30 



SS 



NATURE 



[October 5, 



1893 



Scandinavian objects, that in England the Teutonic peoples 

 found the British and Romano-British culture already exist- 

 ing on their arrival, while there was no parallel influence to 

 modify the style of Scandinavian art. The author discussed 

 the Scandinavian types of sword and spear, which presented 

 both remarkable likenesses and differences when compared with 

 those which gave their name to the Saxons (sword-men) and the 

 Angles (spear-men). The boar-crest on the helmet also appeared 

 to be a point of similarity. Numerous examples were adduced 

 to show how designs borrowed from existing art were modified 

 to suit Teutonic taste in the English series, which herein came 

 nearer to the French and Belgian than to the Scandinavian. 

 As illustrations of the development of style, the ornamental 

 fibulas or brooches were of especial importance, and a number 

 of types were instanced which showed the fundamental likeness 

 of Teutonic taste on both sides of the North Sea, combined with 

 differences in detail. Summing up his results. Prof. Hildebrand 

 concluded that a common Teutonic taste was the source of the 

 art styles both of Scandinavia and of Saxon England ; that the 

 Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon races were of closely allied 

 Teutonic descent, but that in the incessant movements character- 

 istic of that stock, the two branches were separated from one 

 another and developed independently ; that the Kentish Jutes 

 and the Saxons of England came not from Scandinavia, but 

 from Germany ; but that the case was not clear with regard to 

 the Angles, who might possibly not be of German origin, but 

 may have been settled at one time in the south-west corner of 

 Scandinavia. 



In a paper on the "Origin and Development of Early 

 Christian Art," Mr. J. Romilly Allen traced the various 

 decorative elements found in early Christian art in Grea 

 Britain to their source, and showed in what way the native 

 styles of art existing in this country at the time of the intro- 

 duction of Christianity (circa A.D. 450) were influenced, first 

 by the Italo-Byzantine art, which came in with the importation 

 of the illuminated manuscripts used in the services of the church, 

 and subsequently by the coming in contact of the Anglo-Saxon 

 and Scandinavian conquering races with the Celtic and other 

 populations already inhabiting the British Isles. 



The following papers were also read : — Note on an imple- 

 ment of hafted bone, with tooth of hippopotamus inserted, from 

 Calf Hole, near Grassington, by the Rev. E. Jones ; the pre- 

 historic evolution of theories of punishment, revenge, and atone- 

 ment, by G. Hartwell Jones ; four as a sacred number, by Miss 

 A. W. Buckland. 



On Saturday the following papers were read : — On ancient 

 metal implements from Egypt and Lachish, by Dr. J. H. Glad- 

 stone, F. R. S. ; notes on flint saws and sickles, by Dr. R. Munro ; 

 prehistoric remains in Crete, by J. L. Myres ; funeral rites and 

 ceremonies among the Tshinyai or Tshinyangwe, by Lionel 

 Decle ; the Arungo and Marombo ceremonies among the 

 Tshinyangwe, by Lionel Decle ; the Ma-Goa, by Lionel Decle. 



On Monday, a paper by Mr. Herbert Ward was read, entitled 

 "Ethnographical Notes on the Congo Tribes." In it the 

 author gave a sketch of all the salient features of native life in 

 the Congo region, the subjects treated at greatest length being 

 those relating to superstition and general customs. In the 

 description of the " N'Kimba" ceremony of the Lower Congo 

 natives, the motive for this remarkable "secret society " was, 

 for the first time, explained. 



Dr. Crochley Clapham read a paper on "The Mad 

 Head," in which he said that the older phrenology of 

 Gall had been superseded by Ferrier's cerebral localisa- 

 tion. He then gave some results of his examination of 

 nearly 4000 insane heads drawn from eight asylums in the 

 north of England and the south of Scotland, and compared 

 with a number of sane heads. Insane heads he found to show 

 a larger average size than sane ones, though insane brains were 

 smaller. His standard of comparison was by a cranial index 

 which he obtains by adding together the measurements of the 

 whole circumference and the antero-posterior and transverse 

 arches of the head. Of these measurements that of the trans- 

 verse arch was the only one smaller in the insane, and was, in 

 fact, their weak point. The cranial index he found further 

 useful as, when expressed in inches, it showed about the weight 

 of the normal contained brain in ounces. The frontal segment 

 of the head circumference bore a larger proportion to the whole 

 circumference in the insane than in the sane, and this, taken 

 with the fact that the frontal lobes in idiots and imbeciles weigh 

 more in proportion to the whole encephalon than in the total 



NO. J 249, VOL. 48] 



insane class, and the fact that the typical insane head was 

 cuneiform with the greatest transverse diameter anterior to the 

 central point of the head, seemed to discredit the "noble fore- 

 head," and to point out the occipital lobes as the seat of 

 intelligence. This view was supported by facts of brain 

 development and comparative cerebral anatomy, as well as by 

 the flat occiput of idiots and the cerebellum of the bushman 

 projecting beyond the occipital lobes. 



