6l2 



NATURE 



[April 30, 1903 



of physics, complete and accurate as they are, in no way 

 exclude guidance of events by the agency of life or mind or 

 nili. 1 unknown influence " cannot, it appears to me, be 

 reg ; ted as true in any sense relevant to the main issue 

 between naturalism and its opponents ; that his contention 

 because the psychic can be supposed to be sufficiently 

 dexterous to apply all its interfering forces on matter 

 " perpendicular to the direction of motion " is, to my 

 thinking, a complete fallacy based upon an undue estimate 

 of the importance of the conservation of energy as com- 

 pared with a more general formulation ot dynamics. 



In an earlier part of his paper Sir O. Lodge has endorsed 

 a somewhat different form of statement : " That life is 

 something outside the scheme of mechanics, although it 

 can nevertheless touch or direct material motion, subject 

 always to the laws of energy and all other mechanical laws 

 (the italics are mine) supplementing then, but contradict- 

 ing or traversing them no whit." In this statement Sir 

 O. Lodge has deigned to recognise the existence of the 

 other mechanical laws. Considering that the motions of 

 all the parts of a mechanical system are completely and 

 uniquely determinate by means of the law of energy and 

 all the other mechanical laws, it seems difficult to under- 

 stand how room is left for supplementing these laws, or 

 how the psychic can interfere in a mechanical system at 

 all without traversing mechanical laws. 



I have no intention of expressing any opinion whatevei 

 on the main point of dispute between naturalism and its 

 opponents, or of discussing the question whether our ex 

 perience of the world can be adequately represented by a 

 dualism of the physical and the psychii al. My sole object 

 has been to show that in suggesting that, provided the 

 psychical does not generate energy, it does not, bv the 

 impressing of force, really interfere with the completeness 

 of the system of physical laws. Sir O. Lodge has simpl) 

 drawn a herring across the path of the controversy between 

 naturalism and its opponents. E. W. Hobson. 



Christ's College, Cambridge, April 25. 



Density and Change of Volume of Nova Persei. 



Dr. Ritter, when dealing with stellar atmospheres, 

 touched upon the question of pulsation periods and changes 

 of density of gaseous stars. His deductions are that the 

 brightness of a variable (gaseous) star is inversely pro- 

 portional to the square of its volume, and also that the 

 period of pulsation varies inversely as the square of the 

 star's density. Now Nova Persei's periods of pulsation have 

 increased from about one day to five days and longer, from 

 which changes, according to Dr. Ritter, we can estimate 

 that the star's density has diminished from 1/10 to 1/300 

 of that of water. The square of the ratio of these two 

 fractions is 1/900. The brightness of Nova Persei should 

 have decreased to this fraction, which is equal to a decrease 

 of about seven magnitudes. 



Important information as to the constitution of this star 

 might be gained if a rigorous comparison between pulsa- 

 tion period and brightness could be carried out. 



Dr. Ritter 's investigations will be found in Wiedmann's 

 Annalen, 1879, vol. viii. p. 177, and 1881, vol. xiii. p. 367. 



C. E. Stromever. 



A Katydid's Resourcefulness. 



During the past summer an intimate friend of the writer's 

 observed a peculiar case analogous to the Irishman's 

 " spitting On his hands for a fresh hold." An ordinary 

 katydid, in trying to climb along the slats of a window blind 

 that were very smooth owing to the glazed surface of the 

 paint, kept slipping on the smooth surface. It would raise 

 one front leg and then the other, bringing the foot or claw 

 to its mouth, and there wet it with the " molasses " which 

 exuded from the creature's crop. Is this one of the practical 

 uses made by the locust family of this sticky fluid to enable 

 it to walk upon very smooth surfaces? If so, the writer 

 has never had it brought to his notice before. 



Iowa City, la., October, 1902. Arthur G. Smith. 



NO. 1748, VOL. 67] 



ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN -Y. II'. FLORIDA. 1 

 ' I HE first of these two papers deals with archae- 



' ological investigations along the coastal region 

 o N.W. Florida, being a continuation of the searches 

 conducted during ten successive seasons along other 

 portions of the coast and the waterways running down 

 to it. The work on this occasion was principally 

 centred in the districts around Perdido Bay, Pensacola 

 Bay, Santa Rosa Sound, and Choctawhatchee Bay. 

 As has hitherto been the case in the investigation of 

 Floridan antiquities, a rich harvest resulted, mainly of 

 objects of pottery. This in spite of the excavation 

 craze which lias led numbers of unskilled searchers to 

 probe the soil for its buried treasures. " In no part- 

 of Florida," writes Mr. Moore, " is the pursuit of this 

 ignis faluus so intense, and persons, otherwise Sane, 

 seemingly, spend considerable portions of their time 

 with spade and divining rod in fruitless search." 

 Some twenty mounds were investigated, and the paper 

 is devoted mainly to a detailed description of the finds. 

 Numerous interments were discovered; the greater 

 number of the skeletons were, however, incomplete. 

 The custom of burying the remains of the dead under 

 inverted earthenware bowls of large size was evidently 

 very prevalent, and recalls the similar practice observed 

 by the pre-dynastic Egyptians. An interesting custom 

 is revealed in connection with the pottery vessels found 

 with the greater number of interments. Very many 

 of the pots buried with the dead exhibit a hole pur- 

 posely broken through the base, this having been done, 

 it is believed, in order to " kill " the vessel to free its 

 spirit to accompany that of the departed. This custom 

 was seemingly very largely practised, and must have 

 been associated with a system of primitive animistic 

 philosophy which is almost world-wide, and which finds 

 expression under different, though kindred, forms of 

 manifestation. 



The finding of a definite class of mortuary pottery 

 is also of great interest. These ceremonial pots were 

 usually small, often somewhat fantastic in form, and 

 of poor materials, and a very interesting feature con- 

 sists in their basal perforations having been made at 

 the time of manufacture. These vessels were, in fact, 

 made for ceremonial "killing" — one may say, were 

 made reach -killed — and they served as cheap substitutes 

 for the more valuable useful forms. A parallel is thus 

 afforded to the modern Chinese practice of burning 

 at funerals cheap paper models of useful objects, 

 money, &c, and to the specially-made valueless burial 

 coins of Egypt and elsewhere. 



The decoration upon the pots is for the most part 

 bold in design, and incised or stamped, at times ex- 

 hibiting zoomorphic or anthropomorphic themes in 

 partial or complete relief. Some of the incised scroll- 

 work is very skilfully executed, and gives a bold, 

 intricate and effective pattern, notably in the case of 

 a fine vase from a mound near Point Washington. 



The second short paper deals with researches con- 

 ducted along- the Tombigbee River by the same ex- 

 plorers. A large number of mounds and camp sites 

 were examined, and about 17S miles of the river banks 

 were searched. The results were disappointing, and 

 but poorly rewarded the labour expended. The mounds 

 were largely domiciliary, and the finds from them were 

 few in number. The author gives a complete list of 

 mounds and camp sites along the region examined, and 

 of the names of the owners of the properties upon 

 which they stand, and this should prove very useful to 

 future investigators. 



1 "Certain Aboriginal Remains of (lie North-West Florida Coast and the 

 Tombigbee River." Two papers bv Clarence E. Moore. Joftrn. of the, 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, second series (vol. xi., part 4, 

 1901.) 



