September i, 1892 J 



NA TURE 



433 



of ihe workers to agree on any anatomical, physiologicil, or 

 psychological data for establishing a criminal type. 



If inquiry established physical, hereditary, and psychological 

 bases of criminality, the State would have to treat the criminal 

 from a point of view entirely different from the punitive methol. 

 The essential likeness of the epileptic and the criminal brain is one 

 of the most striking of Dr. Benedikt's observations. What were 

 to the doctor symptoms of disease were to the policeman and 

 the magistrate proofs of criminality. In the rich family the 

 physician looked after the case, in the poor family the policeman 

 and the gaoler. Yet both cases were equally phases of brain 

 development due to hereditary weakness. 



Dr. Benedikt emphasized the importance of studying criminals 

 of different types. They must study the classes from which the 

 criminals came, and must not confuse the poor and miserable 

 with the criminal classes. 



On Monday Sir William Turner exhibited the coiffure of a 

 Kanaka labourer who had been employed on a sugar plantation 

 in Queensland. The mode of dressing the hair in locks, each 

 of which was tied round with a narrow ribbon formed of vege- 

 table fibre, was described. 834 such locks were present in the 

 coiffure, and it was estimated that about 120 hairs were in each 

 lock, making in all about 100,000 hairs in the coiffure. 



Prof. Struihers read a paper on the Articular Processes of the 

 Vertebrae in the Gorilla compared with those in Man ; and on 

 Costo-vertebral variation in the Gorilla. 



Mr. J. P. Mansel Weaie made a communication on the pro- 

 bable derivation of characteristic sounds in certain languages 

 from the noises made by animals. 



Dr. Louis Robinson read a paper on the prehensile power of 

 infants. Long-continued experiments had proved that the 

 muscles of the hands and arms of a newly-born infant are far 

 stronger in proportion to weight than those of most healthy 

 adults. In many ca^es a newly-born child would hang 

 and support its weight with ease for a minute, and some for 

 thirty seconds longer. Several infants less than a week old 

 hung for over a minute and a half, a few others a fortnight old 

 for nearly two minutes, and one child of about three weeks old 

 for two minutes thirty-five seconds. If the child were in a good 

 temper to begin with it would hang quite placidly until its 

 fingers began to slip, when it at once evinced distress, and 

 screamed lustily as if from a fear of the consequences of falling. 

 An examination of the foot of an Infant showed that it was 

 much more hand-like than that of the adult. The heel was much 

 narrower than in after life, and the fore part of the sole, instead 

 of presenting a rounded smooth surface, was fiat or even concave, 

 with creases like those of the palm of the hand. The author 

 was not aware that any explanation could be given of these lines, 

 so characteristic of a prehensile organ, on the foot of the human 

 infant, other than that they were vestiges of anarboreal state of 

 existence. He believed that it was due to the habit of the 

 young clinging to the body of a parent who would require to 

 use all her limbs for climbing. 



Dr. Hepburn read a paper on the Integumentary Grooves on 

 the Palm of the Hand and Sole of the Foot of Man and the 

 Anthropoid Apes. 



In a communication on the Contemporaneity of the Maori 

 and the Moa, Mr. H. O. Forbes gave an account of the explora- 

 tion of a cave in the neighbourhood of Christchurch, which had 

 been closed by the landslip of a great part of the mountain at 

 whose base it lay. From the remains of the last feast partaken 

 of by the dwellers in this cave, it was clear that Moa eggs had 

 been eaten by them, and therefore that the bird that laid those 

 eggs was contemporarieous with the eaters. The ornamentation 

 of the implements, &c., found in the cave proved that the cave- 

 dwellers were true Maoris. 



In the afternoon Dr. Garson opened a discussion on Human 

 Osteometry, in the course of which Sir William Turner ex- 

 plained and demonstrated his method of taking the capacity of 

 crania by the use of shot poured into the cavity of the skull 

 through a funnel, the spout of which was 2 cent, long and 2 

 cent, in diameter. It was claimed for this method that it gave 

 the actual capacity and did not over measure it as is the case 

 with the plan adopted by Broca. 



On Tuesday Dr. J. G. Garson exhibited some composite 

 photographs of United States' soldiers. 



