274 



NATURE 



[April 29, 1920 



Sir C, Hercule? Read. Treasurer: Mr. W. Minet. 

 Director : Sir Edward W. Brabrook. Secretary : Mr, 

 C. R. Peers. Council: Sir W. Martin Conway, Mr. 

 V. B. Crowther-Beynon, Mr. H. R. H. Hall, Mr. 

 W. J. Hemp, Mr. A. F. Hill, Mr. C. H. Jenkinson, 

 Sir Matthew I. Joyce, Mr. C. L. Kingsford, Lt.-Col. 

 G. B. Croft Lyons, Prof. J. L. Myres, Lord North- 

 bourne, Prof. E. Prior, Mr. J. E. Pritchard, Mr. H. W. 

 Sandars, Major G. T. Harley Thomas, Mr. R. Camp- 

 bell Thompson, and Mr. W. H. Aymer Vallance. 



Three important scientific appointments will shortly 

 be made by the British Cotton Industry Research 

 Association, and the council of the association invites 

 applications from qualified candidates. The posts to be 

 filled are those of the heads of the departments of 

 colloid chemistry and physics, organic chemistry, and 

 botany. The minimum salary offered in each case is 

 loooL per annum. Applications, accompanied by the 

 names of two referees, must be received not later 

 than Saturday, May 22. Forms of application and 

 any further information may be obtained from the 

 Director, British Cotton Industry Research Associa- 

 tion, 108 Deansgate, Manchester. 



Influenza is abating somewhat in its severity, 

 according to the latest weekly returns of the Registrar- 

 General. The deaths from the disease for the week 

 ending April 17 numbered only 306 for the ninety-six 

 great towns of England and Wales, whilst for the 

 three preceding weeks the deaths were 392, 379, and 332. 

 A similar decrease is shown in the deaths for London, 

 which for the week ending April 17 numbered loi, and 

 for the three preceding weeks the deaths were 131, 124, 

 and 105, The returns also show a decrease in the deaths 

 from pneumonia and bronchitis. The age incidence of 

 the present influenza epidemic resembles somewhat the 

 character of the attacks in 1918 and 1919, which were 

 entirely different, so far as age incidence goes, from 

 previous attacks since 1890. There seems, however, now 

 a tendency to revert somewhat to the former age inci- 

 dence. In the present epidemic the deaths in London 

 during the last twenty-six weeks numbered 1056, and 

 of these 16 per cent, occurred between the ages of 

 o and 20, 36 per cent, between 20 and 45, and 48 per 

 cent, at ages above 45 years. In the virulent attacks 

 of 19 18 and 19 19 the deaths were about 24 per cent, 

 between the ages of o and 20, 46 per cent, from 20 to 

 45, and 30 per cent, above 45 years, the able-bodied 

 being attacked most severely. The maximum number 

 of deaths in any week in London during the present 

 epidemic was 131, whilst in the summer epidemic of 

 19 18 the deaths in one week numbered 287, and in the 

 autumn of 19 18 the deaths from influenza for two 

 successive weeks, November 2 and 9, amounted to 

 2458 and 2433. For the ninety-six great towns the 

 deaths for the same two weeks in November were 

 respectively 7412 and 7557, against 392 in the week 

 ending March 27 in the present epidemic. 



In Man for April Sir W. Ridgeway describes two 

 wooden Maori daggers, part of a collection brought 

 home by the late Col. Honner after the first Maori 

 war in 1840-41. It was at first suggested that these 

 implements were Potuki, or "flax-beaters," and it 



NO. 2635, VOL. 105] 



was doubted whether the Maori did use daggers. 

 But Mr. Henry Balfour has described a bone dagger 

 from the Chatham Islands, and some cultural simi- 

 larities indicate a link between those islands and 

 New Zealand, especially the Otago district. It is now 

 certain that the Maori did use daggers made of wood 

 and bone. As regards the Potuki, there is a class 

 of beautifully carved examples which can never have 

 been put to any practical use. Their exact function 

 has not been recorded, but they were, perhaps, signs 

 of dignity in the tribe. Sir W. Ridgeway remarks 

 that the paper mulberry, from which tapa cloth was 

 made, was brought to New Zealand by Maori immi- 

 grants. But it did not thrive, and the tapa-beater, so 

 important in the social life of Polynesia, would thus 

 fall out of practical use. " My suggestion is that it 

 retained only a ceremonial significance, and that its 

 parallel straight grooves conditioned the type of 

 decoration which the Maoris subsequently applied 

 to it." 



In the Journal of the Manchester Egyptian and 

 Oriental Society for 1918-19, recently published, Mr. 

 W. J. Perry discusses the significance of the search 

 for amber in antiquity in connection with the mega- 

 lithic problem. He supposes that the amber used for 

 decorative purposes in the Mycenaean age may have 

 been found in the Adriatic. It is not easy, however, 

 to see why it should have been so readily adopted as 

 a form of wealth, as it does not possess the attractive- 

 ness of gold and pearls. Mr. Perry suggests as an 

 explanation of its value that amber, a solidified resin, 

 may have been associated with the productions of cer- 

 tain trees venerated in Egypt as the source of resinous 

 substances used in mummification and other death- 

 rites. As a further explanation he refers to the 

 Chinese use of jade and gold, supposed to convey 

 vitality to those who consumed them. "In the case 

 of the Chinese, whose civilisation can be accounted for 

 on the hypothesis of a cultural movement across Asia 

 from goldfield to goldfield, the desire for life, health, 

 and immortality has played an important part in the 

 production of philosophical systems, and thus it is 

 possible that their civilisation itself owes its existence 

 to that instinctive process." The theory is certainly 

 ingenious, but the evidence in its support is still 

 scanty, and the analogy of Chinese or Egyptian beliefs 

 with the search for amber in Europe must be accepted 

 with some caution. 



The trade routes of the British Empire in Africa 

 is the subject of a paper by Mr. G. F. Scott Elliott 

 in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts for April 2 

 (vol. Ixviii., No. 3515). Mr. Scott Elliott approaches 

 the problem of future rail and steamer routes from 

 a geographical point of view. He emphasises the 

 location of the plateau regions in Central Africa, each 

 of which above 5000 ft. is a possible centre for 

 European settlement, civilisation, and trade. The 

 problem as he sees it is to link these interior regions 

 with British seaports by lines through British terri- 

 tory. He discusses at length the possible routes for 

 railways linking Lakes Nyassa, Tanganyika, Victoria, 

 Edward, and Albert. These lines, with the construc- 

 tion of a railway from Kashitu, on the Bulawayo- 



