5 26 



NATURE 



[Sept. 28, 1882 



And as the quality of the hair is a much more durable 

 feature than the complexion, or almost any other physical 

 tr.iit, the necessity of separating the Ainos from the 

 Mongolic stock becomes all the more obvious. If all 

 this, combined with a distinct orthognathism, meso- 

 cephalic head (index No. 76), a light complexion, often 

 scarcely darker than that of Europeans, brown iris, large 

 « ell-shaped nose, and low cheek bones, is not sufficient 

 to affiliate them to the Caucasic stock, then anthropo- 

 logists must discover some other sufficiently differen- 

 tiated physical type with which to group them. That 

 various branches of the Caucasic race reached the 

 East Asiatic seaboard in prehistoric times has been 

 pointed out by this writer in a recent paper on the 

 Koreans (see Nature, vol. xxvi , p. 344). From Korea 

 to the Japanese Archipelagos, the transition is easy, 

 although it is not pretended that the line of migration 

 necessarily followed this route. But enough has perhaps 

 been stated to show that there is nothing extravagant in 

 the theory of a Caucasic origin of the Aino race. Some 

 of the intermediate links between them and their western 

 kinsmen have already been brought to light. The others 

 must be looked for in the still unexplored uplands of 

 South-west China and Further India. 



It is also to be noticed that the Ainos can only in a 

 1 dative sense be regarded as the Aborigines of Yeso and 

 Nippon. Scheube tells us that they are entirely ignorant 

 of the potter's art (p. 11). But abundance of ancient 

 pottery, often highly ornamented, has been found in many 

 parts both of Hondo and Yeso. These remains are 

 referred by the Ainos themselves to the extinct Koro-pok- 

 Guru, or " l'enple of the Hollows." their precursors in 

 Yeso, who dwelt in huts built over pits, and who had a 

 knowledge of pottery. The Japanese also refer the pits 

 found on an island near Nemuro, north-east coast of 

 Yeso, to the Kohito, a dwarfish race, said to have been 

 exterminated by the Ainos. and apparently identical 

 with the Koro-pok-Guru. It becomes a question whether 

 with these potters, rather than with the Ainos, are to be 

 associated the earthenware and other prehistoric remains 

 found by Milne in the kitchen middens of the Tokio 

 district and other parts of Japan. These remains show 

 clear traces of cannibalism, a practice which seems 

 entirely alien from the mild and inoffensive disposition 

 of the Ainos. 



But however this be, the present Aborigines seem 

 destined at no distant date to disappear like their prede- 

 cessors. The total number or full blood Ainos is esti- 

 mated by Scheube at about 17,000 for Yeso, to which 

 must be added, perhaps, 1000 or 1500 for Sakhalin and 

 the Kuriles. Sieboid, however, thinks that one-third of 

 the inhabitants of Yeso, say 45,000 altogether, are either 

 pure or half-caste Ainos. But the former are known to 

 have decreased in the government of Sapphoro from over 

 16,000 in 1S71, to 13.326 in 1S7S, while the latter seem to 

 be correspondingly on the increase. The result is inevi- 

 table — the effacement of the Ainos as a distinct nation- 

 ality, and their ultimate absorption in the dominant race. 

 The process that has been completed in Nippon is in 

 rapid progress in Yeso. A. H. KEANE 



ON A NEW ARC ELECTRIC LAMP' 

 TZTTECTRIC lamps on the arc principle are almost as 

 ■'— ' numerous as the trees in the forest, and it is some- 

 what fresh to come upon something that is novel. In 

 these lamps the carbons are consumed as the current 

 flows, and it is the variation in their consumption which 

 occasions the flickering and irregularity of the light that 

 is so irritating to the eyes. Special mechanical contri- 

 vances or regulators have to be used to compensate for 

 this destruction of the carbons, as in the Siemens and 



1 Paper read at the Eritish Association. Southampton. Revised by the 



Brush tj pe, or else refractory materials have to be com- 

 bined with the carbons, as in the J ablochkoff candle and 

 in the lamp Soleil. The steadiness of the light depends 

 upon the regularity with which the carbons are moved 

 towards each other as they are consumed, so as to main- 

 tain the electric resistance between them a constant 

 quantity. Each lamp must have a certain elasticity of 

 regulation of its own, to prevent irregularities from the 

 variable material of carbon used, and from variations in 

 the current itself and in the machinery. 



In all electric lamps, except the Brockie, the regulator 

 is in the lamp itself. In the Brockie system the regula- 

 tion is automatic, and is made at certain rapid intervals 

 by the motor engine. This causes a periodic blinking 

 that is detrimental to this lamp for internal illumination. 



M. Abdank, the inventor of the system which I have 

 the pleasure of bringing before the Section, separates his 

 regulator from his lamp. The regulator may be fixed 



K 



anywhere, within easy inspection and manipulation, and 

 away from any disturbing influence in the lamp. The 

 lamp can be fixed in any inaccessible place. 



The lamp (Figs. 1, 2, and 3). — The bottom or negative 

 carbon is fixed, but the top or positive carbon is movable, 

 in a vertical line. It is screwed at the point c to a brass 

 rod, T (Fig. 2), which moves freely inside the tubular iron 

 core of an electromagnet, K. This rod is clutched and 

 lifted by the soft iron armature, a b, when a current passes 

 through the coil, M M. The mass of the iron in the arma- 

 ture is distributed so that the greater portion is at one 

 end, B, much nearer the pole than the other end. Hence 

 this portion is attracted first, the armature assumes an 

 inclined position, maintained by a brass button, /, which 

 prevents any adhesion between the armature and the core 

 of the electromagnet. The electric connection between 

 the carbon and the coil of the electromagnet is maintained 

 by the flexible wire, s. 



