560 



NA TUBE 



[April 16, 1903 



The Thermal Energy of Radium Salts. 



It is well known that when ordinary chlorine gas is ex- 

 posed to sunlight its temperature rises above that of the 

 surrounding medium. The rise of. temperature is pro- 1 

 portional to the intensity of the light. A certain maximum 

 temperature is finally attained at which the rate of cooling 

 is proportional to the rate of conversion of actinic into 

 thermal energy. If the light stimulus be removed, the 

 emperature of the chlorine takes about half an hour to re- 

 turn to that of its surroundings. 



I have just read the interesting paper by MM. P. Curie 

 and A. Laborde in the Electrician for April 3 (my only 

 source of information at present), and it is reasonable u> 

 suppose that the increased temperature of radium salts there 

 recorded might be traced to the same source. The effect 

 with radium salts would be more persistent than with 

 chlorine gas. But this matter can only be decided experi- 

 mentally by those possessing specimens of the salts of this 

 remarkable compound. J. W. Mellor. 



London Villa, Newcastle, Staffs, April 9. 



EAST SIBERIAN DECORATIVE ART.' 



A LTHOUGH of late years the investigation of the 

 -**- decorative art of primitive peoples has received 

 considerable attention, yet the interest taken in the 

 subject is not so great as its importance merits. There 

 are two methods of study, (1) the collation of specimens 

 which happen to be in museums, with armchair de- 

 ductions from the material examined; and (2) investi- 

 gations in the field. When we recall the errors into 

 which the former method has landed students, we must 

 endorse the following remarks made by Mr. Laufer : — 

 " I must confess," he says, " I adhere to the principle 

 that ornaments should not be regarded as enigmas 

 which can be easily puzzled out by the homely fireside. 

 Neither are ornaments of primitive tribes like inscrip- 

 tions, that may be deciphered; they are rather produc- 

 tions of their art, which can receive proper explanation 

 only from the lips of their creators." Mr. Laufer 

 speaks from experience, as he spent two years among 

 the various tribes of Saghalin Island and the Amur 

 region, and one result of his painstaking investigations 

 is an exhaustive memoir on the decorative art of the 

 Amur Tribes, which has recently been published in the 

 Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. 

 The researches were undertaken under the auspices of 

 the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, and they have been 

 published with that wealth of excellent illustration to 

 which our American colleagues have accustomed us. 



Among the Amur tribes plastic art is practically un- 

 represented, except among the Gilvak, but they excel 

 in the decoration of surfaces. The Gold are well versed 

 in all branches of this latter art, especially in em- 

 broidery, while the Tungusian tribes of the Amg-un 

 and LIssuri Rivers are unsurpassed in cutting orna- 

 ments for decorating birch-bark baskets. The farther 

 to the east the more destitute is the art, but it attains 

 its climax where it is in direct contact with Chinese 

 influence. It is extremely probable that the decorative 

 art of these Tungusian tribes was primitively very poor 

 in quality, but from very early times they adopted 

 Chinese devices and, very likely, further developed 

 them independently. It is, however, surprising that 

 exactly corresponding devices have never been found 

 in China, nor adequate explanations obtained for 

 related ones, the explanation being that traditions 

 regarding the meaning of certain patterns are fuller, 

 and have been better preserved in the minds of the 

 unlettered tribes than in the fleeting memory of a 



' " T The 5 ec ° ra '| ve . A " "' " R Am " r Tribes." By Berthold Laufer. 

 the Jesup \orih Pacific Expedition: Memoirs bf the American Museum 

 tural History. Vol. vii. (Anthropology, vol. vi.) Pp. 86, 33 plates 

 naming 230 figures, and 2 t figures in the text. (New York, 1902.) 



writing nation; but, after all, we know very little 

 about the significance of Chinese decorative art. On 

 the whole, we may regard the decorative art of the 

 Amur tribes as an independent branch of East Asiatic 

 art which sprang from the Sino-Japanese cultural 

 centre. 



The materials used by the Amur tribes for decorative 

 purposes are wood, birch-bark, fish-skin, elk and rein- 

 deer skin, cotton and silk. The general style of the 

 decorative art can be gathered from the accompanying 

 illustrations. The Gilyak used to carve spoons for 

 domestic use ; these are now replaced by spoons of 

 Russian make, but carved spoons are still employed 

 for the bear- festival, the decoration of which has special 

 reference to the festival ; all are provided with an inter- 

 laced band ornament, which represents the ropes with 

 which the living bear is bound. 



There are many patterns and devices which appear 

 to be simple or grouped spirals, sometimes associated 

 with bands and circles, but in the vast majority of the 

 designs Mr. Laufer has demonstrated that the cock 

 and the fish play a very important part ; the former is 

 more frequently reproduced than all other animals to- 

 gether. The cock is not indigenous, but was first 

 introduced by the Chinese, nor does it enter into the 

 mythology of the natives as it does with the Chinese. 



N 



O. 1746, VOL. 67] 



Fic.s. 1 and 2. — Embroidered designs for trimming the pocket of a shirt. 



In China, the cock is a symbol of the sun, because it 

 announces the rising of the sun ; besides the earthly 

 cocks there is a heavenly cock, which sings at sun- 

 rise perched on a willow tree, which also symbolises 

 the sun ; further, it belongs to the class of animals that 

 protect man from the evil influence of demons. 



In Fig. 1, two combatant cocks are grouped about 

 a central axis; in Fig. 2, the cocks are highly con- 

 ventionalised, their tails being in the form of an orna- 

 mental double fish-tail. The bifurcated arms project- 

 ing on either side above the cocks are meant for fishes, 

 which are essentially characterised by the form of the 

 tail. In the large triangle to the left in Fig. 3 we 

 have two musk deer, which is the animal most fre- 

 quently represented after the cock and fish, but their 

 bodies are implicated in cock and fish motives. The 

 other large triangle should be looked at upside down ; 

 there is an oval object between the two cocks' beaks in 

 the centre; above the beaks are the cocks' combs, and 

 below are two easily recognised fishes. The smaller 

 triangles contain a medley of bird and fish motives. 

 In Fig. 4 a fish is represented at a, above its head is a 

 beak-like figure c, and two curves b, which are prob- 

 ably the tail feathers of a cock ; d is a spirally- 



