November 9, 1899] 



NATURE 



43 



extraordinary complexity of rhythm in certain Malay music was 

 graphically recorded. The Murray Islanders have a wonder- 

 fully developed idea of rhythm, as is proved by their being able 

 regularly to continue accurately recorded beats of prescribed 

 rapidity for a considerable period. Many suggestions have been 

 made as to which of the intervals came most naturally to the 

 human voice. The Murray Islanders have no polyphonic music, 

 but in a chorus accompanying the songs of the Kenyah and 

 allied races in Borneo a lone-drawn note a fifth below the key- 

 note runs drone-like through the song. A similar interval has 

 been noted in one of the rare examples of polyphonic music 

 found in North America. 



Writers have been led to conclude that various peoples em- 

 ployed far smaller intervals than our own, misled apparently 

 by viewing the numerous intervals as if they formed a scale 

 instead of a series of notes from which various scales were 

 derived. In this way travellers have been induced to look for 

 quarter-tone music in uncivilised parts of the world ; but the 

 author had no doubt that those quarter-tones, which have been 

 written down as occurring between any two whole (or semi-) tones, 

 merely express a gradual descent in the voice from one of these 

 tones to the other. The insensitiveness of the eat of the Murray 

 islanders to minute diflferences of interval was estimated by 

 means of tuning-forks. The common incorrect intonation in 

 savage music was alluded to. 



Mr. C. G. Seligmann followed with an account of the seclu- 

 sion of girls at puberty in Mabuiag and other of the Western 

 islands of Torres Straits and also on the mainland at Cape York. 

 The girl is surrounded with bushes in a dark corner of her 

 parents' house, and for months is only allowed to go out at 

 night. The sun may not shine on her ; no man may come into 

 the house ; ill-luck would befall her father if he saw her ; she 

 may not feed herself ; and there are other restrictions. Various 

 modifications of the seclusion were described. These observ- 

 ations are of especial interest, as it is a new locality for these 

 interesting customs, the significance of which have been dis- 

 cussed by Frazer in "The Golden Bough." The same author 

 read a paper on some customs of the Otati tribe of North 

 Queensland ; and another, illustrated with lantern slides, on the 

 Club Houses and Dubus of British New Guinea. In the 

 Papuan Gulf the club houses of the men are of large size and 

 highly decorated ; no women may enter them. P^urther down 

 the coast their place is taken by platforms, or dubus, the posts 

 of which are generally carved, in some instances probably so as 

 to resemble crocodiles' heads. As a general rule women may 

 not approach the dubu. 



The morning's session concluded with a very interesting 

 report on the investigations on comparative psychology made in 

 Torres Straits and New Guinea. Dr. W. H. R. Rivers gave a 

 general account of the work done, with observations on vision, 

 &c. The natives show very considerable variability in character 

 and temperament ; they do not appear to be especially sus- 

 ceptible to suggestion, but exhibited very considerable independ- 

 ence of opinion. One hundred and fifty natives of Torres Straits 

 and Kiwai were tested for colour-blindness without finding one 

 case ; about eighty members of other races were tested with a 

 similar result, but of eight Lifu islanders three were colour-blind. 

 The names used for colours by the Torres Straits islanders were 

 very fully investigated ; there were definite names for red, less 

 definite for yellow, and still less so for green, while a definite 

 name for blue was either absent or borrowed from English. Corre- 

 sponding to this defect of colour terminology, there appeared to 

 be an actual defect of vision for colours of short wave-length. 

 Numerous observations were made on writing and drawing ; the 

 most striking result was the care and correctness with which 

 mirror writing was performed. Unexpected success attended 

 the experiments on the estimation of time. Nearly all the 

 investigations gave some indication of the liability to fatigue 

 and the capability for improvement by practice. Mr. C. S. 

 Myers gave an account of his observations on hearing, smell, 

 taste, reaction-time, &c. Few Murray Islanders surpass a 

 hyper-acute European in auditory acuity, while the majority 

 cannot hear as far. The sense of rhythm is remarkably accurate. 

 There is no reason to believe that they are able to perceive 

 such traces of odour as would be imperceptible to the most 

 sensitive European noses. Experiments were made to deter- 

 mine the appreciation and recognition of the common tastes. 

 The time of simple reaction is probably somewhat shorter than 

 would be that given by a corresponding class of Europeans. 

