May 20, 1920] 



NATURE 



367 



of this kind the whole of the speakers were unanimous 

 in condemning the present attitude in official circles 

 towards inventors. It was stated by more than one 

 speaker that those who came forward during the war 

 with ideas and inventions that had made our success 

 possible had not only received no reward, but had in 

 several cases been deprived even of the merit of their 

 ideas by officials who were themselves devoid of the 

 necessary technical or scientific knowledge. The 

 chairman, Mr. Walter F. Reid, stated that the work- 

 ing of the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors 

 supplied abundant evidence of the difficulty experi- 

 <-nced by inventors in obtaining any recognition. 

 Although large sums were now being devoted to re- 

 search, he pointed out that such work was only 

 the raw material for the development of industry ; it 

 was the application of that raw material by the in- 

 ventor which "resulted in the advance of industrial 

 processes. The mass of facts as ascertained by re- 

 search was already enormous ; what is now required 

 is inventive genius to make use of those facts, which 

 Mr. Reid compared to the bricks and stones with 

 which an architect might produce a building, but 

 which by themselves were of little practical use. 



Influenza, according- to the Registrar-General's 

 return for the week ending May i, continues greatly 

 on the decline over the whole country, the deaths for 

 the ninety-six great towns numbering only 202 and in 

 London 45. For the twenty-eight weeks from 

 October 25, 1919, to May i, 1920, during which in- 

 fluenza was practically epidemic, the deaths from the 

 disease in London were 1160, and the deaths from all 

 causes 35,276. Deaths from influenza were 3 per 

 cent, of the total deaths, whilst the deaths from pneu- 

 monia were 11 per cent, and from bronchitis 10 per 

 cent. Between the ages o and 20 the deaths from 

 influenza were i:; per cent, of the total, 20 to 45 years 

 36 per cent., 45 to 65 years 28 per cent., and above 

 65 years 21 per cent. The age-incidence of the deaths 

 calculated on the total deaths for the several ages was 

 respectively 4 per cent, for 5 to 20, 8 per cent, for 20 to 

 45, and 4 per cent, for 45 to 65. The insignificance of 

 this is shown when compared with the deaths during 

 the virulent epidemic of 19 18-19, >" which during 

 thirty-one weeks from October 19, 1918, to May 10, 

 19 19, the deaths from influenza were 47 per cent, for 

 ages 5 to 20 of those for the corresponding ages from 

 all causes, 52 per cent, for 20 to 45, and 22 per cent, 

 for ages 45 to 65. During the three weeks ending 

 .'\pril 10, the worst stage of the present epidemic, the 

 deaths between 20 and 45, the ages attacked most 

 severely, were only 21 per cent, of the total deaths 

 from all causes, whilst in the epidemic of 

 1918-19 the deaths for ages 20 to 45 in the three weeks 

 ending November 16, 1918, were 73 per cent, of the 

 total at the corresponding ages from all causes. In 

 the present epidemic deaths were most numerous 

 during a spell of exceptionally mild weather. 



A BRIEF, but very interesting, study of the pygmies 

 of Central Africa by Mr. Herbert Lang appears in 

 Natural History, the journal of the American Museum 

 of Natural History (vol. xix.), and its value is further 

 enhanced by a number of most excellent photographs. 

 .Anthropologists will welcome this contribution, since 

 NO. 2638, VOL. 105] 



it summarises the results of a prolonged study of 

 these people made during the American Museum 

 Congo Expedition (1909-15). During that time more 

 than a hundred life-masks, representing sixteen 

 different tribes of Central African races, were taken. 

 Some extremely useful observations on the physical 

 characteristics of the pygmies are made, as well a& 

 on their mode of life, customs, and language. By 

 way of a supplement, perhaps, to Mr. Lang's paper, 

 this number also contains an essay on "The Pygmy 

 Races of Man," by Mr. Louis R. Sullivan, of the 

 Anthropological Department of the American Museum, 

 illustrated by a number of useful tables and diagrams. 



The eighteenth annual report of the Rhodesia 

 Museum, Bulawayo, affords instructive reading. It 

 is evident that but for the assistance the museum is 

 able to afford the mining industry it would cease to 

 exist. The public generally seems to regard the 

 institution, at most, with but a mild interest. Hence, 

 from lack of funds, every aspect of its work is ham- 

 pered. The building is all too small to house its col- 

 lections, and the provision made for the storage and 

 exhibition of specimens is utterly inadequate. It is 

 more than probable that if a better display could be 

 made enthusiasm might be kindled. This state of 

 affairs is lamentable, for, as matters stand, it is im- 

 possible to secure that record of the fauna and flora 

 of this important area of Africa which is so essential 

 in a country being rapidly transformed by the march 

 of civilisation. Dr. G. Arnold, the curator, is evi- 

 dently having an uphill fight; but, in the interests of 

 science, it is to be hoped that the tremendous possibili- 

 ties of a well-organised museum will soon be realised. 



The Pueblo stage of culture in south-western 

 Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, the 

 domain of the cliff-dwellers, has naturally attracted 

 much attention. The material for studying it is wide 

 and scattered, and it is well that a competent archaeo- 

 logist, Mr. J. W. Fewkes, has prepared a monograph 

 on the subject, entitled " Prehistoric Villages, Castles, 

 and Towers of South-Western Colorado," published 

 as Bulletin No. 70 of the Bureau of American Ethno- 

 logy. The general conclusions at which Mr. Fewkes 

 has arrived are : The buildings express the communal 

 thought of the btiilders, since they were constructed 

 by groups of people rather than by individuals. The 

 view that either the Pueblo people were derived from 

 Mexican tribes or, as it was customary in the seven- 

 teenth and eighteenth centuries to suppose, their de- 

 scendants had made their way south and developed 

 into the more advanced culture of the Aztecs, is not 

 supported by architectural data observed among these 

 two peoples; it is preferable to assume that the cus- 

 tom of building stone houses was not derived from 

 any locality not now included in the Pueblo area, but 

 that it developed as a local growth, the earliest stages, 

 as well as the most complex forms, being of local 

 origin. That the buildings antedate the coming of the 

 white men is shown by the absence of mention of 

 them in any history; no European objects have been 

 found at the Pueblos, and the buildings and pottery 

 have no affinity with any villages inhabited when the 

 Spanish entered the south-west. 



