NovEMBER 9, 1916] 
ornament. All stages were shown, from early Anglian, 
in some respects resembling early Welsh, througn the 
best Anglian period of native art and the decadent 
pre-Danish period, to the tull Vikmg-age Scandi- 
navian, which, however, received its tullest develop- 
ment beyond the boundaries of Northumbria. 
Dr. kivers presented a communication on “The 
Cultivation of Taro.’ In Melanesia and Polynesia 
taro is cultivated by means of irrigation, which is used 
for this purpose only, Perry has shown that irriga- 
tion has a distribution which corresponds closely with 
that of megalithic monuments, sun-cult, and other 
objects and customs which seem to have been carried 
over the earth by one migration or a connected series 
of migrations. ‘he exclusive use of irrigation for the 
cultivation of taro in Oceania suggests that it also 
belongs to the group. This is contrmed by the dis- 
tribution of the plant, which, when its tropical habit 
is taken into account, corresponds in general with 
that of other elements of the megalithic complex. An 
exception to this general correspondence occurs in the 
New Hebrides, where taro is absent or unimportant in 
a large part of the island of Malekula, although this 
island possesses a highly developed megalithic culture. 
Other evidence shows that the megalithic culture 
reached Melanesia in two chief waves, an earlier asso- 
ciated with mummification of the dead, and a later 
with interment of the dead in the extended position. 
The distribution of the cultivation of taro by irrigation 
in southern Melanesia points to its carriage by the 
earlier of these two migrations. 
In ‘Personal Experience as an Element in Folk- 
tales’’ Miss Freire-Marreco pointed out that the stril- 
ing resemblances between the dreams of children and 
those of adults of low mentality on one hand, and 
the myths of uncivilised peoples on the other, are to 
be explained, not by a semi-mystical analogy between 
the childhood of individuals and that of the race, but 
by supposing that very many folk-tales are founded on 
reported dreams, day-dreams, and trance experiences. 
A study of ‘‘The Organisations of Witches in Great 
Britain” by Miss M. Murray showed that the witches 
practised a definite religion, with chief festivals, or 
sabbaths, at Candlemas, Roodmas, Lammds, and 
Hallowmas. The chief of the witches, called by 
Christian writers ‘‘ The Devil,’ was regarded as a god 
incarnate in a man, or, when disguised in the skin 
’ of an animal, as incarnate in that animal. The ritual 
of admission into the society comprised the renuncia- 
tion of any previous religion, dedication of body and 
soul to the god of the witches, vows of absolute 
obedience, baptism and the giving of a new name, 
and finally the signing of a contract or marking on 
the body, possibly by tattooing. 
In papers on ‘“‘A Summer and Winter among the 
Natives of Arctic Siberia’’ and on ‘“‘ The Physical Type 
of the Northern Tungus”’ Miss Czaplicka gave a de- 
scriptive account of the country and the native 
manners, customs, and types. Generally she showed 
that the Tungus in the north approach in type the 
Palzo-Siberians, and in the south the Mongols. 
Mr. and Mrs. Scoresby Routledge described some of 
the results of their expedition to Easter Island, in the 
course of which they mapped and excavated the region 
of the terraces and of the images, and collected all 
that was still known of the old native culture. Little 
is now known by the natives with regard to the 
statues, though the last was overthrown so recently as 
1830. The various features of the statues were, how- 
ever, traced to customs of which knowledge remains. 
The life of the island appears to have turned on the 
finding of the first esg of a certain migratory bird, 
and it is possible that the statues were portrait- 
models on a large scale erected each year to com- 
memorate the official discoverer of the egg. There 
NO. 2454, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
199 
were ten clans on the island perpetually at war, and 
cannibalism was rife. A special sanctity attached to 
the Miru clan, who alone had an Ariki, or chief, who 
was an authority on the tablets in an as yet unknown 
script found on the island, and who presided when 
these were read. It is not certain that these are very 
old, for white men who-came in ships were regarded 
as gods, and ceremonies in their honour could be 
traced back for three generations. 
In discussing the relations between ‘Magic and 
Religion,” Dr. Jevons emphasised the importance of 
distinguishing from the earliest times between prac- 
tices thought to be beneficial and of a religious 
character and those thought to be harmful and 
universally reprobated of a magical kind. Contrary 
to the views of Dr, Marett, he maintained there never 
had been or ever could be a magico-religious period 
or any practices which could be described as both 
Magical and religious. 
AN IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT. OF 
MINERALS AND METALS. 
ROF. HENRY LOUIS described in Nature of 
October 5 (p. 91) the need for the organisation of 
the mineral and metal resources and industries of the 
Empire. We reprint below the memorandum which 
has been sent to Sir William S. M’Cormick, adminis- 
trative chairman of the Advisory Council for Scientific 
and Industrial Research, by the leading technical 
societies concerned with the subject. The proposal for 
the establishment of a central Department of Minerals 
and Metals has also been communicated to the 
Dominion Governments. 
On behalf and by authority of the councils of the- 
following institutions :—The lron and Steel Institute 
(incorporated by royal charter as representing the iron 
and steel industries); the Institute of Metals (incor- 
porated as representing the users and manufacturers 
of non-ferrous metals and alloys); the Institution of 
Mining Engineers (incorporated by royal charter as 
representing coal and iron ore mining and allied in- 
dustries) ; and the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy 
(incorporated by royal charter as representing the 
mining of minerals other than coal and iron cres and 
the production of metals other than iron and steel); 
We, the undersigned, have the honour to submit the 
following considerations and recommendations in the 
hope that, through the intervention of the committee 
of the Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial 
Research, measures may be taken to provide the neces- 
sary machinery for the protection and advancement of 
the economic welfare of the mineral and metal indus- 
tries of the Empire. 
The absence of effective co-ordination of the organ- 
isations of these vital industries has been demonstrated’ 
‘and brought into prominence by the war, in many 
directions. The grave results to the national interests. 
are generally admitted. 
There are highly organised geological surveys and 
departments of mines in nearly all foreign countries, 
and their influence in the development of mineral re- 
sources is a factor of the first importance. There are: 
similar well-organised departments in some of the 
British Dominions, but there is no connecting link 
or central ‘“‘clearing-house” in the metropolis of the 
Empire to co-ordinate information on its mineral re- 
sources, to stimulate their development, and to safe- 
guard Imperial interests. 
Various departments of the Home Government, such 
as the Geological Survevs and Museum of Practical 
Geology, the Board of Trade, the Home Office, the 
Imperial Institute, and, since the outbreak of the 
