426 



NATURE 



[March 3, 1892 



for by local environment ; constant civil intertribal war being the 

 means of isolating communities, so that no friendly intercourse is 

 held, by reason of which, together with other attendant causes, an 

 incongruity of language may have unknowingly been established. 

 With reference to geology, Mr. Thomson said it was some- 

 what remarkable that the general geological features of British 

 Papua are in a very considerable degree identical in character 

 with those of Australia, several specimens being coincident with 

 those of the Silurian series from gold-fields in New South Wales, 

 while some of the fossiliferous rocks were obtained from beds of 

 clay similar to those at Geelong and Cape Otway in Victoria. 

 Mineral areas of great value might yet await discovery by the 

 penetrating eyes of British pluck and enterprise in Papua. 



SECTION F. 



ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE AND STATISTICS. 

 Mr. R. Teece, President, chose for the subject of his open- 

 ing address, "The New Theory of the Relation of Profit and 

 Wages." Papers were contributed by Mr. Alfred de Lissa, 

 Sydney, on " The Organization of Industry " ;by the Hon. N. ). 

 Brown, Tasmania, on " The Incidence of Taxation " ; by Mr. 

 H. H. Hayter, Government Statibtician, Victoria, on " Disturb- 

 ance of Population Estimates by Defective Records " ; by Mr. 

 A. J. Ogilvy, on " Is Capital the Result of Abstinence ? " ; by 

 Mrs. A. Morton, Tasmania, on "The Past Attitude of Capital 

 towards Labour, and the Present Attitude of Labour towards 

 Capital " ; by Mr. T. A. Coghlan, Government Statistician, 

 N.S.W., on "The Wealth of Australasia " ; by Mr. A. J. 

 Taylor, Hobart, on " The Value of Labour in relation to the 

 Production of Wealth regarded from the Standpoint of a 

 Physicist " ; and by Mr. E. P. Nesbit, South Australia, on 

 "Insanity and Crime." 



SECTION G. 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 The Rev. Lorimer Fison, President, said in the course of his 

 opening address that in anthropological study the two main 

 things required were first a patient continuance in collecting 

 facts, and second the faculty of seeing in them what is seen by 

 the natives themselves. But the natural tendency to form a 

 theory as soon as a fact was seized, and looking at facts in 

 savagery from the mental standpoint of civilized man, would 

 lead investigators into fatal mistakes. The best way to gain 

 information was to live with the natives, learn their language, 

 and gain their confidence, or get information from the men living 

 amongst them. References to aborigines, their manners and 

 customs, in books, might be collected and classified by many 

 readers, and thus facilitate investigation. In conclusion he 

 dwelt upon the magnificent and all but untrodden field afforded 

 by British New Guinea and its outlying groups of islands ; and 

 two extremely valuable books — the Rev. Dr. Codrington's on 

 " The Melanesian Tribes," and " The Maori Polynesian Com- 

 parative Dictionary," by Mr. Edward Tregear, of New Zealand 

 — were recommended for study. 



The Rev. Dr. Gill, who has spent thirty-three years as a 

 missionary in the Hervey Islands, read papers on " The Story 

 of Tie and Rie" and "The Omens of Pregnancy," the latter 

 having reference to superstitions still current in the island of 

 Mangaia. 



A paper on " New Britain and its People " was read by the 

 Rev. B. Danks. According to the author, the bush people 

 differ very much from the coast tribes, the latter being evidently 

 invaders and conquerors. 



Some interesting details as to " Sydney Natives Fifty Years 

 ago," were given by the Rev. W. B. Clarke. Among other 

 papers were the following ; " Group Marriage and Relation- 

 ship" and "The Nair Polyandry and the Dieri-Dieri Pirauru," 

 by ihe Rev. L. Fison ; "The Samoa and Loyalty Islands," by 

 the Rev. S.Ella; "The Cave Paintings of Australia," by the 

 Rev. J. Matthew ; "The New Hebrides," by the Rev. D. Mac- 

 donald ; " The Origin of the Sense of Duty," by Mr. Alex. 

 Sutherland ; "Notes on the Taunese," by the Rev. W. Gray. 



SECTION H. 



SANITARY SCIENCE AND HYGIENE. 