Dr. Francis Warner contributed some Observations as to the 

 Physical Deviations from the Normal as seen among 50,000 

 Children. The most important defects were found to be those 

 of the cranium as indicated by the proportion among them 



NO. II 92, VOL. 46] 



delicate, dull, and with nerve disorder or weakness ; many of 

 these cases are doubtless due to rickets. Small heads were 

 especially common among girls, the only defect to which they 

 seem specially liable. The greatest amount of defectiveness 

 did not occur in the poorest districts ; for in the wealthier parts 

 of London \z\ per cent, showed deficiency, while in the poorer 

 districts only 7 per cent, showed defects. 



The foUowmg papers were read by Prof. A. Macalister :— 

 On Skulls from Mobanga, Upper Congo ; On some Facial 

 Characters of the Ancient Egyptians. It was remarkable how 

 little variety was to be found in the heads of these ancients. 

 The hairs of the eyebrows were small, and that on the head 

 was not woolly but wavy. The nose was well formed, usually 

 prominent, rather high-bridged and narrow. The nostrils were 

 narrow, and very rarely was there much of a moustache. The 

 chin was narrow and tapered. There were no traces of holes 

 in the lobes of the ears. Prof. Macalister also read a paper 

 On the Brain of an Australian. 



Dr. Garson read a communication On some very Ancient 

 Skeletons from Medum, Egypt. These skeletons were some- 

 where about 6000 years old, and their most interesting feature 

 was that in the upper and lower limbs they had markedly negro 

 characters. In the pelvis they had intermediate characters 

 between the Egyptian and the Negro, while in the head they 

 had well-marked Egyptian characters. 



The following papers were also read : — C. Phillips, On a 

 Skull from Port Talbot, Glamorganshire ; Dr. R. Munro, On 

 Trepanning the Human Skull in Prehistoric Times ; E. H. Man, 

 On the Use of Narcotics by the Nicobar Islanders, and certain 

 Deformations connected therewith. 



The reports of The Indian Committee, of The Prehistoric 

 Remains of Glamorganshire Committee, of The Elbjlton Cave 

 Committee, and of The Prehistoric Inhabitants Committee were 

 submitted. 



In the afternoon Mr. G. W. Bloxam exhibited The Philograph 

 —a Simple Apparatus for the Preparation of Lecture Diagrams, 

 &c., and Dr. Louis Robinson showed a series of photographs 

 illustrating his paper on the prehensile power of infants. 



CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF CORRE- 

 SPONDING SOCIETIES. 



First Conference, August 4, 1892. 



'T*HE Corresponding Societies' Committee was represented by 

 ■*• Prof. R. Meldola (chairman), Sir Douglas Gal ton, Mr. G, 

 J. Symons, Mr. W. Whitaker, Mr. E. B. Poulton, Mr. Cuthbert 

 Peek, Dr. Garson, and Mr. T. V. Holmes (secretary). 



The Chairman, after welcoming the delegates to the seventh 

 conference which had been held under the new rules of the 

 Association, said during the seven years of their existence they 

 had, he ventured to think, done some good work for the 

 Association and for themselves. They occupied now in relation 

 to the Association very much the same position as one of its 

 sectional committees, and for that they were very largely in- 

 debted to Sir Douglas Galton, who had very keenly watched 

 their proceedings, and had taken a great interest in them. The 

 report of the committee was then submitted, and the different 

 subjects which had engaged attention during the year were dealt 

 with under the heading of the Association Sections to which 

 they belonged. 



In Section A the Chairman introduced the subject of Tempera- 

 ture Variations in Lakes, Rivers, and Estuaries, but no dele- 

 gate specially interested therein being present, the Conference 

 proceeded to that of Meteorological Pho'ography. Mr, Clayden 

 and Mr. Symons spoke of the desirability of photographs illus- 

 trating the damage done by whirlwinds and floods, and Mr. W. 

 Watts (Rochdale) said that the Society he represented was taking 

 up the subject. Mr. Symons mentioned the Helm Wind of 

 Crossfell and the peculiar cloud accompanying it, photographs 

 of which would be useful. Mr. Watts stated that a difficulty in 

 photographing the effects of floods arose from the state of the 

 weather during their occurrence, and Mr. Cushmg (Croydon), 

 exhibited photographs of a recent thunderstorm. The Chairman 

 then remarked that Mr. Ken ward (Birmingham), who was unable 

 to be present, had sent a letter stating that for some years in 

 Birmingham meteorological observations had been made in the 

 building called "The Monument." Mr. Symons and Dr. Stacey 

 Wilson discussed the mode of operations pursued at Birmingham. 



