176 



NATURE 



[May 2, 1918 



recent migration, the old religion of the images was 

 blended into, and perpetuated by, the more recent 

 culture. 



The conclusions of Mrs. Scoresby Routledge have 

 been extended by a second paper in the same issue of 

 Folk-lore by Mr. Henry Balfour on the ethnological 

 affinities of the natives of Easter Island. He 

 arrives at the conclusion that the island culture 

 is composite, and exhibits traces of fusion of 

 at least two stocks. The first was a Mela- 

 nesian migration, which introduced the practice 

 of distending the ear-lobe, a characteristic style in art, 

 certain special types of stone implements, and the cult 

 of the frigate-bird, which was designed as a magical 

 method of increasing the food supply. This Mela- 

 nesian culture was submerged by a wave of Polynesian 

 immigrants, to whom is due a new bird cult, aiming 

 at increasing in a like magical way the supply of birds 

 and eggs. This culture seems to be closely allied to 

 that of the Solomon Islands, and "it seems likely that 

 the symbolism of many of the ideographic signs em- 

 ployed in ithe Easter Island script may be explained 

 by a study on the spot of closely similar designs still 

 used in the Solomon Islands, the symbolic significance 

 of which might be ascertained before it is too late." 

 Thus a survey of the materials collected by Mr. and 

 Mrs. Scoresby Routledge, interpreted by the wide 

 ■ethnographical knowledge of Mr. Henry Balfour, seems 

 to bring us at last within reach of a solution of the 

 mystery of Easter Island. It may be hoped that the 

 clues suggested by him will be followed by some care- 

 ful local anthropologist. 



SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES OF THE 

 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

 'X'HE report of the secretary of the Smithsonian In- 

 ■*■ stitution for the year ending June 30, 1917, has 

 been received from Washington. It reviews the affairs 

 of the institution, summarises briefly the operations of 

 its several branches, and, in addition, contains, in the 

 form of appendices, detailed reports by the assistant- 

 secretary and others directly in charge of its various 

 activities. 



The permanent fund of the institution now amounts 

 to 2oo,oooi., the limit authorised by Congress. The 

 income during the year under review reached 17,730^., 

 and with the cash balance from the previous year the 

 total resources for the financial year amounted to 

 26,672/. The disbursements for the same period were 

 24,830!. 



The former secretary of the institution, the late Prof. 

 S. P. Langley, demonstrated in 1896 the feasibility of 

 mechanical flight by a machine heavier than the air 

 propelled by its own power. As an indication of 

 America's debt to his researches, his name is fittingly 

 preserved in the name "Langley Field," a tract of 

 some 1800 acres near Hampton, Va., where important 

 experiments in aviation are now being carried on. 

 The large machine with which Prof. Langley experi- 

 mented in 1903 proved its worth and its capability of 

 flight during the year reviewed by the report. The 

 institution ^ has established a research laboratory at 

 Langley Field for scientific investigations, and among 

 several . sub-committees engaged in the study of aero- 

 nautic problems may be mentioned those on aerial 

 mail service, aero torpedoes, aircraft communicating, 

 airplane mapping, the relation of the atmosphere to 

 aeronautics, and the construction and navigation of 

 aircraft. 



The usual activities of the institution were continued 

 during the year in carrying out one of its fundamental 

 objects, the increase of knowledge. Various explora- 

 tions and researches were inaugurated or participated 

 NO. 2531, VOL. lOl] 



in by the institution, covering the different divisions 

 of astronomical, anthropological, biological, and geo- 

 logical science ; but the secretary points out that opjjor- 

 tunities for undertaking important lines of investiga- 

 tion are constantly being lost through lack of means 

 to carry them into execution. Moreover, several pro- 

 posed expeditions to various parts of the world have 

 been delayed temporarily by the war. 



The report directs attention again to the work of 

 the Research Corporation, organised in 1912, and hav- 

 ing as its officers men particularly interested in the 

 development of industry. The principal income of the 

 corporation is derived from royalties for the use of the 

 Cottrell process for the electrical precipitation of sus- 

 pended particles. Dr. F. G. Cottrell, the inventor of 

 the process, offered his patents to the Smithsonian 

 Institution, but as it was impracticable for the insti- 

 tution to administer them commercially, the Research 

 Corporation was organised for that purpose. The cor- 

 poration seeks to do for industry what other institu- 

 tions are doing for science, for medicine, and for the 

 improvement of social conditions. An annual fellow- 

 ship has been established "open to general competi- 

 tion for the purpose of encouraging and assisting men 

 of science in the prosecution of their investigations." 

 To the successful competitor the corporation offers an 

 honorarium of 500Z, and the assistance of the coipora- 

 tion in securing the most favourable opportunity for 

 prosecuting the particular object of study. 



The additions to the libraries of the institution and 

 its branches during the year numbered more than 

 9000 volumes and pamphlets. Among important gifts 

 were a first consignment of 561 volumes and 293 

 pamphlets, part of the botanical library of Dr. J. D. 

 Smith, of Baltimore, and the scientific library of Dr. 

 E. A. Mearns, an American zoologist who died in 

 1916. 



With the secretary's report for 1917 may be noticed g 

 conveniently the annual report of the IBoard of Regents ■ 

 of the Smithsonian Institution for the year ending 1 

 June 30, 1916, which has now come to hand. This 

 handsome and well-illustrated volume of 608 pages 

 includes the secretary's report for 1916, to which we 

 directed attention last year; but its most attractive 

 feature is the comprehensive general appendix, with 

 its invaluable selection of miscellaneous scientific 

 memoirs intended for the use of correspondents of the 

 institution, teachers, and other workers engaged in the 

 promotion of knowledge. Among the memoirs are 

 original contributions, translations from foreign period- 

 icals, and reprints from scientific serial publications 

 printed in English. 



The original contributions include papers by Prof. 

 C. G. Abbot, director of the Astrophysical Observatory 

 of the institution, on news from the stars ; Prof. 

 Paul Bartsch, curator of marine invertebrates in the 

 U.S. National Museum, on pirates of the deep — stories i 

 of the squid and octopus; Prof. Albert Mann, on I 

 the economic importance of the diatoms; Mr. W. E. a 

 SafTord, economic botanist to the U.S. Department 

 of Agriculture, on narcotic plants and stimulants of 

 the ancient Americans; Dr. J. W. Fewkes, on a pre- 

 historic Mesa Verde Pueblo and its people; and 

 Mr. Van H. Manning, on mine safety devices de- 

 veloped by the United States Bureau of Mines. 



The translations include an address by Prof. A. 

 Pictet, professor of chemistry at the University of 

 Geneva, on molecular structure and life, published in 

 the Revue Sdentifique and the author's " Extrait des 

 Archives des Sciences physiques et naturelles, Geneva, 

 1915"; a lecture delivered in German in 1914 in 

 Vienna by Prof. F. Berwerth, on the origin of meteor- 

 ites ; and a lecture given in French by Prof. M. Caul- 

 lery, exchange professor at Harvard University in 

 1916, on the present state of the problem of evolution. 