Prof. W. H. Warren, of the University of Sydney, gave in his 



residential address a sketch of sanitary engineering from its 



earliest days, and then proceeded to discuss the various schemes 



No: II 66. VOL. 45] 



which have been proposed for disposing of the sewerage of 

 towns. 



Dr. James read a paper on " Cremation as a Step in Sanitary 

 Reform." Papers were also contributed by Dr. E. O. Giblin, on 

 "The Etiology of Typhoid"; by Miss Violet Mackenzie, on 

 "Physical Education and Exercise in Schools" ; by Dr. Bar- 

 nard, on " Infection in Disease" ; and by Dr. A. Moulton, on 

 " Sewerage of a Seaside City." 



SECTION L 



LITERATURE AND FINE ARTS. 



This Section, although it assembled for the last lime at the 

 Hobart meeting, proved to be very popular. The President, 

 Prof. Morris, of the University of Melbourne, referred in his 

 opening address to the subject of Universities in Australia. 

 He urged that it was not wise to multiply Universities. " In this 

 matter," he said, "the law of supply and demand cannot be 

 trusted, if it ever can be in the matter of education; and the 

 Legislatures should be very careful not to permit the promiscuous 

 conferring of degrees. Let them increase teaching facilities as 

 much as generosity may make possible ; do not lower the stan- 

 dard, as at least in the higher education competition does. In 

 America there are five or six degree-giving Universities to every 

 million inhabitants, and a degree by itself has no value. If 

 Australia were one country, as it ought to be, l;vvo Universities 

 would probably be quite enough, or, better still, even one, but it 

 would need to be arranged somewhat on the pattern of the Univer- 

 sity of New Zealand, with teaching bodies in different places, but 

 one uniform standard of examination for each degree. This 

 would lead to emulation between the different teaching Colleges, 

 and would surely have happy results. Unfortunately Australia 

 is not one, and at present it looks as if, in spite of the wishes of 

 the people, our absurd divisions were likely to continue. Yet it 

 is worth consideration whether the Universities might not agree 

 upon a common standard, and arrange that the courses in the 

 Universities of the different colonies should be parallel and 

 homogeneous. Educated men should be the first to show that 

 the day of discord is over, and to welcome the arrival of unity 

 and co-operation." 



Among the contributions to the proceedings of this Section 

 were papers on "Elementary Science in Primary Schools," by 

 Mr. James Rule, senior inspector of schools, Tasmania; 

 " Secondary Education in Australia," by Mr. Percy A. Robin ; 

 and " The Rationale of Examinations," by Mr. F. J. Young. 

 A Committee was formed to establish a Home Reading Union 

 for Australia. 



SECTION J. 



ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE. 



Mr. C. Napier Bell, President, referred in his opening 

 address to sanitary engineering. In Australia, he said, the 

 best attention of engineers should be devoted to sanitary 

 engineering ; first, to cleanse the towns, and second, to save the 

 sewage to irrigate the land. On this subject Australian 

 engineers should pause before copying the practice of Europe, 

 which, enjoying an abundant rainfall, has never felt the same 

 necessity for irrigation, and has had abundant stores of fossil 

 manure to draw upon. Water irrigation was even more 

 important, and he foresaw for engineers a noble task in providing 

 irrigation for Australia. After dealing with the irrigation works 

 of the older countries, he touched upon the importance of 

 mining and electrical engineering. Then he remarked the 

 neglect of warming and ventilation by architects and engineers, 

 and argued that in the climate of Australia the art of cooling 

 must certainly become as important as that of heating. In 

 conclusion, he explained the necessity for sound theoretical and 

 scientific knowledge in the engineer, and said that if the people 

 of the colonies would entertain the honourable ambition, once 

 more popular than now, of being remembered to the distant 

 ages of the future, they must emulate those mighty peoples of 

 the past who left imperishable records of their life in the ruins of 

 their vast public works. 



Among the papers read in this Section was one by Mr. Edward 

 Dobson, on "The Evidence for the Prevalence of Human 

 Habitations in Prehistoric Times." It was devoted to 

 showing that, whilst rectangular forms prevailed in the early 

 buildings of the East and in North America, the circular form 

 had prevailed through Africa (with the exception of the Nile 

 Valley) and through Switzerland and Northern Europe, in 



