l62 



NA TURE 



[December 15, i! 



Bristol and the surrounding districts (index 76'6). He ascribed 

 the media'val brifchyccphalism to the large proportion of people 

 of French descent, which was indicated by that of French 

 surnames, these latter having, gradually declined in number ever 

 since the fourteenth century. 



Prof. 11. A. Miers, F.R.S., read a note on the origin of 

 stone-worship, in which he pointed out that when meteorites fell 

 in early times, they must have provoked religious awe ; quoting 

 instances among recorded falls in which this was certainly the 

 case, and some in which the meteorite became an object of 

 worship. Mr. Arthur Evans pointed out in reply that the 

 meteoric theory of stone-worship had in fact been formerly 

 dominant, but could not be held to account satisfactorily, in a 

 large number of cases, for the observances associated with the 

 worship of stones. 



Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan gave a short account, with lantern 

 illustrations, of the camps and megalithic remains to be visited 

 during the meeting in connection with the excursions. 



Mr. A. L. Lewis sent a note on the circles of Stanton Drew. 

 A description of the megalithic monuments of Dartmoor, by 

 Mr. P. G. S. Amery, was postponed to Wednesday's session. 



The afternoon session was held in the Princess Theatre, Park 

 Row. and attracted an audience of nearly a thousand persons. 

 Prof E. B. Tylor, F. R.S., discussed the survival of paleolithic 

 conditions in Tasmania and .Australia, with especial reference to 

 the modern use of unground stone implements in West .\uslralia; 

 pointing out that the stone implements from Tasmania, the 

 making and use of which by the natives came under the observ- 

 ation of the colonists during the first half of this century, have 

 a character which may be called quasi-palceolithic. They were 

 fragments or flakes of stone, in no case ground, but edged by 

 chipping on one face only, and trimmed so as to afford a grasp 

 to the hand, no haft of any kind being used. These instruments 

 correspond to some extent with scrapers, lic, belonging to the 

 Drift and Cave periods in Europe : but their general rudeness, 

 and the absence among them of symmetrical double-edged and 

 pointed implements like the flint picks of Old World palieolithic 

 times, pl.ice the modern Tasmanians at a distinctly lower stage 

 than the Europe.ins of the mammoth period. The stone imple- 

 ments found in Tasmania, of which some good collections have 

 now been made, indicate a state of the .Stone Age in past times 

 not essentially diflferent from that found in actual existence 

 before the disappearance of the native population. These quasi- 

 palaiolithic implements, old or new, have to be considered apart 

 from the few cases of ground stone hatchet blades fixed in 

 handles, which are now admitted to have been introduced in 

 modern times by ."Australian natives. 



The purpose of the paper was to offer evidence making it 

 likely that the early Stone Age condition characterising Tasmania 

 extended within no distant period over the whole .Australian 

 continent. A native .-\ustralian hatchet hafted with gum on a 

 stick-handle was exhibited, lent by Mr. W. .Ayshford Sanford, 

 of Nynehcad Court, Somerset, who brought it half a century ago 

 from the Perth district of West .Australia. The blade of this 

 instrument, with its unsymmetrical edge formed by chipping along 

 one side of the original flake, is simply indistinguishable from 

 the ordinary Tasnianian form placed beside it. Prof Tylor 

 stated that, unwilling to judge hastily from a single specimen, he 

 had for years been in correspondence with anthropologists in 

 Australia as to the presence there of such implements, and had 

 lately, through communications from the Kishop of Tasmania 

 and Mr. Alexander Morton, of the Ilobart Museum, received in- 

 telligence that the latter, than whom no one better understands 

 the Tasmanian implement question, has on a late journey to the 

 little-known Murchison district in West Australia, while not 

 meeting with ground stone axes, found the natives using chipped 

 stones quite similar to those used by the Tasmanian aborigines, 

 as shown by photographs sent for comparison. These qu.asi- 

 pala-olilhic implements not having yet been dispossessed in this 

 district by the ground stone hatchets, which apparently were 

 introduced from the Torres .Straits region, it would seem that 

 this neolithic inva.sion was of no remote date, and that the vast 

 area including Australia as well as Tasmania may have been 

 till then peopled by tribes surviving at a level of the Stone Age 

 which had not yet risen to that of the remotely ancient European 

 tribes of the Drift gravels and limestone caves. While disclaim- 

 ing any hasty inference. Prof Tylor called attention, from this 

 point of view, to the importance of, and the similarities between, 

 the modern Australioid skulls and the prehistoric skulls of 

 Neanderthal, Sjjy, Padliaba, &c. 



