NA TURE 



(June 28, 1906 



under the special guidance of Prof. Verneau, by whom the 

 greater part of its exploration had been carried out. As is 

 well known, this cave yielded several human skeletons, all 

 of the Cro-Magnon type, the most deeply interred lying in 

 association with bones of the reindeer. Several of these 

 have been left in situ preserved under glass ; while in a 

 small museum erected, close by the mouth of the grotto, at 

 the e.xpense of Sir Thomas Hanbury, are arranged the 

 bones and other objects discovered in it. After a hasty visit 

 10 the Grotte du CaviUon the congressionists proceeded to 

 inspect the famous Grotte des Enfants under the same 

 e.xcellent guidance. The two celebrated skeletons from the 

 lowest foyer of this cave, the types of Verneau's 

 negroid Race Grimaldi, are safely preserved in the Monaco 

 -Museum. These discourses 5116 divo were necessarily 

 succinct, but they were supplemented by fuller addresses 

 of extreme interest during the following forenoon by the 

 .Abbe de Villeneuve, Profs. Boule and Verneau, and M. 

 Cartailhac, under whose joint authorship a beautifully 

 illustrated volume on the results of their exploration of 

 these caves will shortly be published by the generous pro- 

 vision of the Prince of Monaco. 



The next day's programme was reserved specially for 

 papers on the engravings and frescoes on the walls of pre- 

 historic caverns. The Abb6 Breuil presented a communi- 

 cation on the process of the evolution of art during the 

 Reindeer age, a resuind of a large work on which he is 

 engaged, resulting from his laborious copying of the wall 

 pictures of many caverns in collaboration with his col- 

 leagues Cartailhac, Capitan, Peyrony, and Bourrinet. The 

 most important as well as most attractive item, however, 

 was the exhibition by Dr. Capitan of a long series of 

 lantern-slides of mural, engraved, and polychrome pictures — 

 the latter in colour — most carefully copied by himself, the 

 .Abb^ Breuil, and their associates named above, under the 

 most trving and difficult conditions in the grottoes — more 

 frequently than not far in their dark, damp, and cramped 

 recesses — of Mas-d'Azil, Combarelles, Marsoulas, Bernifal, 

 Les Eyzes, de Freye (Dordogne), la Mouthe, Altamira, 

 Font de Gaume, de Teyjat, La Greze, and others. The 

 number and variety of subjects depicted indicates powers 

 of accurate observation and a mastery of hand in the arts 

 of sculpture and drawing at that early age which are really 

 astonishing, and it is evident that this wonderful capacity 

 for art was the common heritage of PalcEolithic man in all 

 parts of Europe. Rhinoceros inerckii and some dozen other 

 extinct quadrupeds appear to have been his favourite studies. 

 Bison prisciis, however, was the species most frequently 

 and most characteristically represented, being perhaps the 

 commonest or the most dreaded member of his fauna. 

 The human figure was less frequently, and always rudely, 

 portrayed, and usually with monstrous or grotesque faces, 

 suggesting that actors in some ceremonial were intended to 

 be depicted i.T maiks, recalling the dance-masks of the 

 Chiriqui and Arizona Indians. Further papers on the same 

 theme occupied also a great part of the following morn- 

 ing's sitting, at which the most interesting exhibition was 

 a series of burins and scrapers of flint from the Grotto of 

 Eyzes, exquisitely manufactured of every degree of fine- 

 ness — some of them worked at both ends — to serve the 

 manifold purposes of the artist. They were unquestionably 

 the very tools by which the wall pictures beside them had 

 been executed. With the exception of a short note by Dr. 

 -Arthur Evans (who on rising was very warmly greeted by 

 the congress), on the Aegean, Minoan, and Mycenaean 

 epochs, the remainder of the communications on the day's 

 programme dealt with the Bronze and Iron age in Europe. 



