January 21, 1909! NATURE 



345 



Determinate variation, by Dr. Chas. O. Whitman, of 

 the University nf ("li^^ago; the isolation factor, by Dr. 

 David -Starr Jordan, of Stanford University ; evolution and 

 psychology, by Dr. G. Stanley Hall, of Clark University. 



.\t night on Friday, January i, a Darwin memorial 

 dinner was s^iven, attended by about 300 naturalists. 

 Following- tiie dinner, addresses were given by Dr. 

 W. H. Welch, on the debt of medicine to Darwin; 

 bv Dr. .Mbrecht Penck, on the geographical factor in 

 evolution; and by Prof. E. B. Poulton, on Darwin's 

 life and character. Prof. Poulton was particularly 

 happv in his address, and his visit to .\merica at 

 I his time and for this purpose was a great gratification 

 to all the members of the American Association. 

 At the close of the dinner a congratulatory telegram 

 was sent to Dr. .Alfred Russel Wallace. 



The association decided to meet in Boston during 

 convocation week, igog-io, and the following plans 

 were laid for future meetings: 1910-11, Minneapolis; 

 summer of 1910, Honolulu; 1911-12, Washington; 

 1912-13, Cleveland; 1913-14, Toronto. The follow- 

 ing officers for the coming year were elected : — 



President: David Starr Jordan, Stanford University; 

 Vice-presidents : Section -A, E. W. Brown, of Yale Uni- 

 \ersitv; Section B, L. .A. Bauer, of Carnegie Institution; 

 .Section C, Wm. McPherson, of Ohio State University ; 

 Section D, J. F. Hayford, of U.S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey ; Section E, R. W. Brock, director of the Geo- 

 logical Survey of Canada ; Section F, W. E. Rilter, of 

 University of California ; Section G, D. P. Ponhallow, 

 of .McGill University: Section H, Wm. H. Holmes, of 

 Bureau of Ethnology ; Section I, Carroll D. \\'right, of 

 Clark College ; Section K, C. S. Minot, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity ; Section L, James E. Russell, of Columbia Uni- 

 versity : General Secretary: Dayton C. Miller, of Cleve- 

 land : Secretary of tJte Council : F. G. Benedict, of Carnegie 

 Institution. 



Among the resolutions of general interest passed 

 by the council were one protesting against special 

 legislation against vivisection ; another requesting 

 Congress to do away with tariff on scientific books, 

 instruments, and apparatus; and a third requesting 

 Congress to enlarge the scope of the National Bureau 

 of Education. 



Much pleasure was expressed during the meeting 

 at the very courteous action of the British Association 

 in making the officers of the -American Association 

 honorary members for the coming Winnipeg meeting, 

 and in offering to the fellows and members of the 

 .American -Association membership in the British 

 .Association for the meeting on the same terms as old 

 members of the British -Association, including the 

 receipt of the report of proceedings of the meeting. 

 It seems certain that there will be a large attendance 

 of members of the American Association at the 

 Winnipeg meeting. 



THE PROMOTION OF RESEARCH.' 

 'TTHE question of the promotion of research is one 

 ^ which makes a very direct appeal to scientific 

 men, most of whom have at some time or other been 

 confronted with the difficulties raised by it. In a 

 little volume which has reached us a scheme is outlined 

 for the promotion of scientific research, under which 

 public money may be awarded to persons making dis- 

 coveries prescribed by Parliament. According to the 

 scheme, any person who has made such a discovery 

 may apply for a grant, the application being accom- 

 panied by a specification of the di.scoverv. The 

 '-pi-cification is examined for formalities and for novelty 

 cif subject-matter, and afterwards all the specifications 

 accepted in one year are submitted to an investigation 



' " .\ Scheme fnr the Promolion of Scientific Re e.irch." By Walter B. 

 Priest. 2nd edition. Pp.\v + 6^. (London : Stevens and Sons, 1908.) 



NO. 2047, VOL. 79] 



as to the nature and novelty of all the discoveries for 

 that year, grants being then made in relation to the 

 discoveries which comply with the terms prescribed by 

 Parliament. 



It will be seen from this brief statement of the 

 scheme that it bears a close resemblance to the grant 

 of Letters Patent to inventors, and, in fact, the scheme 

 is based on the Patents Acts. The patent law enables 

 an inventor to obtain a grant, not of money, but of a 

 monopoly, for a limited time, and by somewhat similar 

 procedure the scheme enables a person making a dis- 

 covery prescribed by Parliament to obtain a grant, not 

 of a monopoly, but of money. There can, unfortun- 

 ately, be no doubt that many discoverers have hitherto 

 met with very inadequate remuneration, and that some 

 have not been recognised at all. While it is doubtful 

 whether the establishment of such a scheme would 

 enable discoverers to be remunerated adequately, it 

 would certainly provide for the recognition by the 

 State of " true and first discoverers," and to this extent 

 at least would diminish injustice and encourage scien- 

 tific research. It might also exert a powerful, though 

 indirect, effect on manufacture, for if such a scheme 

 had been established, and if Parliament had pre- 

 scribed, say, discoveries relating to glass for optical 

 instruments, how different might have been the position 

 to-day of English manufacturers of optical instru- 

 ments. 



The adoption of such a scheme could without doubt 

 be utilised to accelerate the solution of some of the 

 important problems of physical and chemical science, 

 and many of the life and death problems of medical 

 and biological science. 



AN INVESTIGATION OF THE SOCIOLOGY 

 AND RELIGION OF THE ANDAMANESE. 



'T'HE inhabitants of the Andaman Islands have long 

 -'■ been recognised as one of the most primitive 

 races of mankind. By their geographical position and 

 their ferocity towards strangers, they were practically 

 isolated from the rest of the world until 185S. The 

 tribes of the Great Andaman, which constitute bv 

 far the largest part of the whole race, are rapidly 

 diminishing in numbers, and are fast forgetting their 

 ancient lore; the next half-century will witness their 

 entire extinction. It was thus highly desirable that 

 a full investigation should be made of these interest- 

 ing pygmies before it was too late. Through the 

 labours of Mr. E. H. Man and the publications of 

 Sir Richard Temple and Mr. M. V. Portman, a good 

 deal was known concerning the general life of the 

 people, their language, and other subjects, more par- 

 ticularly those of the southern tribes of the Great 

 -'\ndaman. Owing to recent developments in the 

 studies of comparative sociology and religion, it was 

 desirable that Mr. Man's observation should be con- 

 firmed and extended. 



When the Board of Anthropological Studies in Cain- 

 bridge was entrusted w-ith the selection of the first 

 .Anthony AA'ilkin student, it had no hesitation in ap- 

 pointing Mr. A. R. Brown, of Trinity College, to 

 undertake this important investigation. He started 

 for the -Andamans at the end of -August, 1906, and 

 spent two dry seasons of si.x months each at his field 

 work in the jungles of the Andaman Islands. Mr. 

 Brown was able to confirm a ereat deal of what 

 Mr. Man had written concerning the southern tribes 

 and to supplement this by a thorough study of the 

 northern tribes of the Great .Andaman. 



Measurements on the living subjects prove the An- 

 damanese to be a very homogeneous race, with little 

 variation and a strongly marked racial type. In 



