1^,8 



NA 7 URE 



[June 9, 1904 



latter case, partly from the absence of any definite standard 

 of measurement. Prof. Pearson, with characteristic 

 ingenuity, has found means of overcoming both Icinds of 

 difficulty, and has succeeded in showing that for the in- 

 heritance of all observed traits, whether belonging to the 

 " mental " or " bodily " category, the slope of the " re- 

 gression " line closely approximates to the same value, 

 viz. 0-5. Considering the e.xtent to which the persona! 

 element must needs enter into any estimate, however 

 careful, of comparative ability or character, the uniformity 

 shown by the author's tables is far greater than might 

 have been expected. Some, indeed, may incline to the 

 opinion that he proves too much, for if' the influence of 

 heredity is supreme alike in the mental and moral, and in 

 the physical domain, what room is left for the action of 

 teaching, training, discipline, and the environment 

 generally, influences which the common experience of man- 

 kind has held to be of importance? Prof. Pearson partly 

 meets the difliculty by reminding us that " the average 

 home environment, the average parental influence is in 

 Itself part of the heritage of the stock." This is true 

 enough, but scarcely covers the whole ground, because a 

 great deal of the average environment is not parental. 



Still, however firmly we mav be convinced of the power 

 of education to foster desirable qualities of whatever kind, 

 there can be little doubt of the significance of the author's 

 figures with regard to the material on which education and 

 experience have to work. From these considerations there 

 emerges a practical conclusion of the highest importance. 

 •' Intelligence," says Prof. Pearson, " can be aided and be 

 tramed, but no training or education can cyeate it." " The 

 mentally better stock in the nation is not reproducing itself 

 at the same rate as it did of old ; the less able, and the less 

 energetic, are more fertile than the better stocks. No 

 scheme of wider or more thorough education will bring up 

 in the scale of intelligence hereditary weakness to the level 

 of hereditary strength. The only reinedv, if one be possible 

 at all, IS to alter the relative fertility of the good and the 

 bad stocks in the community." F. A. D. 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES. 

 \Yl- liave frequently directed attention to the splendid 

 work done by Mr. Clarence B. Moore in his archce- 

 ological investigations in Florida. In the second series of 

 the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia, part iii. of vol. xii. is devoted to a memoir on 

 certain aboriginal mounds of the Florida central west coast, 

 and, like Mr. Moore's previous publications, it is sumptuously 

 illustrated. Perhaps the most interesting find is a fish-spear 

 of native copper ; this is a unique record for Florida. There 

 is little doubt that the ancient coppersmith had arrived at 

 the knowledge that hammering the metal gave it stifl'ness. 

 Numerous copper ornaments were found, such as pendants 

 and ear-plugs, some of the latter being decorated with 

 symbolic designs. None of the skulls from this district 

 exhibited cranial flattening, though it was extensively 

 practised on the north-west coast of Florida. In the latter 

 district were found ceremonial vessels in which large holes 

 had been made before the firing of the clay, but they do 

 not occur along the central west coast. The mounds on the 

 -Apalachicola River yield forms of burial similar to those 

 prevailing along the north-west coast of Florida. Cere- 

 monial vessels, " killed " by a basal perforation and by 

 noles throughout the body, made before the firing of the 

 day, were found in considerable numbers; the ware is most 

 inferior in quality, as might be expected of vessels purposely 

 made for interment with the dead. 



There was a spirited discussion in the American Aulhro- 

 t'ologist during 1903 concerning the origin of the sheet 

 copper found in the Florida mounds. Mr. J. D. McGuire 

 r(:ntended that it owed its origin to European influences, but 

 the whole weight of evidence and experience was against 

 him. 



There is immense variety in the basketry of the native 

 tribes of America as regards form, technique, decoration 

 and the materials employed, and our colleagues of the 

 United States fully realise the importance of studying the 

 designs with which so many baskets are ornamented while 

 there is yet an opportunity of discovering their significance. 

