Sept. 23, 1880] 



NATURE 



493 



away, according as they are inserted in the fore or hinder 

 part. On the raft theory the outrigger canoe is supposed 

 to have been developed from an improved modification 

 of the sailing raft, in which two logs \yere made use of 

 instead of many, as opposing less resistance to the water, 

 and were connected by a platform. Such two-log struc- 

 tures, of course without sails, have been described as in 

 use by the Tasmanians. The use of the sailing rafts on 

 the Pacific coast of America seems to lend probability 

 to the theory, since the outrigger canoe is universal in 

 Polynesia. On this theory the double canoe (Fig. 2, 5) 

 is a highly-specialised development of the two-log rafts ; 

 and General Pitt Rivers points for additional proof to the 

 fact that in all double canoes one vessel is always smaller 

 than the other. This may however be merely a con- 

 trivance for aiding steering. 



On the other hand it seems to us very probable that 

 the outrigger canoe is really derived from the double 

 canoes and that the outrigger float represents, not a 

 log in process of development towards a canoe itself, 

 but a degenerate second canoe. On some parts of the 

 coast of New Guinea the Papuans are accustomed 

 to lash side by side firmly several of their large 

 canoes, when about to set out on a trading expedition 

 of 200 or 300 miles and sail along the coast. Such 

 a group of canoes is called a "lakatoi." It is very 

 probable that the fastening of two dug-outs side by side 

 may have early suggested itself, and that the two may 

 have gradually been separated and fastened by longer 

 and longer cross-pieces, as stability was found to be 

 increased thereby. We merely suggest this other view 

 of the matter as worthy of consideration. It is by means 

 of collections such as that now under consideration that 

 such points can be determined. Luckily, for some reason 

 or other, possibly a religious one, savages all over the 

 world make most carefully-constructed models of their 

 canoes. These are not children's toys, but exact models, 

 correct in all details. Even the wretched Fuegians do 

 this, and the models are not made for purposes of barter 

 originally, since they are made by such races as the 

 Admiralty Islandei's, who have no opportunity of dispos- 

 ing of them. We seem even ourselves to make more 

 models than necessary, as the quantities of them in 

 museums testify. General Pitt Rivers has collected a most 

 valuable series of native modelsof boats and ships of all 

 kinds. 



{To be continued.') 



NOTES 



Judging from the papers and reports that have reached us, 

 through the kindness of the permanent secretary, Mr. F. W. 

 Putnam, the Eostou meeting of the American Association has 

 been a great success. The many attractions- of Boston drew to- 

 gether a large concourse, including nearly all the great lights of 

 American science. The people of Boston and Cambridge seem 

 to have exerted themselves to the utmost to make the numerous 

 visitors enjoy themselves, and, from the accounts of the many 

 excursions and receptions, these exertions were completely 

 successful. There were something like a thousand names regis- 

 tered on the books of the Association, and at the Cambridge 

 dinner, on August 24, S70 persons were pre-ent. The number 

 of papers entered was 2S0, all of them evidently duly con- 

 sidered before being admitted, and many of them of great 

 scientific importance. 



The address of welcome of Prof. Rogers, of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, brietly reviewed the origin 

 of the various National Associations, predicting that the Ame- 

 rican would in time rival that which at the moment was 

 meeting at Swansea. " Let us, " Prof . Rogers said, "make it 

 our special work to exclude from our annual reports all detailed 

 publications which are not of a character actually to add to the 



stock of human knowledge, whether that knowledge be simply 

 the gathering together of facts by careful processes of discern- 

 ment, or the development of laws by careful mathematical inves- 

 tigation." Mr. Lewis H. Morgan, the president of the Associa- 

 tion, in his brief reply to the addresses of welcome, made some 

 remarks which are quite as deserving of attention here as on the 

 other side of the water. "When the meetings of this Association 

 become indifferent to the communities among which they are 

 held, its usefulness will be near its end. There is a direct con- 

 nection between the work upon which its members are engaged 

 and the material prosperity of the country, in which all alike have 

 an interest. Scientific investigations ascertain and establish 

 principles whicli inventive genius then utilises for the common 

 benefit. We cannot have a great nation without a great develop- 

 ment of the industrial arts, and this, in its turn, depends upon 

 the results of scientific discovery as necessary antecedents. 

 Material development, therefore, is intimately related to progress 

 in science." The address of Prof. A. Agassiz in Section A we 

 gave in a recent number, and that of Prof. Asaph Hall we hope 

 to be able to give next week. Prof. Bell's remarkable lecture 

 will be found on another page. 



The German Association began its sittings at Danzig last 

 Saturday, and continues them during the present week. Judging 

 from the reports that have been sent us, the German savants 

 have received a warm welcome in the great Prussian commercial 

 city. The programme of papers, as we have already intimated, 

 is long, and contains several of great importance. Prof. Cohn 

 of Breslau brought forward at one of the public lectures important 

 data, spreading over many years, as to the prevalence of colour- 

 blindness, especially in Germany, Switzerland, and America. 



A CORRESPONDENT informs us that at the meeting of the 

 Geological Society of France at Boulogne, to which we have 

 already referred, the French geologists did England the honour 

 of electing Prof. Prestwich president. Besides Professors Prest- 

 wich and Seeley, two other English geologists were present at 

 the meeting, the Rev. J. F. Blake and the Rev. T. Wiltshire. 

 There were also present a large number of_ Belgian geologists. 

 With the French geologists the meeting numbered about fifty 

 members. Daily excursions were made to all the many places of 

 geological interest in the Boulonnais, and in the evenings papers 

 were read by Prof. Gosjelet, Dr. E. Sauvage, M. Pellat, and 

 Prof. Prestwich, on the geological features of the places visited. 

 The geologists were most hospitably entertained by the munici- 

 pality and other public bodies. 



At the Swansea meeting of the British Association Sir William 

 Thomson, as an incidental illustration of a paper by him, gave 

 the following method of "turning the world upside down." 

 Suppose there to be no sea or other water on the earlh, and no 

 hills or hollov/s; and let the earth be a perfectly elastic or 

 perfectly rigid solid, with no moon nor sun, nor other body to 

 disturb it. Commencing anywhere in the northern hemisphere, 

 walk a few miles northwards or southwards. This, by displacing 

 the earth's axis makes a slope. Then walk up hill as long as 

 you can ; then walk a few miles southwards ; then lie down and 

 rest, and in time the thing is done ; that is to say, what was the 

 South Pole is found under Polaris. 



The autumn Congress of the Sanitary Institute was opened at 

 Exeter on Tuesday, under the presidency of Lord Fortescue. 



The death, on August 2, is announced of Karl Ritter von 

 Hauer, the director of the chemical laboratory of the Geological 

 Institute of Vienna. 



A CONGRESS on hygiene was held at Hamburg on September 

 13. 14. IS- The number of members was about 200. At the 

 first sitting the hygiene of hospitals and public buildings was 

 discussed; at the second the hygiene of shipping, after the 



