432 



NATURE 



[September t, 1892 



in his enterprise, but there are some very big difficulties in his 

 way. The biggest perhaps is that before the plan can become 

 general legislation must be brought to bear. Unhappily dwellers 

 in towns and cities are so little disinterested that the average 

 householder would prefer to see his next-door neighbour erect a 

 mostly apparatus (the first cost for a seventeen-chimney house is 

 said to be about ^50) rather than go to the expense himself. 

 The large quantity of water required for a general smoke- 

 washing would be a serious problem, not only of cost but of 

 supply at any price, although it is quite possible this difficulty 

 could be, as it should be, met. The cleaning out of the appara- 

 tus would be also a serious matter, for the tarry deposit due to 

 smoke-washing is of a particularly tenaceous nature. 



The sewage problem next occupied the attention of the 

 meeting, Mr. Crawford Barlow reading a paper on " The 

 London Sewage Question," Mr. J. Cooper also read a 

 paper on "The Sanitation of Edinburgh." The last paper 

 read at this meeting in this section was contributed by Mr. 

 H. C. Carver. It related to fire extinction on board ship. The 

 author has devised an apparatus by means of which he can turn 

 the efHuent gases from the boiler furnaces into the hold of a 

 ship where fire is raging ; the gases having been previously 

 washed and cooled. The apparatus has been tried practically, 

 and has been found to answer remarkably well. The ordinary 

 practice is to turn boiler steam into a ship's hold ; but the spent 

 gases from the furnace are naturally more effective, as steam 

 condenses, and air is thus drawn in. Nevertheless, steam is 

 better than nothing. 



After the usual votes of thanks the business of the section was 

 brought to a close. 



ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



A FTER the President's address, on Thursday, August 4, 

 -^ Mr. E. W. Brabrook read a paper on the Organization 

 of Local Anthropological Research. The writer, as the repre- 

 sentative of a joint committee of delegates from the Society of 

 Antiquaries, the Folklore Society, and the Anthropological 

 Institute, communicated a plan for an ethnographical survey of 

 the United Kingdom, by which observations should be made 

 simultaneously in selected localities on the ancient remains, the 

 local customs, and the physical characters of the people. The 

 matter is one that will not brook undue delay, as the evidence is 

 fast slipping out of our grasp. 



The Rev. Frederick Smith read a paper on the Discovery of 

 the Common Occurrence of Palaeolithic Weapons in Scotland. 

 The author has made patient and long-continued search in 

 modern and ancient gravel beds of existing rivers, in " Kanie " 

 deposits, and finally in certain phases of boulder clay ; and he 

 finds abundant evidence in the shape of glaciated, broken, and 

 crushed specimens of the weapons of palaoliihic man. He has 

 collected at least 350 specimens, which he believes to be definite 

 evidence of the long-continued sojourn of palaeolithic man north 

 of the Border. 



A paper on Cyclopean Architecture in the Suuth Pacific 

 Islands was read ; also the Reports of the Anthropometric 

 Laboratory Committee, and of the Anthropological Notes and 

 Queries Committee. 



In the afternoon the following papers were read : — Dr. L. 

 Manouvrier, On a Fronto-Limbic Formation of the Human 

 Cerebrum ; Prof. G. Hariwell Jones, The Indo-Europeans' 

 Conception of a Future Life and its Bearing upon their 

 Religions. 



On Friday, Mr. J. Graham Kerr exhibited a collection of 

 weapons, articles of clothing, and a fire drill, used by the Toba 

 Indians of the ' 'Gran Chaco. ' ' He accompanied the exhibition with 

 a few explanatory remarks. The specimens had been obtained 

 from a tribe of the Tobas on the banks of the Rio Pilcomayo. 

 Amongst weapons the chief were bows and arrows, the former 

 being noteworthy from their reinforcement by a back string. 

 The arrows weie of cane, with long wooden points made of 

 cascaranda. An arrow with an iron head was also shown, the 

 head being formed of fencing wire beaten out. 



Mr. J. Montgomerie Bell exhibited a collection of flints from 

 the North Downs of Kent, which he called "pre-palatolithic." 

