May 4, 1916] 



NATURE 



205 



as a legitimate and effective means of treating sprains 

 and other injuries. The son's best-known work is 

 "The Treatment of Injuries by Friction and Move- 

 ment," which was published in 1902. 



In a circular issued to the fellows of the Chemical 

 Society, the treasurer states that the council has 

 decided to publish portraits of the three past presi- 

 dents. Sir Henry Roscoe, Dr. Hugo MuUer, and Prof. 

 Raphael Meldola, who have died during the past year. 

 The portraits will be suitable for framing or for bind- 

 ing with the Journal, and will be sold at a cost not 

 exceeding \s. 6d. each to those fellows who apply to 

 the assistant secretary before August i, 1916. If 

 there is expressed a sufficiently general wish to possess 

 portraits of other past presidents, arrangements will 

 be made to carry this into effect. A complete list of 

 the thirty-four past presidents of the society is given, 

 and fellows are requested, when sending in their 

 applications, to denote on the form provided which 

 portraits they desire to possess. 



AsTRO.NO.\nc.\L science has lost an energetic worker 

 by the death of Dr. W. F. King, C.M.G., the chief 

 astronomer of the Department of the Interior of 

 Canada, who had done so much to systematise and 

 extend the work of the Dominion Observatory- at 

 Ottawa. Born in England, in 1854, he early went to 

 Canada, and was educated at Toronto University, 

 passing out as one of the most brilliant of its alumni. 

 His active scientific career began with the work of 

 the International Boundary Commission, and from 

 his last issued report we find that he was still actively 

 engaged upon geodetic problems. These included the 

 determination of the boundary line through Passama- 

 quoddy Bay, the re-survey of the 49th parallel and 

 that of the 141st meridian. In a new country- such 

 delimitations are pressing and important, and Dr. 

 King worked on them with vigour and success. To 

 him also fell the duty of organising the Ottawa Ob- 

 servatory and the settlement of its programme of 

 work. His official position required him to encourage 

 and support many new scientific schemes and insti- 

 tutions that mark the rise and progress of the Do- 

 minion. In no department is Dr. King's work better 

 seen and acknowledged than in that of spectroscopy, 

 as carried out in the Dominion Observatory. The 

 observations are of the highest character and interest, 

 and in the large outcome he took an active part. The 

 bold scheme of supplementing the optical equipment 

 bf the observatory by the addition of a 6o-in. 

 I'efiector was his conception, and the progress made 

 n its construction is due not a little to his energy and 

 mthusiasm. The excellent seismographic work, em- 

 bracing a wide network of stations, though under the 

 mmediate superintendence of Dr. Klotz, is another 

 'vidence of his administrative ability, and the mag- 

 letic survey carried out with vigour over a large area 

 iimilarly displays the extent of his resources and the 



jiower of his organisation. 



1 



i An interesting experiment in the practical applica- 

 tion of anthropology is to be made shortly in the 

 iJnited States. One of the great difficulties of the 

 administration has been the question of the alienation 

 if land of Indian holders. These lands are frequently 

 f value on account of their timber, and their purchase 

 jy ^)eculators at absurdly inadequate prices, and the 

 pnsequent impoverishment of the Indians, have been 

 I scandal, to which Dr. W. K. Moorehead in parti- 

 ular has directed attention on more than one occa- 

 j'.on. ^ In Minnesota power to sell their land is vested 

 inly in owners of mixed Chippewa descent ; the land 



f: the pure-blooded Chippewa is inalienable. Specu- 

 tors have, however, been successful in getting hold 

 it, and the Government has had to intervene. As 



I a result, to prove title it has been necessary to show 

 the mixed descent of the vendor. This is a matter of 

 some difficulty, and a prominent anthropologist has 

 been invited to visit the Chippewa with the view of 

 deciding the question of mixed descent in the cases in 

 dispute. The lawyers of both sides have agreed to 

 abide by his verdict. This solution will recall certain 

 recent proceedings in our own courts, but it is to be 

 hoped may lead to a more decisive result. 



A VALUABLE article in the current Journal of the 

 j Royal Anthropological Institute (vol. slv.) is that by 

 ! Mr. R. Grant Brown ^ on the Taungbyon festival in 

 Burma, illustrating the animistic basis of the Bud- 

 dhism of the province. It represents the cult of Two 

 Brothers, who are said to have been Mohammedan 

 martyrs. The chief part of the rite is the ceremonial 

 cutting down of two teinbin, or coffeewort, trees 

 ' (Nauclea cordifolia) by officiants representing the Two 

 Brothers. These trees are, except in connection with 

 their cult, not otherwise regarded as sacred. The 

 custom raises some interesting questions the origin 

 and meaning of which continue to be obscure. Do 

 the trees, as Sir James Frazer would say, represent 

 the Spirit of Vegetation, slain at the ceremony, and 

 at a later time reborn in the fields? Or, as Mr. 

 Brown seems to prefer, did one of these trees, accord- 

 ing to Prof. Ridgeway's speculations, once grow on 

 the grave of the martyrs, and thus came to be held 

 sacred, and its branches were distributed to the people 

 because they were supposed to be impregnated with 

 the spirits of these holy men? Mr. Brown justly 

 remarks that it is not necessary to assume a single 

 origin for any custom, and a custom may be con- 

 tinued for reasons altogether different from those 

 which originated it. It seems to be possible that the 

 Two Brothers were deified on account of the strong 

 feeling of local patriotism because they opposed the 

 tyrannical native dynasty. In any case, it is interest- 

 ing to note that these Mohammedan brothers were 

 deified among a strictly Buddhist population. 



A LARGE portion of the American Naturalist for 

 March is accorded to Profs. Stockard and Papani- 

 colaou, to enable them to complete their analysis of 

 the hereditarj- transmission of degeneracy and de- 

 formities by the descendants of alcoholised guinea- 

 pigs, already alluded to in these columns. The 

 authors find that the offspring of alcoholised females 

 have a higher viability than in the case of alcoholised 

 males, from which th^y conclude that the male germ 

 cell is more affected by alcohol than the ovum. The 

 male offspring of alcoholised females are inferior to 

 their female offspring. The female offspring of 

 alcoholised males show a higher mortalit)' and more 

 deformity than the male offspring, from which they 

 conclude that the female-producing sperms are more 

 modified by treatment than male-producing sperms. 



The spring number of Bird Notes and News, the 

 organ of the Royal Society for the Protection of 

 Birds, reports that a fresh raid by plume-hunters has 

 been made on the albatrosses of Laysan Island, one of 

 the largest of the U.S.A. bird reserves. The breast 

 feathers only seem to have been taken, and to obtain 

 these between 150,000 and 200,000 birds were slain, 

 their bodies being found lying in heaps all over the 

 island. The majority- of the victims were furnished 

 by the white- and the black-footed albatross, and after 

 these the greatest sufferers were frigate birds and the 

 blue-faced booby. This iniquitous traffic In plumes 

 could now be effectually killed if the import _ of 

 plumage into this country were prohibited. Having 

 regard to the restriction in imports now in force, this 

 item might well be added to the list. The ghastly 

 toll of bird-life demanded bv the milliners has long 



NO. 2427, VOL. 97] 