The sitting of the forenoon of Saturday, April 21, was 

 given up chiefly to the archaeology of northern Africa. The 

 most important communication was M. Flammaud's, on 

 his discovery in the Sahara of megalithic monuments of 

 new shapes and of peculiar sculpture, and on the numerous 

 evidences he had obtained of contact between the interior 

 of Lybia and Egypt in the Neolithic age. The afternoon 

 was spent on an excursion through beautiful scenery Did 

 the well-known Tropaea Augusti at La Turbie to the 

 mysterious prehistoric entrenchments occupving the summit 

 of Mont Bastide, as that of many of the other foot-hills of 

 the Maritime Alps. The congress assembled on Sunday 

 afternoon for the formal closing ceremonies usual on such 



NO. I913, VOL. 74] 



occasions, the Prince of Monaco being again represented 

 by his son, who, at the palace previous to the meeting, 

 had, on his father's behalf, conferred the decoration of St. 

 Charles on the presidents, the secretaries, and several of 

 its more distinguished members, of whom Sir John Evani 

 received the cross and ribbon of the Order. 



Several social entertainments were given during the 

 week " en I'honneur des congressistes," including, besides 

 a reception at the palace, an evening performance of 

 Mephistofeles and a matinee concert, both in the beautiful 

 Casino Theatre. 



For those — and they proved a goodly company — who 

 could spare the time, a whole-day excursion, under the 

 able leadership of M. Paul Goby, to the prehistoric monu- 

 ments — dolmens, tumuli, and entrenchments — in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Grasse was arranged by the excellent com- 

 mittee of organisation as a pleasant termination to a very 

 successful and profitable session of the congress. 



SUMMER TEMPERATURES OF THE NORTH 



SEA. 

 T^HE " Bulletin Trimestriel " of the International Council 

 ■'■ for the Exploration of the Sea, for the period July 

 to September, 1905, has just been issued. As the observ- 

 ations are for the summer months, they are naturally more 

 numerous than in other seasons of the year, and an 

 immense amount of material is dealt with. The increase 

 in the number of surface observations, and the extension 

 of the area from which they have been obtained, are 

 specially noteworthy ; a plate of nine charts showing the 

 variations of mean temperature in the North Sea for ten- 

 day periods, from July i to September 30, 1905, is added 

 to the usual quarterly maps. These charts have been pre- 

 pared by dividing the area into squares of 1°, and i° close 

 to the coast, and the results checked by mean values from 

 Dutch observations, worked up by a different method. 



The sections drawn from the observations of the special 

 steamers sent out by the different countries are very 

 numerous in the narrower seas, forming a close network 

 in the Baltic and the North Sea. A line north-eastward 

 from .Scotland defines the conditions across the northern 

 entrance to the North Sea, but it is unfortunate that, 

 except for some very useful lines running seaward from 

 the coast of Ireland, and one section from Iceland to 

 Faeroe, information from the western section of the area 

 is somewhat deficient, notably in the Fjeroe-Shetland 

 Channel. It would be a great matter if observations in 

 the depth could be carried further seaward to the south- 

 west of the British Isles with the view of ascertaining the 

 precise limit to w'hich waters of Mediterranean origin 

 penetrate northward, and in this connection an increase 

 in the number of gas samples analysed would be of value. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The following is the text of the speech 

 delivered by Prof. Love in presenting Prof. J. Milne for 

 the degree of D.Sc. honoris causa at the Encaenia on 

 June 20 :— 



In terrae motibus cognoscendis nemini profecto cedit 

 loannes Milne. Hie ille est qui nova eademque plurima 

 quaerendi instrumenta commentatus, quibus vim terrae 

 motuum longinquis in locis redundantem emetiretur, 

 ostendit tribus quibusdam momentis rem agi : duobus enim 

 tremoribus medium terrae globum concutientibus succedere 

 tertium latius patcntem ct in summo volitantem, sicut 

 undam mare supereminentem. His repertis illud etiam 

 consecutus est ut interioris terrae naturam et compagem 

 certius cognosceret. Nullas profecto regiones non pera- 

 gravit vir acerrimus, dum telluris superficiei studct, 

 praecipuam vero laudem adeptus est quod rei publicae 

 laponicae viginti annos inservit, Geologiae doctor insignis, 

 fodinarum publicarum curator peritissimus. Ibi etiam 

 sexcentas stationes disposuit omnia quae ad terrae motus 

 pertinent et observantium et litteris mandantium. His 

 etiam diebus patriae redditus in insula Vecti tale labor- 



