35° 
practise fasting and abstaining from sleep as a 
means of attaining to right thoughts and promoting 
inspiration. Dr. Heger described a collection of 
objects found in ancient graves of the Diaguite 
culture in north-west Argentina which prove that the 
influence of the ancient Peruvian culture penetrated 
there in the time of the last emperors of the Incas. 
Dr. K. T. Stoepel recorded his investigations of some 
remarkable monuments on the Upper Magdalena 
River which probably antedate the Andaquies. Dr. 
Capitan demonstrated that the Maya architecture was 
a copy in stone of wooden constructions. Dr. Seler 
made several contributions, one of the most interest- 
ing being an account of the ruins of Uxmal, and 
Frau C. Seler described the painted potsherds from 
Cuicatlan and Teotitlan del Camino. Mr. J. Cooper 
Clark spoke about, and presented to members of the 
congress, his charming book ‘“‘The Story of Eight 
Deer” in Codex Colombino. Dr. A. C. Simoens da 
Silva dealt with points of contact of the prehistoric 
civilisations of Brazil and Argentina with those of 
the Pacific coast countries. 
Ethnology and Archaeology.—Prof. M. H, Saville 
gave an interesting lecture on archeological re- 
searches in the Andean highlands of Ecuador, Dr. 
Stoepel reported on an expedition to Colombia and 
Ecuador, and Dr. A. Posnansky discoursed on the 
ideographs of the Puerta monolith at Tihuanacu. 
Dr. W. Lehmann discussed in an able manner some 
Central American calendar problems, and Dr. Boas 
described the succession of cultures in the valley of 
Mexico. 
General Ethnology.—Dr. Leo Sternberg filled up a 
gap in Lewis H. Morgan’s Turanian-Ganowanian 
systems from tribes in the north-east of Asia. Dr. 
Jochelson described his researches in the Aleutian 
Islands. Dr. K. Sapper gave an interesting account 
of the daily life of the Ketchi Indians of Guatemala, 
and Jonkheer L. C. van Panhuys referred to the ex- 
ploration of Dutch Guiana, and showed that the 
decrease of the Indians was due to the introduction of 
malaria by the bush-negroes. 
Several papers were presented on Colonial History, 
the most important being Mrs. Zelia Nuttall’s account 
of her discovery of the lost MS. of Cervantes Salazar’s 
history of the conquest of Mexico. Enough has 
heen said to show that a remarkable number of 
important papers ‘were read which considerably 
advance our knowledge of the archeology and 
ethnology. of Central and South America. The 
congress has happily passed beyond the time when. | 
speculative papers were offered, and it worthily fulfils 
its important self-imposed task of scientific research. A 
great many of the papers were illustrated by beautiful 
lantern slides, and’ Dr. Jochelson also showed kine- 
matograph films. The congress was a decided suc- 
cess, and it was a great pleasure to English students 
to meet so many of their foreign colleagues. 
. A. C. Happon. 
THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE 
ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS IN 
NICAL INSTITUTIONS. 
ee sixth annual conference of the above associa- 
tion was held in London during Whitsuntide, 
commencing Monday, May 27. The president of the 
association, Dr 
marnock Academy and director of Higher Education 
for Kilmarnock), in his address discussed at some 
length the factors which have raised the German 
nation to its present position in the industrial world. 
After dwelling upon the extent to which Germany 
NO. 2223, VOL. 89] 
TECH- | 
| approving of the principles underlying Circular 776 
J. Clark (the Rector of the Kil- | 
NATURE 
[JunE 6, 1912 
was indebted in the past to the teaching and example 
of England in commercial matters, he emphasised 
the important influence which the views and specula- 
tions of philosophers such as Fichte have had upon 
the development of the German nation. As a result 
of Fichte’s ‘‘ Addresses to the German Nation " pub- 
lished in 1808, ‘tthe doctrine of the submission of 
the individual and of self-sacrifice as a prime necessity 
for national development became an integral part of 
the German character, and established that flexibility 
and responsiveness to State control and _ official 
authority that have led to achievements no other 
nation has yet been able to imitate. . . . Education 
became not only the privilege of the individual, but 
a duty to the State in so far that it enhanced his 
national value. Hence originated that increased 
enthusiasm for education that caused the country to 
be described as a ‘land of schools,’ and prepared the 
way for immediate development on the technical side 
when the time was opportune.” 
Dr. Clark pointed out that we have still to create 
| in the minds of the great majority of the inhabitants 
of the United Kingdom a genuine belief in the value 
and possibilities of technical education. Further, 
much work has, yet to be done to convince the 
general public of the absolute necessity for a 
thoroughly sound general education as a basis for 
all higher education. The nation possesses one great 
advantage over other nations in the strong common 
sense and resourcefulness of the better type of British 
workman. ‘‘He displays a readiness, an initiative, 
anda responsibility that form a striking contrast to 
the lack of self-reliance, distrust in personal judg- 
ment, and need for constant direction that is so 
characteristic even of the superior type of German 
artisan. . . . When once the British industrial classes 
raise themselves educationally to the high level of the 
Germans, there should no longer be any doubt as to 
our commercial and industrial supremacy.” 
Papers were read by Mr. E. A. Atkins (Liverpool 
Technical School) on employers and the technical 
training of their young workmen, with special refer- 
ence to a number of important recent developments 
in this question in the Liverpool district, and by Mr. 
C. B. Barber (Batley) on secondary education for 
technical students. Mr. Barber dealt mainly with 
the urgent necessity for the establishment of a 
number of ‘‘technical-secondary ” schools, to supple- 
ment - the existing ‘‘classical’” or “literary” 
secondary schools. 
Sir Alfred Keogh, Rector of the Imperial College 
of Science and Technology, in a paper which was 
read in his absence, explained the organisation of the 
Imperial College its aims, and the recent extensions 
of its work. He advocated a closer relationship between 
the Imperial College on the one hand, and the 
London and provincial technical institutions on the 
other. A marked feature of the discussion which 
followed was the belief expressed by many speakers 
in the necessity for the foundation of a separate tech- 
nical university, consisting of the Imperial College as 
the central institution, with the principal London and 
provincial technical schools directly affiliated to it. 
During the conference resolutions were passed (a) 
of the Board of Education in so far as_ they 
encouraged the free development of the ‘“ grouped 
course’’ system and gave to technical institutions 
opportunities to conduct their own examinations; 
(b) deprecating the proposed abolition of the ‘‘ex- 
ternal’? degrees of the London University; (c) urging 
the necessity for the increased provision of scholar- 
ships (with adequate maintenance allowances) for 
technical students. 
