348 
independent tradition of the Futuna islanders of an inci- 
dent said by the Tongans to have occurred on that island 
during the same expedition. Whatever a critical exami- 
nation of these traditions may yield, there is one caution 
to be observed. The Polynesians have an unusual facility 
for the preservation of quasi-historical memories. Their 
genealogies go back for many more generations than 
those of most other savages; and it is impossible to 
generalise from their example as to the historical value 
of the traditions of other races. Even their retention of 
the memory of events is capricious. The Niuéans have 
preserved a mimicry of the rite of circumcision, which 
renders it obvious that they once practised the rite in real 
earnest, like other South Sea islanders ; but they have 
no tradition of how, or why, or when they abandoned it. 
The ceremony in question is curious, and, as Mr. Thomson 
says, probably unique. It is worth further inquiry. 
Lastly, the sacredness of animals, which is here noticed 
as a suggestion of totemism, is a clue to be followed up. 
There is nothing in the information given by Mr. Thomson 
pointing directly to totemism. But the wish, at which he 
hints, that Polynesian folklore should be systematically 
collected in all the islands, and compared, is one that 
every anthropologist will echo. If this were done, whether 
totemism were discovered or not, much would be dis- 
covered of importance to science, and something perhaps 
of not a little utility for the administration by European 
Powers of those outlying portions of their Empires. 
The book is written with Mr. Thomson’s accustomed 
gaiety. It contains a number of plates from photo- 
graphs, of which the one here reproduced, by the courtesy 
of the publisher, shows a Tongan grave-mound of coral, 
white sand and polished black pebbles, together with the 
garlands worn by friends and suspended above it as a 
mark of their affection. Is the word “surplus” on 
p. 163 a misprint, or a joke? 
E. SIDNEY HARTLAND. 
KEW MICROMETER. 
AXee botanists, entomologists and others who have to 
deal frequently with the minute measurements of 
parts of the object they examine must have felt the incon- 
venience of the double measurement involved in the use 
of compasses and measuring rule. The instrument of 
which we give a figure has been named the Kew Micro- 
meter, and has been devised by Sir Joseph Hooker to 
remove this inconvenience. 
The construction will be evident on reference to the 
figure. By a simple adjustment of a scale to one arm of 
the micrometer, the length of an object is recorded up to 
a fraction and can be read off at leisure. One side of the 
scale is graduated to millimetres, the other to inches. For 
work under a microscope there is great advantage in the 
use of an instrument of this kind, for a measurement may 
be recorded and a dissection proceeded with without 
lifting the eye from the eyepiece of the instrument. 
Another useful feature of the micrometer is that the 
graduation to inches and millimetres on opposite sides of 
NO. 1710, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
[AucusT 7, 1902 
the scale furnishes a ready means of turning the one scale 
into the other without calculation, and this is a matter of 
some moment at the present time, when the two scales 
are in use in several countries. The length of the arm 
of the micrometer is exactly four inches, and this is gradu- 
ated to tenths of inches and can therefore be used for 
larger measurements. 
The instrument is a small and handy one, and can be 
easily carried in a sheath in the waistcoat pocket ; it 
supplies a rea! want. Mr. Baird, scientific instrument 
maker in Edinburgh, is the maker of the instrument. 
NOTES. 
THE preliminary programme of the meeting of the German 
Association of Naturalists and Physicians to be held at Carls- 
bad in September has been prepared. On Sunday, September 
21, the various committees will meet to transact the preliminary 
business in the forenoon, and the rest of the day will be devoted 
to social gatherings. Of the seventy-four meetings this will be 
the second visit paid to Carlsbad, the first occasion having been 
forty years ago. Prof. Dr. Tfeubner, of Berlin, is the president 
for this year, with Prof. Dr. van ’t Hoff, of Charlottenburg, and 
Prof. Dr. Chiari, of Prague, as vice-presidents. On September 22 
the work of the meeting will commence after an address of 
welcome to the general body, when Hoffmeister, of Strasburg, 
will deliver an address ‘‘On the Molecular Construction of 
White of Egg”; Weber, of Amsterdam, on ‘‘The Early 
History of the Malay Archipelago” ; and Voller, of Hamburg, 
on ‘‘The Origin and System of Wireless Telegraphy.” In 
connection with the last-mentioned, there will be during the 
week opportunities for the members to study the Slaby and 
Braun system, practical illustrations of which will be supplied 
by the General Electrical Co., of Berlin, and the Wireless 
Telegraphy Co. (Braun and Siemens-Halske system), of Berlin. 
On Wednesday morning the sections again unite to be addressed 
by Suess, of Vienna, ‘‘On the Nature of Hot Springs”; by 
Meyerhoffer, of Berlin, on ‘‘ The Chemico-physical Constituents 
of Medical Springs”; and by Ruff, of Carlsbad, on ‘‘ David 
Becher, the ‘Carlsbad Hippocrates,’ 1725-1792.” At another 
general meeting on Friday morning lectures will be delivered 
by Baron von Eiselsberg on ‘‘ The Importance of the Thyroid 
Gland in the Economy of Nature”; by von Wettstein on 
“* Neo-Lamarckisms”; and by von Miller on ‘* The Forces of 
Nature in the Service of Electricity.” At the meetings of the 
28 sections, the communications promised cover every field 
of investigation in natural science and medical and surgical 
practice, some hundreds of papers in all. On the scientific side 
they range up to 18 in the mathematical, astronomical and 
geodesy section, and 29 in the chemistry section, while on the 
medical side they range up to 60 in the surgical section. The 
closing meeting will be on Friday, September 25. Everything is 
being done by the ten local sub-committees to render the week 
a pleasant one for visitors, the Entertainments Committee 
having made a complete arrangement of concerts, theatricals, 
dinners and excursions to occupy the whole of the spare time. 
Pror. D. J. CUNNINGHAM, F.R.S., has accepted the invi- 
tation of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and 
Ireland to deliver the third annual Huxley memorial lecture, 
the date fixed being October 21. He has chosen for his subject 
‘‘Right-Handedness and Left-Brainedness.” 
Tue San Francisco correspondent of the Dazly AJaz/ reports 
that the people of Santa Barbara, a county of southern Cali- 
fornia, are terror-stricken owing to the increasing frequency and 
severity of the earthquake shocks, of which there were seventy- 
