April i, 1920] 



NATURE 



153 



show up in the diagrams connecting tropical tem- 

 peratures with rainfall in New South Wales, South 

 Australia, and the Upper Darling. Tinted diagrams 

 are given showing for the whole continent the monthly 

 departures from mean minimum temperature and 

 mean rainfall, except for the summer months when 

 rain is inappreciable. W. W. B. 



Prehistoric Man and Racial Characters. 



THE annual meeting of the Prehistoric Society of 

 East Anglia was held on March 23 at the rooms 

 of the Geological Society, the members of the Pre- 

 historic Society being the guests of the Royal Anthro- 

 pological Institute. The chair was taken by Prof. 

 J. E. Marr, who delivered his presidential address. 

 His subject was "The Relationship of the Various 

 Periods of Prehistoric Man to the Great Ice Age." 

 He regarded the existence of Pliocene man in East 

 Anglia as proved, and also accepted Mr. Reid Moir's 

 views that the "Mid-Glacial" implements of Ipswich 

 were of Lower Palaeolithic age, and that Lower Mous- 

 terian implements were incorporated in the Chalky 

 Boulder Clav. He brought forward confirmatory evi- 

 dence of this from the drainage area of the Great 

 Ouse basin, and regarded the Chelles-Archeul period 

 as intermediate between the two glaciations marked 

 by the Cromer Till and Chalky Boulder Clay respec- 

 tively. After the formation of the latter clay there 

 seemed to be a recession of ice followed by a re- 

 advance in Magdalenian times, but, as O. Hoist 

 argties, this need not indicate an inter-glaclal period. 

 If there was a Pliocene glaciation in this country, 

 the evidence seems to point to two succeeding glacia- 

 tions in Pleistocene times, the last being marked by 

 a period of ice-recession in Aurignac-Solutr^ times, in 

 which case Lower Palaeolithic man lived between the 

 second and third glaciations, and the men of the 

 periods from Mousterian to Magdalenian inclusive 

 during the period of the third glaciation, with its 

 interval of temporary ice-retreat. The questions of 

 earth movements and diversions of river drainac^e 

 during the periods under consideration were brieflv 

 considered. 



The presidential address was followed bv a paper 

 bv Mr. H. Dewey entitled " Flat-based Celts from 

 Kent, Hampshire, and Dorset," dealing with a group 

 of implements that were found lyin£? on the surface in 

 various parts of those counties. They differ in out- 

 line from one another, but agree in possessing flat 

 bases. Some of the bases were produced bv the 

 removal of a single flake, and retain the terminal cone 

 of percussion. Others resulted from the removal of a 

 number of flakes from the sides of the implement, 

 with the obvious intention of making the base level 

 and flat. Most of them are pointed at one end, and 

 have a horizontal chisel-edge at the ooposite ex- 

 tremity. In their general form they resemble fat 

 «lugs or caterpillars. Sir John Evans, figures some 

 examples. Their age is unknown, but would bv 

 most archaeologists be assigned to the Neolithic period. 

 The discovery, however, in gravels of similar forms 

 renders hasty classification hazardous. 



A very fine collection of stone iinnlcnients from 

 Grime's Graves was exhibited by Dr. .\. E. Peake. 



In the evenintf, at a joint meeting of the Roval 

 .'\nthropological Institute and the Prehistoric Society 

 of East Anglia, Sir Everard im Thurn in the chair. 

 Prof. Arthur Keith gave an address entitled "How 

 Far_ can Osteological Characters Help in Fixing the 

 -Antiquity of Human Remains?" Certain characters 

 of the nose, orbit, palate, and lower jaw have never 

 been seen in British skulls belonging to any period 



NO. 2631, VOL. 105] 



older than the Roman occupation, and become in- 

 creasingly frequent as we approach the present time. 

 These characters consist of (i) the " margination " or 

 flanging of the lower border of the nasal opening; 



(2) the retreat of the incisor part of the alveolus of 

 the upper jaw, leaving the nasal spine and lower 

 margin of the nose as an overhanging jib and ledge ; 



(3) the reduction in size of the malar bone, leading to 

 the lower margin of the orbit being' depressed in a 

 downward and outward direction ; (4) the arching of 

 the upper margin of the orbit; and (5) a reduction in 

 the development of the angular part of the lower jaw. 

 If these characters are found in a British skull, the 

 conclusion may be drawn with certainty that it is of 

 a Roman or post-Roman date. Contraction of the 

 palate was also a character unknown in Britain until 

 a Late Celtic date. The rounded type of head found 

 in graves of the beaker period in iBritain were not 

 known in England before Late Neolithic times, but 

 pure representations of this tvpe of skull are still to 

 be seen in our modern population. .\ tvpe of skull 

 was found in the deeper deposits of the Thames bed 

 which were identical with the skulls found under the 

 Neolithic pile-dwellings of the Swiss lakes. So far as 

 ouf knowledge of Neanderthal man will take us, we 

 are justified in regarding him as confined to the 

 Mousterian period of European culture. If any 

 characteristic part of the skull or skeleton of this race 

 were discovered in an undisturbed deposit, that deposit 

 may be safely assigned to the period of the Mous- 

 terian culture. 



A College of Tropical Agriculture.^ 



A STRONG Committee was appointed in August 

 last to report to the Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies upon the desirability of establishing a tropical 

 agricultural college in the West Indies and upon 

 matters connected therewith. Its report has just 

 appeared, and is one which may be fraught with 

 important results for the future of agriculture in our 

 extensive tropical Dependencies, more especially in the 

 West Indies, where, thanks to the work of the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture, general agricul- 

 tural prosperity has in the last two decades been placed 

 upon a much sounder footing. It is significant of 

 the trend of modern practice that a Committee like 

 this, composed of planters, commercial magnates, and 

 scientific men, as well as administrative officials, 

 should have reported unanimously in favour of the 

 establishment of such a college. 



The selection of a site affords much ground for 

 discussion, and after careful consideration Trinidad 

 was chosen as being near to the headquarters of the 

 Imperial Department, and having good communica- 

 tions with the other islands, besides a great variety 

 of crops in cultivation. Incidentally, in view of the 

 growing importance of oil in that colony, a sub- 

 sidiary school of oil technology is proposed. A post- 

 script' to the report, however, suggests that the last 

 word may not yet have been said on the subject of 

 location. 



A governing body of about twenty-three, represent- 

 ing all the different interests involved, is proposed, 

 and a staff of ten professors (agriculture, mycology, 

 entomology, agricultural chemistry, organic chemistry^ 

 agricultural bacteriology, agricultural and physio- 

 logical botany, genetics, sugar technology, and agri- 

 cultural engineering and physics), besides lecturers in 

 stock and veterinary science and in bookkeeping. 



Considerable interest attaches to a curriculum sug- 



1 West Indies. Report of the Tropical Agricultural College Committee. 

 (H.M. Stationery Office, 1920.) Price arf. 



