204 



NATURE 



[April 15, 190Q 



GERMAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS. 

 'X'HE two volumes, xciii. and xciv., of Globus for 190S 

 -'■ are especially interesting for the numbers of papers 

 dealing with South American ethnography. The more 

 important of these are : — Dr. T. Koch-Griinberg's articles 

 on fishing and hunting among the natives of north-west 

 Brazil, in which the implements employed are fully and 

 carefully illustrated ; the arrow release is described, and 

 details given of large communal fish-traps and private 

 tackle, the blow-pipe, arrow-poison, and a variety of 

 weapons in use on the Upper Amazon tributaries. G. von 

 Koenigswald's series of papers on certain tribes of 

 southern Brazil deal somewhat briefly with the Boto- 

 cudos, and more exhaustively with the Cayuas, a nomadic 

 hunting tribe of the Guarani family. Weapons, lip-orna- 

 ments, physical types, and other points are figured. 

 Freiherr von Nordenskiold contributes an account, with 

 carefully executed figures, on tobacco-pipes of South 

 America. He concludes that they occurred sporadically 

 before the Discovery. The tubular pipe, the most primitive 

 form, is discussed and compared with the North American 

 varieties. H. Beyer gives an account of the Mexican 

 "dragon," in which he states that the god Ouetzalcoatl, 

 who is identical with Xiuhcoatl, is represented not only 

 as human, but as a feathered snake. He is the most 

 important deity in Mexico. The feathered snake was 

 probably a sign of the ecliptic or of the zodiac, and 

 Quetzalcoatl would thus be not only the deity of time, but 

 also, like Xiuhcoatl, the symbol of the year. 



T. von Koenigswald's series of articles is continued in 

 vol. xciv., valuable and copiously illustrated descriptions 

 being given of the Coroados and Carayas, hunting, fishing, 

 and agricultural tribes who have resisted European in- 

 fluence to a very large extent. Prof. A'. Giuffrida-Ruggeri, 

 of Naples, gives an account of Florentino Ameghino's dis- 

 coveries in Patagonia, which point to South ."Vmerica as 

 the home of the " half-apes." He discusses the remains 

 of the various strata, but says that the question must now 

 be left for geologists to decide. He defines the genus 

 Homunculus, and figures the skull of Homo painpaeus 

 ameghinot. 



The German colonies arc represented in vol. xciii. by 

 ■well-illustrated papers by Dr. R. Poch on New Mecklen- 

 burg (New Ireland) and Kaiser Wilhelm's Land. As 

 regards Africa, negro music and musical instruments in 

 Togo are described in two papers by Smend, in which 

 variations in the musical bow, primitive harp, drum, and 

 trumpet, are described and figured. An account is given 

 by Missionary B. Gutmann of curses and blessings of the 

 Wadschagga. Dr. H. Krauss contributes an illustrated 

 article on the household utensils of the German East 

 African coast negroes. Vol. xciv. contains a brief descrip- 

 tion (with figures) by Missionary C. Spiess of the secret 

 Yevhe and Se cults among the Evhe of the Guinea Coast. 

 The _ origin of these mysterious objecrs, possessed of 

 magical significance, has not yet been ascertained. 

 B. Struck describes and figures some of the really able 

 topographical efforts of King Ndschova, of Bamum,' West 

 Africa. The Jabim shields of German New Guinea are 

 described by B. Geislcr, with illustrations of the method 

 of giving a permanent warp to the shield and of the 

 ornamentations on it. The hitherto uninvestigated natives 

 of the Tanga Islands, off New Mecklenburg, are the sub- 

 ject of a short illustrated paper bv Dr. O. Schlaginhaufen. 



Europe is not neglected. To vol. xciii. Dr. A. Baldacci 

 contributes an account of the Slavs of Molise (central 

 Italy), ■ and Dr. M. L. Wagner gives notes of a trip in 

 Sardinia (continued in vol. xciv.). An appreciation is 

 given by H. Seidel of Robert Townson, an eighteenth- 

 century traveller in the Tatra, Hungary. 



Vol._ xciv. contains a beautifully' produced copv of 

 Sebastian Miinster's map of Germanv. recently brought to 

 light after long oblivion ; Dr. A. Wolkenhauer gives a 

 most interesting explanation of the astronomical devices 

 with which the sixteenth-century topographist and astro- 

 logist accompanies his map. In' the same volume Dr. V. 

 Lazar contributes an account of marriage customs among 

 the southern Roumanians. 



