512 



NATURE 



[March 30, 1899 



line has preceded the counting of it in the male line, and 

 we are also shown good reason for excepting the state- 

 ment that descent in the female line is necessarily a sign 



r'cping up to hi?; enemy. Hetu 

 ; the shoes are seen on liis feel, ;: 

 r three wooden Churinga. 



of primitiveness. Perhaps the divergences in the customs 

 recorded of some of these Central Australian tribes 



NO. 1535. VOL. 59] 



may have a connection with the traditional wanderings 

 of their Achilpa ancestors, concerning which we are 

 provided with detailed accounts and maps of the routes 

 followed. The fact, that the ancestors came 

 from the south-west and south-east, and found 

 themselves among already located peoples, 

 looks as if the northern immigration ha\ing 

 crossed Australia and reached the e.Mreme 

 confines of the continent had rolled back on 

 its tracks. Every group of natives appears to 

 1' i\c its local head man ; this position he 

 ;;iins on account of his skill in hunting or 

 I raining, or his knowledge of the ancient tra- 

 clilKins of the tribe ; such a man will consult 

 the elders of his tribe, but the final disposition 

 (if all points rests in his hands : no stranger 

 will enter the camp without his permission ; 

 should he have no son to succeed him he 

 a|i])car5 to have the power to nominate the 

 imlividual he desires to be his successor — in 

 other words he is in a primitive fashion chief 

 "t his group. On the other hand, the natives 

 I In not appear to have arrived at that state 

 where a chief of a tribe becomes a necessity. 

 We are glad to see the authors take a stand 

 against the common assertion that the .Aus- 

 tralian aboriginal is degenerate ; no assertion 

 can be wider the mark, for we have no evidence 

 to show that the .Australian was ever in a 

 higher state of civilisation than that in which 

 he is now found. 



The book, suitably dedicated to the founders 

 of Australian anthropology, is a solid piece of 

 work of altogether exceptional merit. In the 

 above remarks we have only been able to point 

 nut a few of its more salient features ; but there 

 IS ;i mass of information we have not touched 

 ii|)(in, and which will gladden the heart of the 

 iiiiliropological student. The excellent illus- 

 i.itions of the ceremonies, evidently obtained 

 •A )ih much care, patience and difticulty. are of 

 rnnsiderable assistance to the text : the glossary 

 fulfils its purpose, and the index is good. 



Hv. Ling Roth. 



SIR DOUGLAS GALTON, K.C.B., F.R.S. 

 CIR DOUGLAS GALTOX, whose death 

 *-' we regret to have to record, was for many 

 years one of the best-known men not only in 

 scientific circles but also in many walks of life. 

 He was born in 1822, educated at Rugby, and 

 entered the Royal Military .Academy at the 

 age of fifteen ; here he had a most distinguished 

 career, and obtained his commission in the 

 Royal Engineers in 1840, taking a first prize in 

 every subject of the examination. 



He entered public life in 1847 as secretary to 

 the Commission that investigated the applica- 

 tion of iron to railway structures, and soon 

 afterwards became an inspector of railways 

 and secretary of the railway department of 

 the Hoard of Trade. This position he resigned 

 in 1S60, but his knowledge of railway matters 

 led to his still carrying out a good deal of 

 important work in connection with railways. 

 I'lrhaps the most important of these was a 

 lies of experiments for testing automatic 

 • ikes, carried out in 1S7S and 1S79. The 



h.jkh :i iisultsof these experiments were brought by 

 hull before the Institution of Mechanical En- 

 gineers in a series of papers, which have ever 



since ranked among the standard works of reference for 



engineers. 