NO. 1520, VOL. 59] 



On Saturday, September lo, Prof. Tylor opened the morning 

 session by introducing the final report on the north-weslem 

 tribes of Canada. He pointed out that, while the work of the 

 committee has materially advanced our knowledge of the tribes 

 of British Columbia, the field of investigation is by no means 

 exhausted. The languages are still only known in outline. 

 More detailed informati<m on the physical types may clear up 

 several points that have remained obscure, and a fuller know- 

 ledge of the ethnology of the northern tribes seems desirable. 

 Ethnological evidence has been collected bearing upon the 

 history of development of the culture area under consideration ; 

 but no archa'ological investigations have been carried out which 

 would help materially in solving these problems. For this 

 reason Prof. Tylor thought it was a matter for congratulation to 

 know that the ethnological investigation in British Columbia 

 will not cease with the operations inaugurated by the committee, 

 but was now entrusted to the committee for the ethnological 

 survey of Canada, the second report of which was to be read 

 during the morning. He finally bore testimony to the very high 

 value of the work done by that committee. 



Mr. J. L. Myres then read a condensed abstract of the com- 

 plete final report of the committee. It consists of two parts: 

 (i) Report of the investigations into the physical characteristics 

 of the tribes of British Columbia, by Dr. Franz Boas and Mr. 

 Livingston Farrand ; (2) a summary of the work of the com- 

 mittee in British Columbia, by Dr. Franz Boas. 



Sir John Evans, commenting upon the report, said that one 

 question that arose was whether the committee had been able 

 in the course of their labours to acquire any of those old personal 

 objects which formed such an interesting subject in the report. 

 He knew that in the museum at Victoria there was a collection 

 of the antiquities of the north-western tribes of Canada, but he 

 believed that the bulk of the objects collected in Canada were 

 .still in the museum of New Vork. This circumstance, however, 

 was largely due to the greater liberality of the United States 

 Government. It would be a graceful act if the authorities ol 

 that museum were to present to the British Museum a typical 

 collection of the objects that Dr. Boas had obtained, assisted 

 as he had been by the British Association. When in \'ancouver 

 and Victoria he had thought it a great pity that the many 

 objects collected from the original inhabitants of the country 

 had not found their natural home within the British dominions. 

 Dr. Dorsey, he was sure, would agree with him that there was 

 an abundance of material from which a selection could be made 

 for the mother country. In conclusion, he asked those present 

 to express their pleasure that the labours of the committee had 

 terminated so satisfactorily. 



Dr. G. .A. Dorsey, of Chicago, stated that one of the objects 

 of his present visit to England was to arrange for the transfer 

 of some portions of the collection under his care to museums in 

 England. He gladly testified, from his ow n practical experien>e, 

 to the value of the reports of the committee as a guide-book to 

 the tribes which they described. He further pointed out that 

 Dr. Boas was not now in the service of any association, but was 

 employed by the New Vork Museum, the directors of v\hich 

 had placed at Dr. Boas' command something like 1200/. for 

 equipment purposes. 



The President endor.sed the views of Sir John Evans and Dr. 

 Dorsey as to the value and importance of the work of the 

 committee and its embodiment in the pages of the report. 



Mr. Hartland expressed the hope that the whole series ol 

 reports, some of which are out of print, might be republished 

 in a convenient form ; and a resolution to that efi'ect was sub- 

 sequently .sent up by the Sectional Committee to the Committee 

 of Recommendations. 



Mr. .A. Krauss read a paper, illustrated by lantern slides, on 

 the Tarahumare jK-ople of Mexico. He showed that the 

 Tarahumaris lie in the most inaccessible portions of the Sierni 

 Madre of Northern Mexico. They are ignorant and primitive, 

 and many still live in caves. What villages they have are at 

 altitudes of some Sooo feet above the sea level. They are a 

 small and wiry people, with great powers of endurance. Theii 

 imly food is pinuli, which is maize parched and finely ground. 

 They have a peculiar drink called teshuin, also produced fron. 

 maize and manufactured with considerable ceremony. Tht 

 language of these hillmen is limited to about 300 words, anil 

 their imperfect knowledge of numbers renders them unable t' 

 count beyond ten. The religion they have seems to be a dis 

 torled and imperfect conception of Christian tradition mixed 

 with some of their own ideas and superstitions. Miss Zelia 