_ As regards Asia, in vol. xciii. F. Grabowskv gives an 

 interesting account of rice-culture among the Dayaks of 



NO. 2059, VOL. 80] 



south-east Borneo. In vol. xciv. we have a description 

 by Prof. G. Behaghel of his travels in the Chinese province 

 of Fokien. Dr. Ten Kate furnishes further points of 

 Japanese popular belief in regard to omens, dreams, 

 astrology, and mythology. Dr. M. Moszkowski gives a 

 short illustrated account of the modified Danigala and 

 Hennebedda Veddas, and a more detailed description of 

 ihe inland tribes of east Sumatra. 



.Among the folk-lore articles in vol. xciii. mention must 

 be made of Dr. Emil Fischer's description of the Paparuda 

 procession among the Roumanian peasants, which takes 

 place on the third Tuesday after Easter or after continued 

 drought, when girls go round the village singing the rain- 

 song. He cites another instance of southern Slav influence 

 in the Scaloian procession, when children, mostly girls, 

 form a mock funeral procession about a clay figure in a 

 coffin, singing a dirge ; the Scaloi, of which an illustration 

 is given, is supposed to personify the drought which will 

 end with its funeral. Prof. Mehlis describes the " Hexen- 

 hammer " of Dorrenbach (Palatinate) and other Neolithic 

 implements still associated with thunder and magic by 

 the peasants of those parts ; he also alludes to the nomen- 

 clature of these objects in the Greek and Roman authors. 



For Africa other than the German colonies, reference 

 must be made to F. J. Bieber's paper in vol. xciii., on 

 the political organisation of Kaffa, which lies in the 

 south-west corner of the north-east African highlands, 

 north of Lake Rudolf. With regard to Australia, vol. 

 xciv. contains an account, by Frh. v. Leonhardi, of dog- 

 figures of the Dicri tribe in central Australia ; they are 

 painted red and black, and are thought to represent the 

 dogs of various tribal ancestors. These animal figures are 

 apparently unknown among the neighbouring Aranda and 

 Loritja tribes. 



Of general interest are Dr. J. H. F. Kohlbrugge's 

 discussion of red hair and its significance in vol. xciii. 

 He compares the occurrence of erythrism and albinism in 

 mammals and man, and discusses the question of pig- 

 mentation. In conclusion, he expresses the hope that the 

 question may be more thoroughly investigated in the 

 future, and alludes to E. Fischer's work on the subject, 

 published after his article was written. In vol. xciv. Dr. 

 C. Kassner gives a number of illustrations, with brief 

 descriptions, of Bulgarian clapping-boards, salt-mill, wells, 

 church taper-stand, and a variety of objects of antiquarian 

 interest. Dr. S. Weissenberg discusses the problem of 

 growth in human beings according to age, sex, and race. 

 Tables are given illustrating the comparative annual growth 

 of both sexes, of Jew and Jewess, Russian boy and girl, 

 English boy and girl, Belgians, also of annual increase in 

 weight, height, and size according to external circum- 

 stances. In conclusion, he points out that the third period 

 of life, from ten or twelve to seventeen or eighteen years 

 of age, is the crucial time of development, as it is then that 

 racial, sex, and individual differentiation sets in. 



NEW CRUCIBLE SUPPORT AND FURNACE. 

 lyrESSRS. J. J. GRIFFIN AND SONS, LTD., have 

 sent us for examination a universal crucible support. 

 It consists of three iron rods, which pass obliquely through 

 the legs of an iron tripod and are held firmly in the correct 

 positions by the action of brass springs. The three rods 

 have fitted over them quartz tubes drawn out into pointed 

 ends. By simply pushing in or drawing out the rods can 

 be adjusted to take either small or large crucibles — up to 

 three inches in diameter. Quartz fusing at a higher 

 temperature than platinum, this crucible support is very 

 handy, and is much cheaper than using a platinum tripod. 

 The heating of the crucible is also more uniform, as it is 

 held in position simply by the pointed ends of the quartz 

 tubes. There is therefore no necessity to turn the crucible 

 about in order to make sure that the whole of its contents 

 are completely and uniformly ignited. 



We have received from the Cambridge Scientific Instru- 

 ment Company a small crucible furnace heated with a 

 M^lcer burner, and called the M^ker furnace. We have 

 tested the furnace and find it very efficient, as within a few 

 minutes there is no difficulty in melting copper. The main 

 features of the ne%y burner are the careful and exact pro- 



