September 19, 1912] 



NATURE 



7i 



duriny the first half of August, whilst in the 

 British Isles and in other parts of western Europe 

 the weather was peculiarly dull and cold. For 

 the week ending August 12, the mean of the 

 maxima or highest day readings at Haparanda was 

 80°, at Bodo 74°, and in London and at Jersey 

 63^ ; whilst at Lisljon the mean was only 76°, and 

 at Nice 78°. 



The temperature of the sea-surface in the North 

 Atlantic and in proximity to our coasts has for 

 some time past been much below the average. 

 Chas. Harding. 



CHIRIOUIAX ANTIQUITIES.'^ 



PROF. G. G. MacCURDY, of Yale University, 

 has taken advantage of the fine collection 

 of antiquities from Chiriqui under his charge to 

 present to students a very valuable and interesting 

 monograph, which is illustrated, in the usual lavish 

 and artistic manner of our colleagues in the United 

 States of America, by 384 figures in the text, 

 49 plates (five of which are coloured), and a map. 

 The ancient cultured people of Chiriqui are 

 apparently represented by the Guaymi, whose 

 language shows affinity with that of the Chibcha 

 of Colombia. The area now occupied by the 

 republics of Colombia and Panama formed a 

 linguistic and archseological barrier between the 

 great civilisations of ^lexico and Peru. In this 

 culture zone the dominant factor is Chibchan ; on 

 the other hand, the ancient art of Chiriqui was 

 influenced more by Mexico than by the south, 

 but the Chiriquian culture was distinctively 

 indigenous, and radiated into southern Costa Rica. 



Attention is directed throughout the memoir to 

 the general phylogenetic trend in the development 

 of Chiriquian art as a whole. The elegant stone 

 vessels car\ed in the form of a jaguar are traced 

 back to an oval prototype with a hollow pedestal ; 

 with the exception of architecture, the stone art 

 of Chiriqui compares favourably with that of 

 Mexico or Peru. The especial interest of Chiri- 

 quian potterv was first emphasised bv Prof. W. H. 

 Holmes (Sixth Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Ethnol., 1888), 

 and Dr. MacCurdv has with slight modifications 

 adopted his classification. The pottery, especially 

 the unpainted ware, is the connecting link between 

 the products of the stone worker and artificer in 

 metal. The "prototvpe was presumably the cala- 

 bash. Aside from this, the plant world had prac- 

 tically no influence on the elaboration of form and 

 ornament." The unpainted ware includes the 

 terra-cotta or biscuit group, or, as MacCurdy 

 prefers to call it, the armadillo group, as its orna- 

 mentation is mainly based on the armadillo, and 

 three smaller groups. 



The painted w^are consists of ten groups, of 

 which the fish or tripod, lost colour, alligator, and 

 polychrome groups are the most important (Fig. 

 i). As might be anticipated, the introduction of 

 colour as a decorative factor often tended to mini- 



1 "A Study of Chiriquian Anliquilies." By Prof. G. G. MacCurdv. 

 (Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of .Arts and Sciences, vol. iii., March, 

 iqir.) Pp. xx + 24Q + xIi.v plates. (New Haven, Conn.: Vale University 

 Press, 15"-) 



NO. 2238, VOL. go] 



mise the importance of incised and plastic features ; 

 the armadillo and serpent are practically ne\er 

 executed in paint, while incised or plastic motives 

 derived from the alligator are equally rare. \"ery 

 characteristic of Chiriquian pottery is the presence 

 of three hollow legs, provided with long slits and 

 containing pellets, which serve as a rattle; most 

 of these in the painted ware have a fish ornamenta- 

 tion. The lost colour process was confined to a 

 single, rather large, group of ware ; it consisted 

 of tracing the design in wax, the application of a 

 solid coat of black paint over the area to be 

 decorated, and immersing the vessel in hot water, 

 which melted the wax, the design part that was 

 waxed thus showing up light. An analogous 

 method is employed in Java for decorating sarongs. 

 In the alligator group the designs are always 

 on a pale yellow slip ; black and red are the 

 delineating colours. As a matter of fact, it is the 

 crocodile, and not the alligator, which is depicted. 

 The modifications which occur in the form of the 

 crocodile or of parts of it constitute a very pretty 



Fig. I. — Polychrome ware. Vase of eccentric forn^, the chief ornamental 

 fealuie being the elaborate branching scroll tilling each of the two 

 shoulder panels ; the engaged crocodile motives are easily distinguished. 



example of the conventionalisation of designs. 

 The highest technical excellence was achieved in 

 the polychrome group ; here a purple colour was 

 introduced derived from a non-ferruginous metallic 

 oxide, and not from the Purpura patula, which was 

 used to dye cotton thread ; it is also characterised 

 by elegant scroll designs derived from crocodiles. 

 The gold Chiriquian figurines are famous, and 

 are here treated adequately for the first time. 

 Squier (1859) says he "was informed by the late 

 Governor of the Bank of England that several 

 thousand pounds' worth were annually remitted 

 from the Isthmus as bullion to that establishment," 

 where they were melted down. 



A. C. H.ADDON. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT DUNDEE. 



ONE of the most successful meetings of the 

 British Association in recent years, and the 

 largest since the .Cambridge meeting of 1904, 

 when the total attendance was 2789, in compari- 

 son with about 2500 at Dundee, was brought to a 

 close as we w-ent to press last week. A distinguish- 

 ing and pleasing characteristic of the meeting was 



