Marcu 14, 1907 | NATURE 463 
acolytes, the shrines and the divinity thereto attached. | subject for investigation. To the man of science, even 
It is interesting to note that the people would talk 
about an important ti ‘‘in exactly the same kind of 
way that an Englishman talks about a benefice.” 
i 
ence 
| schools, Our universities, and other haunts of ancient 
:| 
oe 
Sb EEN 6 SIE 
Fic, 2.-—Toda man. From “ The Todas.’ 
The European cleric and the Toda palol thus meet 
after a journey commenced at what widely separated 
points. Thanks to Dr. Rivers’s energy and care we 
have a complete and scientific account of one of the 
most significant phenomena in the history of that 
varied organism, religion. 
The author is of opinion that the division of the 
people into Teivaliol and Tartharol is due to the 
coalescence of two tribes, coming to the hills at 
different times. There are marked dialectical dif- 
ferences between them. The Toda language as a 
whole is very difficult. The philologist will find it 
well worth study, and the data are both extensive 
and rendered more valuable in a way because the 
collector was himself ignorant of any other Dravidian 
tongue, and had therefore no expert prejudices. The 
secret and sacred languages are rather conspicuous in 
the life of the Todas. 
The book—Dr. Rivers’ first book, if I mistake not, 
in this subject—is a monument of industry and care, 
not without insight and the results of comparative 
study, and is an invaluable record of which Cambridge 
and the new anthropology may be proud. 
A, E. CRAWLEY. 
A LAW OF RECORD TIMES IN RACING. 
A REMARKABLE article on ‘‘ An Approximate 
Law of Fatigue in the Speeds of Racing Ani- 
mals,”’ by Mr. A. Dy Kennelly, appears in the Pro- 
ceedings of the American Academy (vol. xlii., p. 275) 
for December, 1906. We cannot help eeechinete as 
to the causes which led the author to choose such a 
NO. 1950. VOL 75] 
to the omnivorous statistician, the subiect sounds so 
unpromising—one may almost say undignified or 
improper; the sort of subject with which no civil 
servant, no permanent official, should ever deal, 
even in secret. Once the investigation was com- 
menced, it was naturally extended from one series 
of records to another; but what accident prompted 
the commencement? Mr. Kennelly is provokingly 
silent on the point. He opens, it is true, by telling 
us that ‘‘ Olympia and Epsom Downs are known to 
fame by the races they have witnessed. Olympian 
races, recently revived, are of international interest- 
. A reduction of either of the records [for the 
too yards or the mile] by even one per cent. would be 
a matter of world-wide importance, and the hero of 
the new record would be famous among the inhabi- 
tants of the temperate zones.’’ Yet we find it hard 
to believe that the investigation was undertaken 
simply as a definite matter of urgent public import- 
ance, even though the results, as it turns out, may 
have the gravest social consequences. They may lead 
to the advertising of mathematical tables and squared 
paper in the sporting press. They may even influ- 
the teaching of mathematics in our public 
peace. 
Put briefly and in its simplest possible form, the 
approximate law relating distances with record times 
which Mr. Kennelly has discovered is as follows :— 
For all pairs of distances in the same proportion the 
record times are in constant ratio, and this ratio is 
independent of the animal and of the mode of pro- 
gression. The observed ratios fluctuate, as one 
might expect, but the fluctuation seems to be of a 
casual kind over a very wide range of distances, and 
the ratios for different animals or modes of progress 
show little more divergence than the ratios for the 
same animal and the same mode of progress. Thus, 
taking merely a few instances in the ratio 2.1, we 
have :-— ; 
Horses TROTTING. 
Distance Time Ratio 
(miles) (seccnds) of times 
I 118°5 aa 
2 257'0 2°16 
4 5980 2°33 
5 75°°75 —= 
Io 15750 2°10 
20 3505°0 2°22 
Average ratio 2°202 
MeN SWIMMING, 
Distance Time Ratio 
(yards) (seconds) of times 
25 12°2 - 
50 24°6 2°02 
100 580 2°36 
200 140°0 2°42 
400 297°0 2°12 
800 628°0 212 
Average ratio 2°208 
The law has been tested and found to hold good 
for horses running, trotting, and pacing, and for men 
walking, running, rowing, swimming, and skating. 
It does not hold, on the other hand, ‘for bicycling—a 
not unnatural result, when the importance of the 
| machine as well as the rider is considered.} 
If T denote the record time and L the distance, the 
law may evidently be put in the form 
BLN caer (1) 
1 Cf. the work of M. Bouny (Paris Academy of Scien 
and NATURE, 
vol. liv., 1896), and R. E. Crompton (NaTUuRE, vol. Ixi., 1 