 The observations of Mr. W. McDougall on the sense of touch 



NO. 1567, VOL. 61] 



showed that the natives have a greater delicacy of discrimination 

 than white men, and at the same time less sensibility to pain. 



In the afternoon Dr. Ha^ddon gave a lantern exhibit that 

 lasted for a couple of hours : over one hundred slides were 

 shown, illustrating native handicrafts, customs and mode of 

 life. A number of sacred stones and spots were shown, and 

 their legends narrated. A series of sixteen slides fully illus- 

 trated the process of pottery-making at Port Moresby ; other 

 slides showed men cutting out canoes with stone adzes at 

 Keapara ; raising a pile, and the process of tattooing at Bulaa ; 

 and a number of beautiful photographs portrayed the singing 

 games of Papuan children. Most of the photographs exhibited 

 were taken by Mr. A. Wilkin. 



Saturday was devoted to archaeological papers, and several 

 members of the French Association were present at the session. 

 The most important communications were: one by Mr. A. J. 

 Evans on the occurrence of "Celtic" types of Fibula of the 

 Hallstatt and La Tene periods in Tunisia and Eastern Algeria ; 

 the appearance of Celtic types of Fibula among the Numidians 

 finds its complement in the discovery of large hoards of Cartha- 

 ginian and Numidian coins on the transit line of the amber 

 trade between the Save and the Adriatic. The other, by Mt. 

 G. Coffey, on Irish copper Celts ; of these there are eighty-two 

 examples in the Dublin Museum ; they are found all over 

 Ireland, and appear to represent a transition from stone to 

 bronze types, and can be arranged in series showing develop- 

 ment of form from stone to bronze implements. It would thus 

 appear that, prior to a knowledge of bronze, copper was known 

 and used for cutting implements in Ireland. 



Physical anthropology was represented on Monday morning. 

 Mr. J. Gray read a paper, with lantern illustrations, on recent 

 and most excellent ethnographical work in East Aberdeenshire, 

 based on observations on nearly 14,000 children. The maps 

 showed very clearly the penetration up the valleys of an 

 immigrant fair type among a dark population. A very valuable 

 paper, also illustrated by numerous lantern slides, was read by 

 Mr. D. Maclver on recent anthropometrical work in Egypt, 



The author gave examples of the ways in which anthropo- 

 metry may aid archaeological investigation, and pointed out the 

 unusually favourable conditions for such anthropometrical work 

 which exist in Egypt. He gave a summary of the series of 

 Egyptian measurements at present available, of the difficulties 

 which have arisen in their interpretation, and of some new 

 methods of publishing measurements specially designed to meet 

 them ; these graphic methods were suggested by Flinders-Petrie, 

 and will doubtless prove of value to other investigators. 



Details were given of three important series of specimens from 

 Egypt, viz. : 



(i) Prehistoric Series ; from the excavations of 1898-9. 



(2) VI. to XII. Dynasties ; from the excavations of 1898. 



(3) XII. to XVI. or XVII. Dynasties; from the excavations 

 of 1898-9. 



These series were considered (a) separately, with the object ot 

 ascertaining the race type represented in each ; {b) in com- 

 parison with one another, to show their affinities and differences. 

 The paper concluded with a most instructive and suggestive 

 essay on the light which such comparison throws on Egyptian 

 history. 



Prof. A. Macalister followed with notes on a collection of 

 1000 Egyptian skulls, and exhibited curves compiled from the 

 indices. 



In the afternoon Prof. W, M. Flinders-Petrie read a paper 

 on sequences of prehistoric remains. In written history the 

 value of chronology lies almost entirely in its defining the 

 sequence of events ; and if the order of changes in a civilisation 

 can be fixed, the reference to a scale of years is but a secondary 

 matter. Hitherto only very vague and general terms, referring 

 to places and not to age, have been u.sed in naming prehistoric 

 remains. But if we possessed a perfect record of an unlimited 

 number of contemporary groups of objects all of which have 

 had a time of invention, popularity, and decay, and the use of 

 which overlap each other, it is clear that with ptience- it would 

 be possible to arrange all the series of groups in their order of 

 time, and so establish definite- sequences among the various 

 objects. If then a sequence can be established, a .scale of 

 notation is needed. As a scale of years is impossible, a scale of 

 equal activities is the most reasonable. This may be reached by 

 placing all the available material in order and then dividing it 

 into a scale of equal parts. Such a scale, though not equal in 

 time, will yet give a fair unit for measuring a civilisation. This 



