June 28, 1906] 



NATURE 



and the corresponding apparent magnitude at the time of 

 observation. 



New Double Stars. — Forty-two newly-discovered double 

 stars are described by the Rev. T. E. Espin in a catalogue 

 which appears in No. 7, vol. Ixvi., of the Monthly Notices 

 (R.A.S.). 



The stars are all situated between 30° and 40° N. 

 declination, and (he author gives in the catalogue the 

 position (for 1900), the separation, the position-angle, and 

 the magnitudes for each pair. 



THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF 

 ANTHROPOLOGY AND PREHISTORIC 

 ARCHEOLOGY. 

 'T'lIE International Congress of Anthropology and Pre- 

 historic Archaeology held its thirteenth session at 

 Monaco, on the generous invitation of H.S.H. Prince 

 Albert, " Protecteur " of the congress, on April i()-2i. The 

 place of meeting was the Grande Salle of the beautiful 

 and now nearly completed Museum of Oceanography in 

 course of erection by this Royal savant. More than 400 

 members, of whom upwards of thirty were British, 

 assembled under the distinguished presidency of Prof. 

 Hainy, of the Institute of France. To the sincere regret 

 of all the members, the Prince was prevented by illness 

 from opening the proceedings as he had intended, and, 

 indeed, from being present at any of its meetings. He 

 was, however, represented by his son, the Crown Prince, 

 who, accompanied by the high otlicers of the Principality, 

 attended at the opening seance and read the address which 

 his father was unable to deliver, and from which we quote 

 the following sentences : — " Je me f(51icite de ce que mes 

 efforts pour le d^veloppement de I'anthropologie m'aient 

 permis de ri5unir, sur ce point de 1 'Europe ou les vestiges 

 de I'Humanit^ remplissent la terre, une assemble comrne 

 la votre choisie entre les savants de plusieurs pays avanc^s. 

 Je suis certain, d'aiUeurs, que votre Congrfes laissera au 

 domaine scientifique, des notions importantes sur I'histoire 

 de notre espice, car les travaux tout r^cents de MM. Boule, 

 Verneau, de Cartailhac, de Villeneuve suffisent k lui con- 

 stituer un monument. . . . C'est dans le Palais de la mer 

 que 1 '.Anthropologic trouve accueil aujourd'hui ; et I'union 

 de toutes les sciences alli^es contre 1 'ignorance . . . que 

 rOc^anographie peut di]k relier certaines conquStes de 

 la Science. Car I'^tude des lois physiques et chimiques 

 de la mer conduit a I'explication des remaniements g^o- 

 logiques de notre planfete et des luttes successives entre les 

 continents et les mers. Les progr^s de la Biologie et de 

 la Zoologie marines permettent d'utiliser les revelations de 

 la PaWontologie pour constituer I'^chelle des transform- 

 ations infiniment nombreuses par lesquelles une force que 

 nous appellons la vie a fait passer la matifere organique. 

 Et la Met^orologie, si intimement li^e avec I'Oceanographie 

 par des rapports incessants, nous aide k comprendre les 

 fluctuations, les migrations, et la distribution g^ographique 

 des etres, y compris celle de I'homme. Parmi les Congr^s 

 pr^cedemment r^unis ici meme, il en est un, celui de la 

 Paix, dont j'^voquerai le souvenir aujourd'hui, parce 

 que la Science et la Paix sent inseparables et que I'Anthro- 

 pologie, comme tous les Sciences, doit contribuer au bien- 

 gtre des hommes. ..." The congress was formally 

 welcomed also by H.E. M. Ritt, the Governor-General of 

 the Principality, in a most courteous speech, which was 

 acknowledged by representatives of the foreign delegates. 

 Sir John Evans replying on behalf of Great Britain. The 

 inaugural address of the president on the objects of the 

 congress, the importance of its work, and the present 

 position of prehistoric archaeology concluded the first day's 

 proceedings. 



