■s 



NATURE 



f June 12, 1913 



culture of the beet, the culture of sumac, grape culture 

 in the United States, and wools and other animal 

 fibres. 



In 'a note in the issue of Nature for May 22 last 

 (vol. xci., p. 300) attention was directed to the forma- 

 tion of an influential committee to endeavour to 

 establish a uniform notation in the theories of poten- 

 tial and elasticity. The committee of organisation 

 has issued an appeal to astronomers, mathematicians, 

 and physicists, asking them to cooperate in this 

 attempt to secure uniformity, and as a beginning 

 solicits answers to the question: "What are the 

 notions and notations in respect of which it is desir- 

 able to establish uniformity?" Answers to this in- 

 quiry—which may be in English, French, German, 

 or Italian — should be addressed Mr. Arthur Korn, 

 Charlottenburg, Schliiterstrasse 25. As has been 

 stated, discussions on the subject will be arranged 

 to be held at the international congresses of mathe- 

 maticians in 1916 and 1920, and it is hoped that the 

 final report of the committee will be issued in 192 1. 



Dr. F. W. Mott, F.R.S., delivered the first of his 

 Chadwick Public Lectures on Friday, June 6, upon 

 the subject of "The Structure and Development of the 

 Brain." In the course of the lecture he described 

 the structure of the brain in relation to its function 

 as the organ of mind, particular attention being 

 directed to the significance of the folds and fissures, 

 first as determining the extent of the surface grey 

 matter, and, secondly, in the formation of a convolu- 

 tional pattern. Just as faces show similar features 

 and expression by heredity, so the convolutional pat- 

 tern of the brains of relatives exhibits a similarity in 

 its folds and fissures. The fact that a parallelism 

 exists between arrest of development of the grey 

 matter and feebleness of mind, and between loss of 

 mind and the decay or destruction of the grey matter, 

 tends to prove that the intellecual and moral character 

 of the individual should be regarded as a natural pro- 

 cess of organic development — a product of nature and 

 nurture. The subject of Dr. Mott's second lecture 

 to-morrow, June 13, at 5 p.m., at the Royal Society 

 of Arts, is " Inborn Potentialities of the Brain of the 

 Child." 



A JOINT session of the Aristotelian Society, the 

 British Psychological Society, and the Mind Associa- 

 tion was held on June 7 and 8 at University College, 

 London, and Crosby Hall, Chelsea. The first meet- 

 ing consisted of a symposium, "Are Intensity 

 Differences of Sensation Quantitative?" by Dr. C. S. 

 Myers, Prof. Dawes Hicks, Dr. H. J. Watt, and Dr. 

 Wm. Brown, under the chairmanship of Prof. Spear- 

 man. Dr. Myers showed that the "all or none" 

 principle is obeyed by all kinds of reflexes and all 

 kinds of sensibility. The type of reaction is therefore 

 the correlate of quality of sensation and the difference 

 of degree — moreness or lessness of the same reaction 

 is the correlate of difference of intensity of Sensation. 

 The second and third meetings, presided over by the 

 Hon. B. Russell, were devoted respectively to a dis- 

 cussion on memory and consciousness, opened by Dr. 

 Robinson, and to a symposium, "Can There be Any- 

 NO. 2276, VOL. 9 1 J 



thing Obscure or Implicit in a Mental State? " by 

 Mr. H. Barker, Prof. G. F. Stout, and Prof. R. F. A. 

 Hoernle. Dr. Robinson said that M. Bergson, in his 

 " Matter and Memory," neglected the fact that memorv 

 was an assertion, and that he did not do justice to the 

 function of meaning in remembering. Intuition and 

 intelligence must be somehow inclusively related. A 

 vigorous discussion revealed many criticisms opposing 

 this anti-Bergsonian thesis. In the symposium Prof. 

 Stout maintained that within the field of consciousness, 

 whether of mere sense experience or of thought, there 

 are contents which are not separately discerned. The 

 opposing point of view to this was due to a confusion 

 resulting from the fact that the presence of implicit 

 consciousness can only be ascertained by a process of 

 analytic scrutiny rarely present in normal conscious 

 life. 



Mr. Ananda Coo.maraswamy has issued part iv. 

 of his useful album of Indian sculpture, "Visva- 

 karma." The plates include two representations of 

 the Buddhist Avalokitesvara, the personification of 

 power, preserver of the world and men, from Ceylon ; 

 one of the local goddess, Pidari, from Madras, and 

 a set of Naga and Nagini water or snake deities 

 from Ceylon, Ajanta, and southern India. In some 

 cases the reproduction of the photographs is not as 

 clear as might be desired, but they are sufficient to 

 answer the purpose of the publication. The collec- 

 tion will be of much value to students of Indian 

 religion, archaeology, and art. 



The recent report of the census of the people of 

 the Andaman Islands, taken in 191 1, shows a melan- 

 choly decrease in the population. Of the Yerawa and 

 Bojigngiji groups, estimated to number 3500 when 

 British occupation began in 1858, only 455 

 survive. This decrease is attributed by Mr. R. F. 

 Lowis to three causes — increased infant mortality in 

 the case of parents who have come under the influ- 

 ence of civilisation, and to an epidemic of measles; 

 a tendency to infertility as a result of the introduction 

 of syphilis ; an increased death-rate among adults, 

 accounted for by the draughty buildings in which the 

 sick are housed, and the use of clothes and blankets in 

 hospitals, which are discarded when the patients re- 

 sume their jungle life. The savage Jarawas alone, 

 who live isolated from civilisation, seem to be holding 

 their ground, and it is only in this group that any 

 hope remains of the preservation of this remarkable 

 people. 



The alleged atrocities in connection with the rubber 

 trade in the Putumayo district of Peru, now the 

 subject of investigation, have directed attention to 

 the Indian tribes of that region. An English ex- 

 plorer, Capt. T. W. Whiffen, whose evidence has been 

 given before the Parliamentary Committee, contri- 

 butes to vol. xxiv., part L, of Folk-lore an interest- 

 ing account of these races. He was probably the 

 first and the last white man to observe them while 

 they were unaffected by outside influences. These 

 tribes of the Issa-Japara River region do not, as Dr. 

 Martius supposed, furnish an example of culture 

 degeneration. There is no trace of any submerged 



