Qrio 



Isf-ATURE 



[September 3 1903 



Animal for food, 'then the intensely green bile rendered 

 b\\ parts inedible ; only one colour \vas named from the 

 hue of a flower, in spite of the great variety which 

 tropical flowers show. Points Of equal interest are the 

 'indefinite character of the word used for " blue," this 

 feeing applied indifferently to blue-green, dirty yellow, 

 grey,&c., and the complete absence of any word for 

 ■^' brown," the language resembling in this respect 

 Homeric Greek. The Murray islander recognised 

 •"red" far mor6 distinctly than any other colour; 

 yeilow was the next most recognisable hue, " blue " 

 could Only be differentiated when in considerable 

 strength, and brown was merely a 'dull-looking light. 



In this connection the simple experiments made upon 

 peripheral colour" vision were extremely suggestive. 

 It is well known that in the European the red-green 

 visual field is the smallest, whilst the blue and yellow 

 fields are far larger, but in the Murray islander the 

 green field was distinctly the smallest, and the red 

 field extended widely into the peripheral regions ; the 

 largest field of all was, however, the blue one, these 

 colours being far ' better recognised with peripheral 

 vision than in vision involving the central macula. 

 Probably, as' Dr. Rivers suggests, the defective stimu- 

 lation of the macula by blue light may be related to 

 the excess of yellow pigment present in the Papuan 

 race, and would not be in itself a sign of defective 

 retinal capacity for excitation by these rays. 

 " Many other points of great interest are detailed' in 

 this part of. the reports, colour contrast, after-images, 

 visual perception of distance, binocular vision, capacity 

 to bisect lines, capacity to compare the length of 

 vertical with that of horizontal lines, susceptibility to 

 such well-known visual illusions as those of Miiller- 

 Lyer, Zollner's line displacements, &c. In regard to 

 all these points there appears to be little, if any, differ- 

 ence between the Murray islander and the average 

 European; the, details of these experiments will well 

 repay the reader, particularly as Dr. Rivers has pre- 

 sented the results and described the methods in such 

 a manner that his account can interest those who 

 ihave not especially devoted theniselves to this kind of 

 worli. / ' 



The second ■ part of the' present volume of reports 

 deals with other sensory phenomena. ' The investi- 

 gation of hearing was undertaken by Dr. C. S. Myers ; 

 it was rendered difficult by the not infrequent presence 

 ■oif defects in the ears due to the now prohibited practice 

 of deep diving for pearls. The expei-iments on the 

 younger inhabitants were free from such hampering 

 circumstances, ^alnd the results showed that, as com- 

 pared with Europeans, both the acuity of hearing and 

 the capacity to ' distinguish ' difference's of tone were 

 'distinctly inferior irt" the case of th6 islanders ; on the 

 •other 'hand, it is remarkable that the range, as estim- 

 ated by • modified Galt6n -whistles,; was at • least as 

 •extensive in the islander as iii'tlie' European. The 

 investigation of the senSatio'n^^^bf smell by Dr. Myers 

 was also extremely difificult, pvving to the' great objec- 

 'tions entertained' by' the islainders for this' class of 

 experiment,' but it 'seems :from slucb observations as 

 tould be made that there; is no rriarked hyper-sensitive- 

 ness to olfactory stimulation in this 'primitive -race as 

 compared with EurOpieans'. - . • . > .■^ 



NO. 1766, VOL. 68] 



Dr. Myers also made some limited experiments on 

 tastes ; a specially interesting feature brought out by 

 these observations is the complete absence of any word 

 to describe the extremely conspicuous gustatory sensa- 

 tion which we denote as " bitter," although it is 

 certain that the sensation was experienced. In con- 

 nection with this remarkable omission is the circum- 

 stance that, even in Europeans, there is considerable 

 confusion as to the sensory significance of the qualities 

 connoted by the word " bitter. " Cutaneous sensa- 

 tions, muscular sense, &c., were undertaken by Dr. 

 McDougall, and here there are some striking, but not 

 unexpected, differences between the Murray islander 

 and the European. In the former the sense of pure 

 contact was twice as delicate as in the average English- 

 man, whilst the susceptibility to pain through pressure, 

 &c., was far less pronounced. It is somewhat sur- 

 prising, considering how unfamiliar the islanders were 

 with the necessary procedure, to find that, as regards 

 the estimation of different weights, the average least 

 recognisable weight increment was actually smaller 

 in their case than in the corresponding average of 

 thirty Englishmen, being 3.2 per cent, as compared 

 with 3-9 per cent. 



Finally, the very important subject of reaction-time 

 was undertaken by Dr. Myers, who gives most valu- 

 able details of the results of his observations. It 

 appears that, as regards auditory reaction-time, the 

 younger Murray islanders give results identical with 

 the average young English townsmen, but that, as 

 regards visual reaction-time, the Murray islanders give 

 distinctly longer results. This lag becomes more per- 

 ceptible when the attention is definitely fixed on the 

 visual stimulus rather than the preconcerted move- 

 ment, a .procedure which always lengthens the re- 

 action-time of Europeans, but which lengthened that 

 of the islander comparatively more. Further, when 

 the method of choice visual signal was used, involving 

 a complexity of psychical conditions, then the increased 

 lag became still more apparent. The reader is referred 

 tp the original for the very instructive and, from a 

 psychological standpoint, most suggestive details of 

 these observations. 



In conclusion, the authors are to be heartily con- 

 gratulated on the appearance of this work, which is 

 a very important contribution to both physiology and 

 psychology. The' reports form a lasting memorial 

 both of the activity of Cambridge anthropology and of 

 the genuine character of the scientific spirit which now 

 actuates those who study the various aspects of ethno- 

 graphy; the appearance of the remaining volumes 

 promised by Dr. Haddon will be looked forward to 

 with the greatest interest by a wide circle of biological 

 students. ' F. G. . 



A REVISION OF PRINCIPLES. 

 The, Principles of Mathematics. By Bertrand Russell, 

 M.A. Vol. i. Pp. xxviii + 534. (Cambridge: 

 University Press, 1903.) Price 125, 6d. net. 



THE appearance of a book addressed equally, to 

 mathematicians and to philosophers, setting 

 forth all the assistance which philosophy can afford 

 in' the shape of material for mathematics . to -work 



