42 
races in Natal and the surrounding districts. He re- 
called the conditions of native life as they were when 
he first landed in South Africa about forty years ago. 
The influence of the white man had been in favour 
of the Bantu people, for whom it was then an idyllic 
time. In 1886 came the great discovery which altered 
the whole social and economic position, not entirely 
to the native’s advantage. Since then two waves of 
cattle disease—first rinderpest and then East Coast 
fever—swept across the territories, and an economi- 
cally free people with considerable assets has been 
transformed into a community of debtors. Now educa- 
tion has come, and along with it unrest, the old life 
no longer satisfying, and so capacity has brought 
about a hunger to take a higher position. The ques- 
tion is now one which calls for scientific treatment, 
for investigation, for careful generalisation, and for 
application to the welfare of mankind. 
Of the papers read at the various sectional meet- 
ings little can be said here. In Section A there were 
mathematical papers by Sir Thomas Muir and Prof. 
Roseveare, and papers on industrial development by 
Prof. Orr and Mr. Kenneth Austin; but those which 
attracted most popular notice were two short ones on 
daylight saving and the metric system respectively by 
Mr. R. T. A. Innes, of the Union Observatory. The 
principles advocated in both these papers were unani- 
mously affirmed by Sections A and D meeting jointly, 
and resolutions were passed urging the Union Govern- 
ment to adopt those principles. 
In Section B a highly important compilation of 
analytical figures from various sources was submitted 
by Prof. M. Rindl, of Grey University College, Bloem- 
fontein, in a paper on the medicinal springs of South 
Africa. Dr. C. F. Juritz read two papers: one on 
the wheat soils of the Alexandria district, a tract of 
country where wheat once flourished, but in which 
there has been great deterioration during recent 
years; another on experiments with sugar beet in 
South Africa, bringing up to date the record of in- 
vestigations which had already formed the subject of 
two previous papers by the author. Dr. A. L. du Toit 
contributed a paper on the occurrence of molybdenum 
in Natal, where the metal is present in the unusual 
condition of an impregnation in coarse sandstone of 
Upper Triassic age. In a paper on Fischer’s syn- 
thesis of tanning materials the president of the 
section hinted at the possibility of synthesised 
depsides proving a formidable rival to the Natal wattle 
industry. 
Section C had a very large number of papers, and 
only very few of these can be so much as mentioned 
here. Mr. J. L. Henkel, Conservator of Forests for 
the Natal Province, contributed three papers on dif- 
ferent phases of forestry in Natal, and there were 
other papers on the subject by Mr. T. R. Sim, who 
also read a paper on wattle growing, another paper 
on the entomological aspect of the latter subject being 
read by Mr. C. B. Hardenberg. Four papers, having 
as their respective subjects the mealy bug, the Argen- 
tine ant, the house fly, and the cultivation of strains 
of beneficial insects, were submitted by Mr. C. W. 
Mally. Dr. Ethel Doidge contributed three important 
papers on bacterial diseases in citrus and pear blossom 
and. on citrus canker. Mr.. F. Vaughan Kirby read 
a paper on. game protection in Zululand, while Mr. 
D. T.° Mitchell discussed the association of game in 
Zululand with tsetse-fly disease. Mr, W. R. Tucker 
gave an account of the progress of the Natal sugar 
industry, and Mr. W. H. Scherffius discussed the 
cotton-growing industry. ( 
Section D, too, was fully supplied with papers, so 
much so, indeed, that next vear will see it divided 
into two sections, the council having decided to estab- 
lish a new section, E, specially for native affairs, a 
NO. 2446, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
[SEPTEMBER 14, 1916 
| subject which has engrossed much attention in Section 
D during the last three sessions. Two papers in this 
section by the Rev. Noel Roberts, illustrated with 
lantern views, on ‘‘Rock Paintings in the Northern 
Transvaal’? and on ‘‘ Bantu Methods of Divination,” 
were both highly appreciated. The Rev. W. A. 
Norton read an informative paper on Bantu move- 
ments in Africa, illustrated by African. place-names. — 
Another paper of similar character was read by the 
Rev. John R. L. Kingon on the place-names of the 
Tsolo District. One of the most important papers 
read in Section D was delivered by the Rev. B. P. J. 
Marchand, and gave an account of the history and 
operations of the labour colony at Kakamas, on the 
banks of the Orange River. A valuable paper en- 
titled ‘‘The Relation of Production to Consumption,” 
by Mr. P. J. du Toit, Under Secretary for Agriculture, 
indicated the growth of South African farming indus- 
tries, and advocated, as channels for constant progress, 
the increase of the European population, the develop- 
ment of fresh markets, and the educational and social 
advancement of the natives. Dr..Loram read a paper 
comparing the mentality of natives and Europeans in 
view of the theory of arrested development of the 
former. The Rev. A. T. Bryant gave two papers on 
the religion of the Zulu, and the concluding paper of 
the session was read by the Rey. J. R. L. Kingon 
on native education. Mr. Kingon said that this sub- 
ject was one of supreme concern to the South African 
nation. Originally, the deliberate policy of the Im- 
perial Government had been to provide native educa- 
tion as an insurance against Kaffir wars, but to-day 
the problem is chiefly economic and moral, and on 
both grounds he urged that the argument against 
native education is erroneous and unsound. 
During the session two evening discourses were 
delivered, one at Maritzburg by Mr. C. P. Lounsbury, 
chief entomologist of the Union, on ‘‘Scale Insects 
and their Travels,’ and the other at Durban by Mr. 
R. T. A. Innes, Union astronomer, on ‘‘ Astronomy.’”” 
On the first evening of the session, after the presi- 
dential address, the president presented to Mr. T. R. 
Sim, in recognition of his botanical researches, an 
award of s5ol. and the South Africa medal for 
achievement and promise in scientific research, the 
fund for the annual presentation of which was raised 
by the British Association during its visit to South 
Africa in 1905. C. Bp 
ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED 
STATES# 
£N 
1904 work was commented upon an extended 
study of the economic history of the United 
States, under the auspices of the Department of 
Economics and Sociology of the Carnegie Institution 
of Washington. The subject-matter of this study was 
divided into twelve departments, and the two volumes 
before us represent the contribution to learning of the 
Department of Domestic and Foreign Commerce. 
They include six parts, deafing respectively with 
“American Commerce to 1789,” ‘‘The International 
Commerce of the United States,” ‘“‘The Coastwise 
Trade,” ‘‘The Foreign Trade of the United States 
since 1789,"’ ‘“‘ American Fisheries,’ and ‘“‘ Government 
Aid and Commercial Policy,’ which are based, in 
part, upon monographs, some of which have. not 
been published. Vol. ii. contains a classified biblio- 
graphy which runs to 24 pp., and vol. i. gives 10 pp. 
to notes and a bibliography concerning American 
1 ‘History of Domestic and Foreign Commerce of the United States.” 
Vol. i. By K. R. Johnson, T. W. Van Metre, G. G. Huebner, and D. S; 
Hanchett. Pp. xv+363. Vol. ii. Pp. ix+308. (Washington: Carnegie 
Institution, rors.) 
. 
