writer of the best essay, 

 on a subject to be selected by the candidate, showing 

 original research in animal physiology or pathology, 

 the essay to be illustrated by drawings or prepara- 

 tions. The competition is open to all students of 

 the various recognised schools of medicine in Dublin, 

 and to graduates or licentiates of the medical licens- 

 ing bodies in Ireland of not more than three years' 

 standing. The essays must be sent on or before June 

 I next to the registrar of the Royal College of 

 Physicians of Ireland, Dublin. 



The next meeting of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science and of the affiliated scien- 

 tific societies will be held in Philadelphia, and will 

 begin on December 28. The retiring president. Dr. 

 E. B. Wilson, of Columbia University, will introduce 

 the president of the meeting, Dr. C. W. Eliot, of 

 Harvard University, and will give the annual address 

 on some aspects of progress in modern zoolog}'. An 

 interesting event of the meeting will be the first 

 assembly of the newly established section of agricul- 

 ture, which will meet on December 30. The address 

 of the vice-president of the section. Dr. L. H. Bailey, 

 late director of the College of Agriculture at Cornell 

 University, will deal with "The Place of Research 

 and of Publicity in the Forthcoming Country Life 

 Development." A symposium on the general subject 

 of " The Field of Rural Economics " has also been 

 arranged. 



