6l2 



NA TURE 



[November 4, 1922 



In the Daily Mail of October 23 appears a note 

 on the discovery of a human skull and bones in an 

 ancient gold-working at Gwanda, Rhodesia. It is 

 based upon an account of the discovery by Mr. 

 Duncan Simpson, by whom the bones were found in 

 July last. They lay under twenty feet of debris, and 

 their position would suggest that the miner was 

 working on the face of the reef when he was killed 

 by a fall of the rock. This is supported by the fact 

 that a large stone hammer lay near by, which, it may 

 be assumed, he was using at the time. The bones 

 are now in charge of Dr. Arnold of the Rhodesian 

 Museum and are to be submitted to expert investiga- 

 tion. It is stated that on a cursory examination they 

 are thought to be those of a Bantu. If, as the cir- 

 cumstances suggest, the remains are those of one of 

 the original miners of the ancient gold-workings, in 

 which this part of Rhodesia abounds, they are the 

 first to be discovered. The confirmation of their 

 Bantu origin would have an important bearing upon 

 the problem of the origin of these gold-workings and 

 of the highly developed ancient culture of Rhodesia 

 which has so often been the subject of controversy. 

 While it is highly probable that the workers were the 

 slaves of a higher race, as suggested in the Daily Mail 

 article, the Bantu origin of these early miners, in 

 view of the comparatively late incursion of that race 

 into this area, would preclude a very high antiquity 

 for these workings. 



A snap of cold and severe weather was experienced 

 over the British Isles during the closing days of 

 October, and temperatures were exceptionally low for 

 so early in the winter season. Bitter easterly winds 

 were prevalent under the controlling influence of a 

 region of high barometer centred over Iceland and 

 an area of low barometer readings situated over 

 France and the Bay of Biscay. In the English 

 Channel and on our south coasts the east winds 

 attained the force of a gale. Snow fell in Cornwall 

 and at many places in the southern counties on 

 Saturday, October 28. According to the reports 

 from the Meteorological Office, the thermometer on 

 October 28 and 29 failed to reach 50 F. in any part 

 of the Kingdom, whilst on October 29 the maximum 

 at Falmouth, Newquay, Lympne, and Hampstead 

 was only 39° F. and at night sharp frost was generally 

 experienced, the exposed thermometer falling to 20 

 F. in many places. The Greenwich temperature 

 records from 1841 show that in six years, 1859, 1S69, 

 1873, 1880, 1890, and 1895, the maximum day tem- 

 perature in October failed to attain 40 , on a single 

 day, at least, subsequent to October 20. At East- 

 bourne the highest temperature on Sunday, October 

 29, was 42 F., and on three mornings, October 26, 27, 

 and 29, the lowest temperature in the shade indicated 

 a frost. October was generally cold and fairly dry 

 in most parts of England, with a large amount of 

 easterly wind, and was in marked contrast to the 

 warm and bright weather experienced in the corre- 

 sponding month of last year. 



The anniversary dinner of the Royal Society will 

 be held at the Hotel Victoria (Edward VII. rooms) 

 on St. Andrew's Day, Thursday, November 30. 

 NO. 2766, VOL. 1 io] 



The annual exhibition of scientific apparatus 

 organised by the Physical Society of London and the 

 Optical Society will be held on January 3 and 4 next. 



At the first ordinary meeting of the new session of 

 the Royal Geographical Society, to be held on 

 November 13 at 8.30 p.m., at the Aeolian Hall, a 

 paper will be read by Commander Frank Wild on the 

 work of the Qwest. 



The Huxley Lecture of Charing Cross Hospital 

 Medical School will be delivered at the school on 

 Wednesday, November 8, at 3 o'clock, by Sir Arthur 

 Keith, who will speak on " Evolutionary Tendencies 

 in Man's Body." At 4 o'clock on the same day, at 

 London Hospital Medical College, Dr. Percy Kidd will 

 deliver the Schorstein Memorial Lecture. The sub- 

 ject will be " Forty Years in the History of Tubercu- 

 losis. ' ' 



Ax a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 

 October 23, the following officers and members of 

 council were elected : President : Prof. F. O. Bower. 

 Vice-Presidents : Sir J. A. Ewing, Prof. J. W. Gregory, 

 Major-General W. B. Bannerman, Dr. W. A. Tait, 

 Principal J. C. Irvine, Lord Salvesen. General 

 Secretary : Dr. C. G. Knott. Secretaries to Ordinary 

 Meetings : Prof. J. H. Ashworth, Prof. R. A. Sampson. 

 Treasurer : Dr. J. Currie. Curator of Library and 

 Museum: Dr. A. Crichton Mitchell. Council: 

 Prof. F. G. Baily, Dr. R. Campbell, Prof. J. Arthur 

 Thomson, Dr. H. S. Allen, Sir Robert Blyth Greig, 

 Dr. J. Ritchie, Prof. E. M. Wedderburn, Prof. T. H. 

 Bryce, Prof. J. Y. Simpson, Prof. D'Arcy W. Thomp- 

 son, Sir James Walker, Prof. E. T. Whittaker. 



In her presidential address, delivered on October 19, 

 to the Society for Constructive Birth Control and 

 Racial Progress, Dr. M. C. Stopes dealt with the 

 ideals and present position of constructive birth 

 control. She stated that the social ideal urgently 

 needed to-day is the revision of our present mistaken 

 tendency to breed from defective stock more than 

 from good and healthy stock. Acting as a motive 

 force is also the individual human commiseration for 

 the sufferings endured by unhealthy, over-burdened 

 slum women, involuntarily the mothers of degenerate 

 stock. Dr. Marie Stopes is of opinion that the 

 Utopian idea is attainable through the use of scientific 

 knowledge in such a way as to secure the increase 

 from the best, and to decrease the population of low- 

 grade human beings. 



Messrs. W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., booksellers, 

 Cambridge, have recently purchased the interesting 

 and valuable library of Prof. R. B. Clifton, late 

 professor of natural philosophy in the University of 

 Oxford. They have a catalogue in preparation. A 

 copy will be sent post free on application. 



We have received from Mr. W. Rodier, 327 Collins 

 Street, Melbourne, a letter and some pamphlets 

 dealing with the rat problem as bearing upon the 

 article by Mr. Alfred E. Moore in our issue of May 20 

 (vol. 109, p. 659). Mr. Rodier's scheme for the 

 extermination of rats, known as "The Rodier System," 

 which consists in liberating all the males trapped, is 

 of course well known and its merits thoroughly 

 appreciated by all interested in the destruction of 