 The peculiarities of these flints is that they are not shaped into 

 particular forms by the will and skill of the workman, as 



NO. II 92, VOL. 46] 



palaeolithic flints are, but they are simply stones taken from the 

 ground and used almost in the state in which they are picked up ; 

 only the edges are altered; they are chipped flints rather than 

 shaped flints ; used tools, not made tools. Mr. Bell explained the 

 reasons which had convinced him of their authenticity ; namely, 

 that the chipping is regular and purpose-like, such as Nature is 

 not likely to have hit upon ; it is sometimes within a hollow 

 curve, where natural agencies could not act ; the edges of many 

 unbulbed flints have far more regular marks of wear, which is 

 the true indication of use by man, than many bulbed flakes 

 possess, whose edges have undoubtedly been used ; and lastly, 

 there is a sequence in the types which leads into the types of the 

 river- valley period. 



Mr. J. Theodore Bent read a paper on the Present In- 

 habitants of Mashonaland and their Origin. The inhabitants of 

 this country are an oppressed and impoverished race of Kaffirs, 

 who dwell amongst the rocks and crannies of the mountains. 

 Their recognized name — Makalanga — means "the children of 

 the sun," and there were traces of a higher civilization amongst 

 them. Their origin is obscure, but references to them by early 

 Arabian writers prove beyond doubt that a similar people 

 inhabited the country one thousand years ago. Each tribe has 

 its totem. Their religion has a monotheistic tendency, but they 

 sacrifice to ancestors, and sacrifice goats to ward off calamities. 

 Their manners are courteous and refined, and their skill in 

 music is considerable. 



Prof. A. C. Haddon contributed a paper on the Value 

 of Art in Ethnology. In order to study such an intricate sub- 

 ject as Decorative Art from the point of view of the Biologist 

 it is necessary first to confine one's attention to savage art 

 where the problems are presented in a simpler form. In taking 

 a definite area into consideration, such as British New Guinea, 

 one finds that there are several distinct and well-defined artistic 

 provinces. The Torres Strait district was characterized by the 

 prevalence of straight and angled lines to the exclusion of 

 curved lines and the representation of animal forms, the latter 

 being associated with totemism. In the Gulf District the 

 human face and form is the basis of almost all their art. In the 

 Port Moresby District decoration is in the form of panels and 

 mainly straight and angled lines ; whereas in the South Cape 

 and Archipelago District there is a wonderful richness of design 

 in which curved lines are abundant. 



It is well known that in this latter district there has been a 

 great mixture of race. It would appear that homogeneous 

 peoples have a uniform style in their art, but that race mixture 

 tends to varied artistic treatment. 



Dr. J. S. Phene read a paper on the Similarity of Certain 

 Ancient Necropoleis in the Pyrenees and in North Britain. 

 At Luchon, a spot where the traditions of the Pyrenees were 

 most concentrated, remarkable customs had till recently been 

 practised. The locality abounded with interments of a peculiar 

 kind, more or less surrounding a central mound, serpentine in 

 form, the head of which had been cut away and a small church 

 erected in the cavity. The walls of this antique little church 

 are covered with votive tablets of early Christian and pagan 

 Roman times. Almost all the features shown had been dis- 

 covered by the author in Somersetshire, Bedfordshire, Argyle- 

 shire, and Peebleshire. 



The following papers were read : — A Contribution to the 

 Ethnography ot Jersey, by Dr. Andrew Dunlop. Notes on 

 the Past and Present Condition of the Natives of the Friendly 

 Islands, or Tonga, by Mr. R. B. Leefe. Damma Island and 

 its Natives, by Dr. F, Bassett Smith. The Reports of the 

 Mashonaland Committee, and of the Canadian Committee were 

 also read. 



In the afternoon a discussion on Anthropometric Identifica- 

 tion was opened by Dr. Manouvrier, who described the system 

 of measurements introduced by M. A. Beriillon into the l-rench 

 Criminal Department, and showed the manner in which they 

 were made. He said that by its means the identification of 

 criminals was made absolutely certain. Dr. Benedikt of Vienna 

 also boie testimony to the efficiency of M. Bertillon's system 

 and strongly advocated its introduction into Great Britain. Dr. 

 Garson referred to Mr. Gallon's method of identification by 

 means of finger marks. 



As a result of this discussion the Council have been requested 



to draw the attention of her Majesty's Government to the subject. 



A discussion on the subject ot Criminal Anthropology was 



opened on Saturday Ly Dr. T. S. Clouston, who reviewed the 



work done in this and other countries, and pointed out the failure 



