268 

NATURE 
[F EBRUARY 24, 192 3 

Research Items. 
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERS IN RACE 
Stupy.—In the February issue of Discovery, Prof. 
H. J. Fleure discusses ‘the influence of racial on 
mental characters. This region is, as he remarks, 
still uncharted by science, and the discussion is 
difficult because the material still remains to be 
collected. But racial peculiarities are strangely 
persistent, as, for example, in Wales, where the pre- 
dominant type is in all probability due to descent, 
with modification, from the early Neolithic in- 
habitants, though it has been modified by emigration, 
At any rate, he rightly protests against the too 
common habit of treating mental characters, be it 
of French, Germans, or Britons, in the mass. ‘‘ In 
each national group are many racial mosaics, and 
similar groups of characters occur in all. There are 
differences of social expression and lack of expression 
connected with social and historical facts, and these 
are apt to vary from century to century.’’ But 
behind all these there are correlations of physical 
characters with psychical characters which at present 
we are unable to correlate scientifically. 
THE FUTURE OF ARCHITECTURE.—In a recent issue 
of the Sociological Review (vol. xv. No. 1), Mr. S. C. 
Ramsey discusses the regional and vocational in- 
fluences of architecture. The finest and most con- 
sistent architecture the world has ever seen was, 
he says, that of the ancient Greek quarryman. We 
can scarcely follow the writer in supporting the 
position that the sailor has been “‘ the energiser and 
inspirer ”’ of our buildings, nor in the assertion that 
“Victorian civilisation was essentially a miner’s 
civilisation, the improvisation of the mining camp, 
and Victorian building was mainly of the camp or 
settlement variety, temporary and muddled, without 
real tradition, permanence, or ordered beauty.” He 
sees hope in the houses erected under the Ministry 
of Health, where ‘‘ mounting prices and the need 
for rigid economy have lopped off the extraneous 
and hideous features beloved of the Speculative 
Builder.” He looks forward to the time when the 
person who expresses his individual pride in the 
building of a luxurious private house will not exactly 
be shunned, “but looked on a little critically,” 
and “energy will be lavished on public buildings 
for the enjoyment and benefit of the community as 
a whole.” It may be some time before this stage 
is reached, but meanwhile the writer’s view of the 
position cannot safely be ignored. 
CRIME AND Potsoninc.—Lt.-Col. J. A. Black, 
Chemical Examiner for the Punjab, has issued a 
report on the work of his department (Lahore: 
Cwil and Military Gazette Press, 1921). The greater 
part of the report deals with matters involving the 
imvestigation of crime and especially of poisoning. 
Instead of expert witnesses being examined and 
cross-examined in a trial for poisoning as in England, 
the evidence of the Chemical Examiner is taken in 
Indian Courts, frequently in the form of a written 
statement. His report, therefore, contains a cate- 
gorical account of the results of his analysis without 
indulging in probabilities or opinions, and leaving 
deductions, unless these are obvious, to the inter- 
pretation of the civil surgeon, whose duty it is to 
guide the Court. The Court does not appear to be 
otherwise guided in respect of matters purely chemical. 
The volume of work in connexion with cases of 
poisoning is considerable in the East, where homicidal 
poisoning 1s very prevalent, and suicidal poisoning, 
often from motives which appear perfectly inade- 
quate to the Western mind, is very common. The 
NO. 2782, VOL. 111] 


difficulties are increased by the fact that cases of 
serious illness, and even of death, frequently occur 
without the attendance of qualified medical men, and 
the replies made by the police on the prescribed forms 
are frequently of little value. Col. Black enlivens 
his report by the narration of several picturesque 
cases which have come under his notice. 
is rendered somewhat easier ‘by reason of the fact 
that the poisons available are mostly well-known, 
and on account of ignorance of the fatal dose, a 
large excess is usually administered, so helping to 
simplify the work of the chemist. For some of the 
poisons, when no chemical test is available, the 
microscopic appearance of the plant used is frequently 
quite diagnostic. Simple physiological tests are 
frequently made, and facilities have been afforded 
by setting up in Calcutta a laboratory for applying 
serological tests for the whole of India. Col. Black 
is of the opinion that no very subtle form of poisoning — 
exists in India. 
CHAPARRAL SCRUB IN CALIFORNIA.—The broad 
sclerophyll vegetation of California forms the subject 
of a communication by W. S. Cooper (Carn. Inst. 
Wash. Pub., No. 319) in which the ecological relation- 
ships of these types of vegetation are treated in some 
detail. The author is able to justify and develop 
the point of view of Schimper, that these types 
of vegetation, like the Mediterranean ‘‘ maqui,”’ 
develop in regions of winter rains and long dry 
summers. Thus the annual cycle of the “ chaparral ” 
scrub in California includes a summer period of 
four months in which the soil contains practically 
no available water, while the winter rains coincide 
with low temperatures. The growing period is thus 
limited chiefly to short periods in spring and autumn. 
Two main types of vegetation are compared in detail, 
the broad sclerophyll forest and the ‘‘ chaparral,” 
and it is shown that the habitat of the latter differs 
mainly in its more extreme water relations. Ana- 
tomical details of the plants in relation to habitat 
are well treated, a curious feature being the presence 
of mycorhiza in the roots of the dominant chaparral 
species, although the soils only average 0-1-0-3 per 
cent. of humus. 
MITES AND ROTIFERS FROM SPITSBERGEN.—The 
Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club, November 
1922, contains an account by Mr. Julian Huxley of the 
Oxford University Expedition to Spitsbergen in 1921, 
followed by two reports on the collections of mites and 
rotifers. The aim of this expedition was primarily the 
study of Arctic life from an ecological standpoint 
| rather than the search for new species, and the results 
promise to be of great general interest, especially from 
a biological point of view. Many new forms have, 
however, been discovered in addition to numerous new 
records for Spitsbergen, and as the work proceeds the 
number will be considerably increased. In the report 
on the mites, Mr. Soar describes and figures a species 
of Hydracarina, Sperchon linearis Sig Thor, taken in 
large numbers at Bear Island, hitherto known only 
from the high mountain districts of Norway and 
Sweden. He suggests that its appearance in Spits- 
bergen may be due to the agency of birds; the ova of 
the mites, which are deposited on stones, being pro- 
bably conveyed there on the feet of birds. Mr. Bryce 
in his report makes similar suggestions for the occur- 
rence of the rotifers—the agency of birds or transport 
by winds. He gives a valuable summary and revision 
of all the Rotifera found up to the present in Spits- 
bergen. The total number of species is now 81, of 
which 70 are actually more or less common in Great 
Britain. 
The task © 

Twenty-eight species were taken by the 
ha. ee 
Sug 
ee ewe 
ial ee a i Bw 
