290 



NATURE 



[November 7, 1912 



Dr. Aitken gives an account of some experiments on 

 radiation temperatures. Tiie black-bulb tliermometer 

 han always been regarded with some suspicion as 

 possessing some of the qualities of a toy and some of 

 a scientific instrument. The fact that a sheet of white 

 paper, held near the bulb on the side away from the 

 sun, produced a rise of temperature of 37° F. will 

 Sive additional w-eight to the arguments of those who 

 would relegate the instrument to the toy category. A 

 very valuable result for meteorologists with grass 

 minimum thermometers is Dr. .'Vitken's discovery that 

 a piece of blackened metal tube slipped over the upper 

 end of the thermometer prevents condensation of 

 spirit in the upper part of the tube. 



Among other contributions ma}' be mentioned Dr. 

 Mossmann's discussion of the climate of Chile, includ- 

 ing some valuable tables of monthly rainfall and tem- 

 perature, and Prof. Knott's review of Pernter and 

 Exner's " Meteorological Optics," in which he ably 

 ■defends the Ben Nevis observers against Pernter's 

 criticism that they repeatedly sought for colours in 

 their observations of optical phenomena. 



The Journal includes tables giving the monthly 

 meteorological statistics for about seventy places in 

 Scotland, and a very valuable table of monthly rainfall 

 at about 500 stations. According to the accounts pub- 

 lished on p. 358 of the Journal, the collection of these 

 statistics and the publication of the Journal have been 

 ■carried out at a cost of less than 500?., including all 

 the e.xpenditure incidental to the operations of the 

 society. 



THE FOURTEENTH INTERNATIONAL 



CONGRESS OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND 



PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY. 



THE fourteenth Congress of Anthropology and Pre- 

 historic Archaeology met at Geneva on Septem- 

 ber 9-14, with a total registered membership of 555. 

 The previous congress was lield at Monaco in 1906. 

 Since that date, numerous and important discoveries 

 which deserved careful presentation and discussion in 

 open session have been made throughout the world. 



The congress met, in general sessions, in the Aula, 

 ■or Lecture Hall, of the University of Geneva, whilst 

 a number of lecture-rooms and halls were 

 placed at its disposal by the federal and can- 

 tonal authorities, who spared no pains or money 

 in helping to make the meetings a decided 

 success. There was an honorary committee 

 of ten, including Forrer, the President of the Swiss 

 Republic, and Henry Fazy, President of the Stale 

 Council of the Republic and of the Canton of Geneva, 

 an executive committee of thirty eminent men of 

 science, with Edouard Naville, hon. president; Dr. 

 Eugene Pittard, president; Dr. Emile Yung and 

 Alfred Cartier, vice-presidents; Dr. Deonna, secretary; 

 Albert Lombard, treasurer; together with a distin- 

 guished commission de ricepiion, comprising Theo- 

 dore Bret, State Chancellor of Geneva, Chapuisat, 

 Fatio, Favre, and Reverdin, the whole forming the 

 machinery of the congress. 



The following countries were officially represented 

 by delegates : — Germany, Prof. Felix von Luschan ; 

 United States of America, Dr. Alfes Hrdlicka, Dr. 

 Charles Peabody, and Prof. G. Grant MacCurdy ; 

 South Australia, Mr. Ramsay Smith; Austria- 

 Hungary, Prof. M. Hoernes and Dr. Bela-Posta ; 

 Belgium. Baron de Loe and Prof. A. Rutot ; Cuba, 

 Prof. L. Montana ; Spain, Prof. Manuel Anton-F(?r- 

 randez and Prof. L. de Hoyos-Sainz; France, Prof. 

 Marcelin Boule, Prof. Cartailhac, Dr. L. Capitan, 

 and Prof. R. Verneau ; Mexico, Sefior Genaro Garcia ; 



NO. 2245, VOL. 90] 



Algeria, M. Joly; Monaco, Prof. Marcelin Boule; 

 Roumania, Prof. Tsigara-Samurgas ; Sweden, Prof. 

 O. Mont(51ius. 



Besides, there were official representatives or dele- 

 gates of 163 scientific bodies and universities from 

 Germany, United States of America, Argentina, 

 Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, 

 Spain, France, Great Britain (England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland being represented), Italy, japan, Mexico, Por- 

 tugal, Roumania, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland, 

 together with 392 unattached members of the congress 

 ' from the above-mentioned countries, besides Denmark 

 I and Uruguay, who constituted the whole membership 

 I of the congress. 



By a majority vote at the first session, French was 

 made the ofificial language of the congress, but verbal 

 communications or papers before the congress could 

 be presented in English, French, German, or Italian. 

 Spanish was also added by a majority vote at a later 

 session. 



At the opening session of the congress, in the name 

 of the Federal Council of Switzerland and of the State 

 j Council of Geneva, M. H. Fazy extended a hearty 

 \ welcome to all the members present. Prof. Pittard 

 recalled the 1866 meeting of the congress lield at Neu- 

 chatel, in conjunction with the fiftieth annual meeting 

 of the Swiss Society of Natural Sciences. Prof. Gio- 

 vanni Capellini, the venerable professor of geology in 

 the University of Bologna, one of the founders of 

 th-? congress, and sole survivor of the first meeting 

 at Spezzia in 1S65, replied to the address of welcome 

 on behalf of the visiting delegates. 



Upwards of 200 papers, read in full or in abstract, 

 were presented by nearly as many congressists, a 

 number altogether too great for fair treatment and 

 discussion in open session. It was agreed that forth- 

 coming congresses be divided into sections dealing 

 with (i) La picrre; (2) les metaux ; and that the last 

 two days of the meetings be devoted to (3) anthro- 

 pology. 



Space will not allow us to do justice to the character of 

 the papers presented and subjects discussed, .\mong 

 the papers of wide interest to anthropologists and 

 archaeologists may be mentioned that of Prof. Marce- 

 lin Boule, director of the Institute of Human Palaeon- 

 tology, recently established in Paris, on the subject. 

 Homo neanderthalensis. A thorough diagnosis of 

 this ultra-human species was given by that eminent 

 master of vertebrate pateontology. Of all the recorded 

 specimens illustrating remains of this species avail- 

 able to the student of anthropology, there exist only 

 twenty truly authentic. Neanderthal man was short 

 in stature, with long face, bulky head, primitive 

 characters of dentition, vertictility complete, nose 

 salient (ultra-human). Homo neanderthalensis goes 

 out and disappears after the Middle Pleistocene. In 

 the architecture of his cranium he does not resemble 

 the short-faced Australian Bushman, as suggested, 

 who, on the contrary, is one with Europeans. Homo 

 neanderthalensis is one with the chimpanzee, and re- 

 presents an archaic type, constituting in all prob- 

 ability a stage or phase in the series or evolution of 

 Homo heidelbergcnsis. 



Discussing the value of human palaeontology, Prof. 

 Boule stated that this new science had already taken 

 man out of his zoological isolation and placed him in 

 the front rank of a company of varying types consti- 

 tuting a human branch of vast proportion. We were 

 far from having, as yet, a complete palaeontological 

 scries of the cenus Homo. In closing his remarks 

 Prof. Boule paid a tribute to the excellence of the work 

 done by British investigators in the field of anthro- 

 pology, among others noting Huxley and Lankester. 

 In Victoria Hall, and under the presidency of M. S. 