In a paper on pin-wells and rag-bushes, Mr. IC. Sidney 

 Hartland suggested that the object of the usages was union 

 with the divinity, to be achieved by the perpetual contact with 

 the god of some article identified with the worshipper. 



The following communications ,were also received : — Re- 

 port of the Abyssinian Committee. On the external cha- 

 racters of the Abyssinians examined by Mr. Bent, by Dr. 

 J. G. Garson ; on the Dards and Siah-Posh Kafirs, by Dr. J. 

 Beddoe and Dr. Leitner ; the Primitive Americans, by Miss J. 

 M. Welch ; the Indians of the Mackenzie and Yukon Rivers, 

 Canada, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Bompas, Bishop of Selkirk ; the 

 Australian natives, by Miss J. A. Fowler ; on a modification of 

 the Australian aboriginal weapon termed the Leonile, Langeel, 

 Bendi, or Buccan, by R. Etheridge, jun. ; on an unusual form of 

 rush-basket from the northern territory of South Australia, by 

 R. Etheridge, jun. 



On Tuesday, Mr. Francis Gallon read some official letters 

 just received by him from Surgeon Lieut. -Colonel Hendley, of 

 Jeypore, who had memorialised the authorities in India 

 in favour of affixing to the nominal roll of recruits an impres- 

 sion in ink of the fore, middle, and ring fingers of each recruit. 

 In reply, the Commander-in-Chief "approved of the proposal 

 to employ prints of finger-tips as marks for identification, as 

 they are so extremely easy to make, and so useful in guarding 

 against personation." Surgeon Lieut. -Colonel Hendley has 

 had considerable experience in taking such imprints, having 

 already sent to Mr. Galton those of the digits of nearly 1000 

 persons, most of whom were prisoners in the gaol of Jeypore. 



Dr. Munro read a paper on the structure of lake-dwellings, 

 in which he described the various methods adopted by the lake- 

 dwellers in the construction of the understructures and plat- 

 forms on which their huts had been placed. In conclusion, Dr. 

 Munro gave a description of an important discovery recently 

 made in Argyllshire. This was a crannog showing foundations 

 of a circular house thirty-two feet in diameter, and divided into 

 two compartments, one of which contained a hearth and the 

 remains of a doorway. 



Mr. Arthur BuUeid then read a paper on a British village of 

 marsh dwellings. This village, discovered by the author in 

 March, 1892, is situated a little more than a mile north of the 

 town of Glastonbury, in the upper part of one of the moorland 

 levels of central Somerset, found to the south of the Mendip 

 Hills. There is little on the surface to indicate the site of a 

 village, but on careful inspection between sixty and seventy low 

 circular mounds may be seen, varying from 15 to 35 feet in 

 diameter, and from 6 in. to 2 ft. 6 in. high at the centre. These 

 form the foundations or floors of separate dwellings, which are 

 constructed in the following way : — On the surface of the peat 

 is a layer or platform of timber and brushwood, kept in place 

 by numerous small piles at the margin. On this a layer of clay 

 is placed, slightly raised at the centre, where the remains of a 

 hearth are generally found. The dwelling itself was composed 

 of timber filled in with wattle and daub. Not only have the 

 wall-posts been found ui situ, but also the entrance threshold 

 and doorstep. Among other things that have been discovered 

 is a boat 1 7 ft. long, quantities of wheel and hand-m.ide pottery, 

 sling stones, and bones of animals, and a great numberof objects 

 of bronze and iron, horn, bone, and stone, such as fibulre and 

 rings, knives, saws, and weapons, combs, needles, pottery 

 stamps, and querns. 



In a paper on the place of the lake dwellings at Glastonbury 

 in British Archaeology, Prof. Boyd Dawkins referred to the 

 existence of crucibles to show that smelting had been carried on, 

 and reasoned that the time of the occupation of the place was .^ 

 pre-Roman. 



The following communications were also received : — On the 

 excavation of the stone circle of " Lag ny Boiragh," on the 

 Meayll Hill, Isle of Man, by Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 

 and P. M. C. Kermode ; early uses of flint in polishing, by H. 

 Stopes ; palaeolithic anchors, anvils, hammers, Sic, by H. 

 Stopes ; Report of the Uniformity in Spelling Committee; 

 Report of the North-Western Tribes of Canada Committee. 



