January 8, 1920] 



NATURE 



4»7 



enable them to make steep landings and short runs 

 when alighting in a restricted space. 



The morning of Friday (September 12) was devoted 

 to electrical papers, and opened with a paper by 

 Capt. J. Robinson on directive wireless telegraphy 

 as applied to aircraft, in which, after explaining the 

 principles involved, he described the various improve- 

 ments developed mainly by himself durir>g the war. 

 This will undoubtedly find an extensive application, 

 not only for aerial, but also for marine navigation. 

 Prof. Fortescue explained the application of the three- 

 electrode thermionic valve as a generator of high- 

 frequency alternating current, and described, with the 

 aid of numerous lantern-slides, the various arrange- 

 ments adopted by the Navy embodying this device 

 for the purposes of radio-telegraphy and telephony. 

 Dr. Eccles followed with two papers describing special 

 arrangements of three electrode valves, one being an 

 improvement on the ordinary method of connection 

 as explained in the previous paper, and the other a 

 relay device whereby a snap of the finger and thumb 

 several feet from a telephone receiver is caused to 

 upset the stabilitv of the device and operate a relay. 

 A paoer on the ignition of gases by hot wires was 

 read by Dr. Thornton, who' reported briefly on some 

 unexpected results obtained, and indicated the lines 

 along which the probable explanation might be 

 found. 



The final day opened with a paper by Comdr. 

 Gwynne on submarine mining; our pre-war mining 

 policy was referred to and compared with that of 

 other countries, as was also our position at the out- 

 break of war. The author discussed the develop- 

 ment of the various types of mines during the war 

 in so far as was permissible. This was very aptly 

 followed by a oaoer on the paravane or otter, which 

 was devised by Comdr. Burney_, and proved a very 

 effective weanon against both mines and submarines. 

 .Mr. R. F. McKay, the author of the paper, also 

 showed a number of kinematograph films illustrating 

 the various stages in their manufacture and applica- 

 tion. Prof. Thornton read a very interesting and 

 suggestive paper on the relation between the thermal 

 conductivitv and the velocity of sound in insulating 

 materials. The meetings concluded w'ith a shortnote 

 bv Prof. Brvan on the improvement of the efficiency 

 of radiators in the heating of rooms. 



ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



IN Section H (.Anthropology), which met under Ihe 

 presidency of Prof. Arthur Keith, communica- 

 tions were fewer in number than usual, as one after- 

 noon's session was given up to an excursion to the 

 museum at Dorchester. In quality, however, they 

 were quite up to the average-. Tin- meetings were 

 well attended, and, as a rule, a high level of dis- 

 cussion was maintained. 



Several papers dealt with physical anthropologv and 

 questions relating to racial distribution. Prof. F. G. 

 Parsons, in his paper on " Racial Characters of the 

 .Modern Briton," raised the question of the relative 

 value and practicabilitv in use of the various methods 

 of estimating race. In discussing the value of the 

 cranial index he insisted on the contrast between the 

 tvpical German population and that of the British 

 I.sles; the modern Briton had, on the average, the 

 lowest cranial index in Europe, while a methodical 

 examination of German prisoners of war had revealed 

 that the Germans, even in Schleswig-Holstein, were 

 round-headed. The Germans, in association with 

 their Pan-Germanic views, had refused to collect or 

 publish the evidence which showed the facts. 

 NO. 2619, VOL. 104] 



Prof. H. J. Fleure, in a comparison of an ancient 

 and a surviving type of man, recorded the survival 

 in remote parts of Wales of a primitive type which, 

 in common with those found in similar "nests" in 

 Europe and North Africa, resembled in many ways 

 pre-Neolithic types such as that of Combe Capelle. 

 This type, it was suggested, may have contribut<*d to 

 a considerable degree towards the evolution of the 

 Mediterranean and the Nordic types. Mr. L. H. 

 Dudley Buxton submitted the results of measure- 

 ments, both of the living and of ancient skulls, made 

 in Cyprus. Both series of measurements showed a 

 common differentiation into two distinct types. 



An important communication on the Finnic 

 problem by Mr. H. Peake dealt witli the origin and 

 relation of the Nordic and Mongoloid elements in the 

 Finnic population in the light of a fresh examination 

 of the arch.Eeological evidence. The first wave of 

 these Mongoloid people would appear to have arrived 

 in the Baltic region on the retreat of the Ice Sheet; 

 towards the close of the Neolithic age they were 

 driven northward by the arrival of the Nordic people 

 in Scania and West Gothland. In the middle of the 

 Bronze age further Mongoloid peoples were occupy- 

 ing the margins of the Finnish lakes. The present 

 Nordic element in the population was traceable to 

 an immigration of Nordic people from Sweden which 

 took place about a.d. iooo. 



Miss M. --X. Czaplicka discussed the relation of 

 history and ethnology with special reference to North 

 Central Asia. The present classification for Eastern 

 Europe and North and Central Asia was historical 

 rather than ethnological, and an uncritical adoption 

 of the history of the Jinghis Khan period had led to 

 the use of such terms as " Mongolic type," although 

 such an original type did not exist in the sense in 

 which there was a "Tungusic" or a "Turkic" type'. 



In prehistoric archaeology a communication by Dr. 

 R. R. Marett described recent excavations in jersey 

 on the site of La Cotte de St. Breladc, and also in 

 a recentlv discovered cave on the north coast of the 

 island. In the latter, shells of various species, in- 

 cluding Astralium rugosum, which is at present con- 

 fined to southern waters, and pieces of antler, which 

 Dr. Andrews is disposed to bring into close relation 

 with Pliocene deer from Auvergne, have been found 

 in hard breccia, associated with small stalactites of 

 unique occurrence in the island. A communication 

 from Mr. T. W. M. de Gu^rin described a sculptured 

 human figure .recently discovered on the dolmen of 

 Dehus, Guernsey. There is evidence that the wor- 

 .ship of the divinity represented existed for a very long 

 period in the island, extending probably from the 

 /Enolithic until well into the Iron age. In a joint 

 meeting with Section C (Geology) Dr. Reginald Smith 

 opened a discussion on the age of the flint implements 

 of the Bournemouth district. 



In Mediterranean archceology Prof. J. L. Myres 

 described excavations on sites in Cj'prus in 1913, 

 among them being the necropolis at Lapathos on the 

 north coast, in which a sequence of tombs was ob- 

 tained covering the "early" and "middle" periods 

 of the Bronze age. The date-marks showed that 

 the "middle" period began not earlier than the 

 twelfth dynastv of Egvpt. Mr. Stanley Casson ably 

 summarised the results of discoveries (mostly in 

 Macedonia) made in the Balkans during the war._ It 

 is interesting to note that the evidence thus obtained 

 goes to show that the early culture of Macedonia 

 pertains to the north rather than to the south. 



A number of papers dealt with primitive religious 

 cults, amongst them being a detailed sTud-.- of the 

 death ritual of Eddystone Island of the Scliimons 

 bv Mr. A. M. Hocart, and an examination of the 