By an ordinance of the congress, French is the only 

 language permitted in verbal or written communications, 

 a restrictive regulation, we believe, enforced at no other 

 international convention. A proposition was, however, 

 early submitted to the council at Monaco that other lan- 

 guages should be admissible, but it met with favour only 

 so far as regards written communications, which, it was 

 resolved, may now be presented also in English, Italian, 

 or German. All verbal communications, however, must 



NO. 19 I 3, VOL. 74 



still be in French. This change concedes practically little ; 

 for while it may be easy to prepare and read a paper in a 

 foreign language, it is extremely difficult to express on the 

 spur of the moment, in a language with which one is not 

 very familiar, exactly what one wishes to convey. The 

 chief privilege of members is the right to express their 

 views on questions before the congress, but this rule prac- 

 tically disfranchises all those unable to speak French. 

 Considerable dissatisfaction was felt at the severity with 

 which the regulation was enforced. Indeed, many 

 foreigners thus compelled to speak in French were less 

 intelligible even to those acquainted with that language 

 than if they had been permitted to use their own tongue ! 

 It is sincerely to be hoped that at the next session, which 

 has been fixed to meet in Dublin in 1009, this harsh bye- 

 law will be entirely abrogated, and that members of all 

 countries may be allowed, equally with their French col- 

 leagues, to address the congress in their own language. 



The dominant subject of the second seance was the 

 genuineness of the implements known as "eoliths." A 

 series of mill-modelled flint nodules was exhibited, among 

 which there was certainly a number closely resembling 

 many Prestwichian types, but conspicuous by their absence 

 were the decidedly purposeful and rationally usable 

 Kentian forms. A small collection exhibited by Prof. 

 Girod, obtained near .\urilliac, aflirmed to be out of a bed 

 of Tortonian (Miocene) gravels containing Ilipparion, under- 

 lying a massive stratum of basalt, contained at least one 

 " eolith " unquestionably of human manufacture. The 

 occurrence was vouched for, by M. Rutot, of implements 

 of a particular silex identical in form with those from 

 Kent in pre-Glacial beds in Belgium in which no other 

 silex pebbles of the same character and composition were 

 present, and the manufacture and introduction of which 

 could be due only to man. Prof. Ray Lankcster submitted 

 that he had recently placed on exhibition in the British 

 Museum a considerable series of specimens selected from 

 Prestwich's collection, all borer-like in form, too identical 

 in shape and so obviously of rational utility for any possi- 

 bility of their being the result of fortuitous natural 

 collisions. The congress was, however, divided in opinion 

 on the subject. At a later meeting a telegram from Prof. 

 Schweinfurth, in Egypt, was read announcing full con- 

 firmatory evidence of the occurrence of eoliths in the Nile 

 Valley. The most important part of the day's programme 

 was the visit paid to the Grimaldi caves at the Red Rocks, 

 between Mentone and Ventimiglia, the inspection commen- 

 cing with the most easterly — the Grotte du Prince. This 

 cave has been most systematically and scientifically explored 

 by a trio of distinguished archsologists, Prof. ' Marcellin 

 Boule, the Abbe de Villeneuve (director of the .'\rcha;o- 

 logical Museum of Monaco), and Prof. Verneau. With 

 much trouble and no little risk to limb, the grotto-walls 

 had been marked by labels and lines of paint to indicate the 

 limits of the various horizons in correspondence with those 

 on a diagram of a longitudinal section of the cave dis- 

 tributed to members. From an elevated crag the Abbe de 

 N'illeneuve gave an account of the method of excavation and 

 of the discoveries made at the various levels, while Prof. 

 Boule detailed the sequence of events from the geological 

 and palseontological point of view. So lucid were both 

 these demonstrations that no one could fail to carry away 

 a perfectly clear comprehension of the original contents of 

 the cave, and form their own opinion on the evidence for 

 man's antiquity in this region afforded by its exploration. 

 No human osseous remains were met with in this grotto, 

 but worked implements occurred in abundance from the 

 lowest to the highest layers. Those from the lowest beds, 

 which were roughly worked and chiefly Mousterian in type, 

 occurred in association with bones of Rhinoceros merckii, 

 Elephas antiqniis and hippopotamus, and with specimens of 

 Cassis riifa, an Indian Ocean mollusc which mav perhaps 

 have been acquired by barter. The contents of this cave 

 have been transported to the .Arch.xological Museum in 

 Monaco, and arranged with such care by the .\bbe de Ville- 

 neuve in the order of succession of the various strata, and 

 so accurately labelled, that it is impossible to overestimate 

 the importance to anthropological science of this com- 

 paratively small collection. 



The Barma ( = Grotte) Grande next claimed attention 