 NO. 1806, VOL. 70] 



We have several times referred to this subject ; the latest 

 publication of this kind is an admirably and copiously illus- 

 trated memoir, by G. T. Emmons, on the basketry of the 

 Tlinget, in the Memoirs of the American Museum of 

 Natural History (vol. iii. part ii.). The accuracy with 

 which designs have been preserved and transmitted through 

 so many generations is evidence of the conservatism of 

 primitive peoples ; most of the patterns of the past may be 

 seen in the work of to-day, but the modern tendency to 

 produce new figures is born of the rivalry in trade. The- 

 old characters are being combined to form attractive though 

 meaningless figures, and so symbolism in design will 

 gradually be lost. In existing circumstances the future of 

 basketry is not difficult to foresee ; the younger generatioii 

 learns to read and write, but seldom learns to weave, and 

 so the time is not far distant when Alaska must follow in 

 the footsteps of all the basket producing countries. It is 

 fortunate that, in the meantime, we have such an admirable 

 piece of work as Mr. Emmons has produced, as he has saved 

 Irom oblivion the meaning of many patterns and designs. 



The following ingenious method of ethnological investi- 

 gation adopted by Mr. E. Thurston, superintendent of the 

 Government .Museum, JIadras, is worth rescuing from the 

 oblivion of the report for the year 1902-1903. " In the 

 inquiries concerning manners and customs, a novel and 

 eminently effective method of arriving at the truth concern- 

 ing tribal ceremonials was resorted to, marriage and death 

 ceremonies being acted in the form of theatricals in which 

 each performer at the real ceremony was represented by 

 a member of the class concerned. In this way the interest 

 was thoroughly sustained, and the fatigue, which soon 

 supervenes among illiterate people when they are inter- 

 viewed, was avoided. ^Moreover, apparently trivial but 

 really important points of detail were clearly brought out 

 in a manner which is impossible by mere oral examination. 

 I have myself had to play the part of maternal uncle, and,, 

 as representing the swami, to receive the obeisance of the 

 mock bride. The leading role of corpse at a funeral was 

 played either by an elderly man or by a clay votive figure 

 purchased from a local potter. The pupils of the eyes of 

 these figures are not painted in till they are taken to the 

 temple, where fuja is done to them, as it is the painting 

 of the eyes which endows them with life." 



In the report on the administration of the Government 

 .Museum of Madras for the year 1902-1903, Mr. E. Thurston 

 writes : — " Two tours were made in the course of the year. 

 During the first of these the physical measurements of the 

 jungle Uralis and Sholagas of the Coimbatore district were 

 examined by myself, and their visual acuity, colour vision.,. 

 &c., by Dr. \V. H. R. Rivers, of Cambridge. It took many 

 months before confidence was restored among these primitive 

 folk, who, as a report records, ' could not understand why 

 the measurements of the different organs of their bodies 

 were taken ; perhaps to reduce or increase the size of their 

 bodies, to suit the different works which they were e.xpected 

 to do near London.' .They believed, too, that the variously 

 coloured wools, given to them for selection, were for tying 

 them captive with. ... A prolonged halt was subsequently 

 made at Coimbatore, where the Kaikolans, Oddes, Okki- 

 liyans, S;c., were investigated. The Oddes, unfortunately, 

 all have the title Boyan added to their names, and .a fatal 

 rumour was spread among them that the object of my visit 

 was to transport the strongest among them to South Africa, 

 to replace the Boers who had been killed in the war. My 

 evil eye was cast on them, and they refused to fire a new 

 kiln of bricks for house construction till my departure from, 

 their midst." 



In appropriate yellow guise is published a new illustrated, 

 quarterly review called Buddhism, by the International 

 Buddhist Society, at the Hanthawaddy Printing Works,. 

 Rangoon. The first article of the second number gives an 

 account of the election and installation of the Taunggwin. 

 Sayadavv as Thathanabaing of Upper Burma. This 

 functionary is the patriarch or ecclesiastic head, who is 

 supreme in all matters connected with religion, and next 

 to the king is the person most held in esteem. It is eight 

 years since the last Thathanabaing died, and the people 

 were as sheep without a shepherd, and feared that the 

 Government would never exert its royal prerogative and 

 elect a successor ; but to their intense relief and satisfaction 

 this was done in November, 1903. The review contains ar» 



