April 20, 19 16] 



NATURE 



167 



picturesque tigure. He was a - past president and 

 honorary member of many learned and scientific 

 societies, including the Institution of Mining and 

 Metallurgy, of which he was also one of the founders ; 

 the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall ; the Royal 

 Cornwall Polytechnic Society; and the Royal Corn- 

 wall Institution. He was also an honorar}- member 

 of the Imperial Mineralogical Society of Petrograd. 

 For his scientific work he received the Hen- 

 wood medal from the Roxal Institution of Cornwall 

 in 1893, and the Bolitho medal from the Royal Geo- 

 logical Society- in Cornwall in 1898. He was the 

 author of many very valuable works, all of which are 

 regarded as classics on his special subject, including 

 " Observations on the West of England Mining Re- 

 gions," "The Hensbarrow Granite District," "Hand- 

 book of the Mineralogy of Cornwall and Devon," 

 "Cornish Tin Stones and Tin Capels," "Origin and 

 Development of Ore Deposits of the West of Eng- 

 land," translation of M. Leon Moissenet's " Rich 

 Parts of the Lodes of Cornwall," text-books on 

 mineralogy for elementary and advanced students, and 

 many others. He was chief chemist and metallurgist 

 to the Rio Tinto Copper Mining Company for a 

 period of more than twelve years, and latterly was 

 chairman and managing director of the Wheal Kitt}' 

 and Penhalls United Limited Tin Mines of Cornwall, 

 and a director of the East Pool and Agar Mines, Ltd. 

 For nearly half a century Mr. Collins devoted himself 

 to a close study of the geology, mineralogy, chemistry, 

 and metallurgy of the mines and mineral deposits of 

 Cornwall ; and it may be truly said that his knowledge 

 of this special subject was unique. His death has left 

 a gap in Cornwall which cannot easily be filled. 



Some years ago Prof. Richard A. J. Berry, of the 

 University of Melbourne, rendered anthropologists a 

 great service by publishing exact tracings of all the 

 Tasmanian skulls he could find in Australian collec- 

 tions. In conjunction with Dr. A. W. D. Robertson 

 he has now issued (Transactions of the Royal Society 

 of Victora, vol. vi., 1914) an atlas of tracings of 

 ninety crania of Australian aborigines. Each tracing 

 is reproduced in natural size, three views being given 

 of each skull. In a brief preface to this atlas of 

 ; cranial tracings, we learn that the Commonwealth 

 I Government is awakening to the scientific value of 

 I the skeletal remains of its native races, and is to take 

 steps to prevent the exportation of osteological material 

 Ifrom .Australia. 



The Journal of the Buteshire Natural History 



Society, vol. viii. (1914-15) is largely devoted to local 



j antiquities. Dr. J. N. Marshall and Mr. J. Ritchie 



jdescribe excavations at the fort and cave at Dunagoil, 



jthe peninsula at the southern end of the island of 



Bute. The cave, which was hollowed out by sea 



action, was obviously, like the*fort, occupied in ancient 



pmes. The mammalian bones found included those 



of the wild cat (Felis sylvesiris), the fox, wild boar, 



fed and roe deer, the short-horned Celtic ox, and 



turbary sheep, the two last having been apparently 



pomesticated. The animal remains as a whole would 



3e sufficient to indicate that the cave-men belonged 



o a period not earlier than that of the predominantlv 



■ound-headed Neolithic people. The absence of re'- 



nams of the horse suggests that this animal, so 



:ommon in Romano-British deposits, had not yet 



eached Bute, if indeed it had been introduced to Sc'ot- 



w ^} ^^^ ^'"^^ ^^'^^" ^^^ Dunagoil cave was in- 

 labited. The most interesting remains of human 

 ^ccupatlon are bone and horn implements, stone 

 pounders, and the spinning- whorl, while a piece of 

 Iheet bronze proves that after the disappearance of 

 pe earlier tenants the cave was occupied in the Bronze 

 NO. 2425, VOL. 97] 



age. The report, which is well illustrated with plates 

 of the discoveries, is a good example of the excellent 

 work which can be done by a local society, the mem- 

 bership of which includes competent archaeologists. 



The annual report of the Public Health Committee 

 of the London County Council for 19 14 has just been 

 issued. It contains the reports of the county medical 

 officer (Dr. Hamer) and school medical officer, and 

 details of public health administration, main drainage, 

 and housing of the working classes. The report is 

 illustrated with a number of diagrams of statistical 

 data. One of these shows the seasonal prevalence of 

 body-vermin (bugs, fleas, and lice), and it is 

 of interest that the seasonal prevalence of 

 scarlet fever coincides with that of fleas. Whether 

 tliis is merely a coincidence or no, further study alone 

 can elucidate. The death-rate is slightly above that 

 for iiji.v and scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhoid fever, 

 and er^jinelas all show some increase of prevalence 

 compared with preceding years. The marriage-rate 

 attained the comparatively high level of 19-2, but the 

 birth-rate again showed a diminution. 



In the Psychological Review (vol. xxiii.. No. 2) Mr. 

 J. B. Watson describes a means whereby a wide range 

 of experiments can tie performed on the conditioned 

 reflex. The author >:laims that the method can be 

 immediately applied to the study of many sensory 

 problems, such as sensitivity to temperature and con- 

 tact, fineness of localisation, differential sensitivity- to 

 pitch, etc., in animals, whether wild or domesticated, 

 of any size, and in man also, and that the record is 

 made in complete and permanent form by the animal 

 itself. Students ol onimals, whether from the physio- 

 logical or the psychological point of view, will find 

 the article both interesting, and suggestive. 



The growing interest in pioblems of psychology, 

 and in particular in the experimental treatment of such 

 problems, is plainly indicated by the appearance of 

 the first number of the Journal of Experityiental 

 Psychology, published under /..•• auspices of the 

 Psychological Review Company. An interesting 

 article, entitled "A Preliminary Studv of Tonal 

 Volume," will appeal to both physicists and physio- 

 logists. There has been much divergence of opinion 

 as to whether extensity is really an attribute of tonal 

 sensations or merely a question of association, low 

 tones being associated to large instruments and to 

 gross movements of the throat. As a result of a 

 careful investigation G. J. Rich comes to the con- 

 clusion that if we accept independent variability as the 

 criterion of an attribute, there is evidence for the 

 differentiation of pitch and tonal extensity, judgments 

 of tonal volume being made with as great consistency 

 as is usual for attributive judgments. 



Sir F. J. Jackson describes, in the Journal of the 

 East Africa and Uganda Natural Histor>' Society 

 (vol v.. No. 9), two nests of the African lung-fish 

 (Protopterus ethiopicus). They were situated in a 

 patch of coarse grass, were circular in shape, with a 

 diameter of two and a half to three feet, and about 

 eighteen inches in depth. But the most remarkable 

 feature of these nests lay in the outer ring of mud, 

 which was raised about an inch above the water-level 

 and about five inches width. It had the appearance 

 of being the work of a man rather than of a fish. 

 The mud did not seem to have been pushed up from 

 below, but rather to have been deposited from above, 

 and then smoothed down, the surface being smooth 

 and shiny. He suggests that this mud was brought 

 to the surface in the mouths of the builders, and then 

 beaten down by means of the flattened, slimy, eel- 

 like tails. 



