January 31, 19 18] 



NATURE 



431 



psychological science in emphasising the intimate way 

 in which physiological factors are bound up with 

 psychical factors in the unified life of the creature. 

 Central to his whole thinking was the idea of the unity 

 of the organism in which mental and motor activities 

 are closely correlated, and he never wavered from this 

 position, which was vigorously expounded in his 

 • Organic to Human," published less than a couple of 

 years ago. Dr. Maudsley was essentially "tough- 

 minded," and his pre-occupation with mental diseases 

 probably exaggerated his distrust of " over-strained 

 idealism of any sort." Deepest in his life, perhaps, 

 was the desire to further by his investigations and 

 thinking a scientific systematisation which would make 

 for the relief of man's estate. Towards that end, ten 

 years ago, he generously contributed 30,000^ to the 

 London County Council for developing the treatment 

 of mental diseases. What we venture to call his mood 

 of scientific meliorism, sometimes shadowed, was ex- 

 pressed in the fine sentence : " By large and close and 

 faithful converse with Nature and human nature in all 

 their moods, aspects, and relations is the solid basis 

 of fruitful ideals and the soundest mental development 

 laid." 



In a recent number of West Africa (January 19) Mr. 

 R. E. Dennett suggests the formation of a Union for 

 the study of the British West African Colonies and the 

 advancement of their interests in this country. Mr. 

 Dennett begins by pointing out how necessary it is 

 that British West Africa should have a showrpom in 

 one of the principal London thoroughfares, where pro- 

 duce and pictures of typical West African scenes could 

 be displayed. The foundation of such a showroom 

 might, he suggests, be the first step towards the 

 formation of a union to co-ordinate work for British 

 West Africa. There would be scope for talent of every 

 kind in this union, since the activities of its sections 

 would range over such diverse subjects as superstitions 

 and mythology, sanitation, forms of government, 

 banking, utilisation of produce, transport, hospitality 

 to distinguished West Africans, and the care of West 

 African students. Much work for West Africa is 

 already being done, as Mr. Dennett admits, by the 

 Imperial Institute, the Royal Colonial Institute, Kew 

 Gardens, and various learned and other societies, and 

 though he disclaims any intention of competing with 

 existing institutions, the details of his scheme include 

 suggestions for some work which is already being 

 done. What is really needed at present is a union the 

 main business of which would be to stirnulate the 

 organisations already at work for West Africa, includ- 

 ing the Government, instead of trying to do any part 

 of the work itself. It is well known, for example, 

 that the quality of much West African produce needs 

 improvement, that the agricultural and forest depart- 

 ments in these territories need larger staffs and more 

 funds, and that further means of transport are re- 

 quired. A union competent to speak for W^est Africa 

 would be usefully employed in directing public atten- 

 tion to these and other equally important matters, and 

 in taking action through the proper channels to get 

 them remedied. If such a union had existed it could 

 scarcely have remained quiet when last month a great 

 part of the exhibition galleries of the Imperial Insti- 

 tute, including the only exhibit of West African produce- 

 in London, was closed to the public by the Office of 

 Works to accommodate a branch of the Ministry of 

 Food. 



Lord Lf.verhulme discusses, in Science Progress 

 for January, the question of the abolition of slums. 

 The slum problem is, he observes, merely a case of 



NO. 2518, VOL. too] 



bad "packing," because, while most towns have slums, 

 the majority of them possess within their boundaries 

 a sufficient area of land to accommodate three times 

 their present population. Lord Leverhulme's sugges- 

 tion is that each municipality should acquire, as occa- 

 sion offers, the fringe of land on its suburbs, and that 

 the municipality could afford to give this land to per- 

 sons ready to build houses thereon. With the general 

 adoption of the Town Planning Act the present scan- 

 dalous condition of things might be removed. 



Sir C. H. Read describes, in Man for January, two 

 bronzes acquired from a Parsi in Bombay, who stated 

 that his family had possessed them from time imme- 

 morial, and that they had been brought bv one of his 

 ancestors from Persia, where they had been attached 

 to the gate of the city whence the Parsi family had 

 come. They are castings by the wax process, known 

 as ctre perdue, and represent animals which at once 

 recall the bull-like monsters of Assyria; but, at the 

 same time, there are differences that may be of some 

 significance. The Assyrian bulls are human-headed, 

 and these also have human heads, but while the model- 

 ling of the bodies suggests a bull, the horns are un- 

 questionably those of a sheep. This sheep has been 

 identified by Lord Rothschild as Ovis orientalis 

 gmelmi, the wild sheep of Asia Minor and Armenia. 

 It is possible that these bronzes were ultimately derived 

 from Assyria, and as the relations between Assyria, 

 Persia, and Armenia were intimate, the storv of the 

 Parsi may be correct. But many questions regarding 

 the style and use of these bronzes,' which will ultimately 

 pass to the British Museum, await further investijja- 

 tion. "" 



It was stated in one of the morning papers a few 

 days ago that "there have recently arrived in Englj^nd 

 evidences of the most important zoological discovery 

 that has come to light since the finding of that strange 

 beast, the okapi. . . . This discovery proves very com- 

 pletely the existence of a new and hitherto unknown 

 species of elephant, a real dwarf elephant." All that 

 has really happened is that two skeletons have just 

 arrived in this country of a "dwarf race of elephant 

 described in the Revue Zoologique Africaine in 1913. 

 Thus the announcement of this "discovery" is some- 

 what belated. The specimens just received are stated 

 to be fully adult examples, but this is not yet certain, 

 and will be determined by Dr. C. W. Andrews, of 

 the British Museum of Natural History, to whom 

 they have been submitted. But we have known of 

 the existence of dwarf elephants in Africa since 1906, 

 when the first of its kind was discovered. This came 

 into the possession of Hagenbeck, the German dealer 

 in live animals, who sold it to the Zoological Society 

 of New York, in the gardens of which it is still living. 

 This animal forms the type of the species Elephas 

 africanus pumilio. The species referred to in 1913 was 

 described under the name Elephas africanus frennseni. 

 The specimen obtained by Hagenbeck now stands about 

 5 ft. high, but whether this is its maximum height is 

 6pen to question, since its growth may have been 

 checked by a troublesome skin disease from which 

 it has long suffered. The specimens described in 1913, 

 from I^-ike Leopold II., measured some 6 ft. in height, 

 which is stated to be the height of the taller of the 

 two animals the skeletons of which have just been 

 received. These may not prove to be adult, so that 

 the precise amount of dwarfness of these "dwarf" 

 elephants has still to be determined, but it seems certain 

 that they are far smaller than the typical African 

 elephant, though they are giants compared with the 

 extinct dwarf elephant of Malta. 



