Oct. 15, 1885 | 
NWA RORE 
589 
remarkable that the chimpanzee even at six years of age there 
was a very manifest lumbar curve. In the Biological Section 
that day there had been described the spine of a child six years 
of age, and it was remarkable that the lumbar curve in this 
chimpanzee of a corresponding age was very much more marked 
than in the child. At six years the chimpanzee was much more 
advanced in life than a child six years old, and therefore his 
lumbar curve was correspondingly greater. If they wished to 
get at the distinction between the spine of man and the 
chimpanzee they must look lower down at the sacrum. After 
noticing one or two other points, Dr. Cunningham drew the 
conclusion that the human child occupied an intermediate posi- 
tion between the chimpanzee andthe human adult. In the plate 
he now exhibited they would see compared the skull of the 
chimpanzee with that of man, bringing out that the cerebral or 
larger brain-in man extended a good deal further back than in 
the chimpanzee ; and there was not much difference between the 
New World ape and the chimpanzee in that respect. 
Dr. J. G. Garson, one of the secretaries of the Section, read a 
paper on Abnormal and Arrested Development as an Induction of 
Evolutionary History. Dr. Garson began by stating that, 
perhaps, the most fertile source of information regarding the 
history of man’s evolution was derived from a study of his 
embryological development. Another source from which much 
valuable information regarding the early history of our own 
specialisation, and that of other animals, might be gleaned, was 
Teratology, which had for its domain the consideration of 
abnormal conditions of development. Many of the conditions 
included under this branch were of a pathological nature, and 
due to the effects of disease ; others, however, were not—such, 
for example, as an abnormal and an unusual production of 
normal structures and cases of arrested development. It was to 
a consideration of some conditions occurring under one or other 
of these categories that he ventured now to call attention. The 
examples which he had selected had come more especially under 
his own observation. Persons were occasionally found with 
abnormal development of hair on their bodies. The type of 
mammal was an animal whose body was covered with hair. 
Under certain circumstances the hair might more or less dis- 
appear, according to the conditions under which the animal 
lived. In man it was only feebly developed, except on the 
head ; and in the cetacea or whales it had entirely disappeared, 
with the exception of a very few bristles near the mouth. Dr. 
Garson proceeded to explain how excessive development of hair 
takes place in man. In ordinary cases the hair-growing appa- 
ratus in the embryo remained stationary, instead of keeping 
pace with the growth and development of the other organs 
of the body, with the result that no hairy covering such 
as was found in other mammals was present, but only 
short rudimentary hairs appeared at intervals. But in 
some exceptional cases this stationary condition of the hair 
follicles did not occur, and they went on actively develop- 
ing with the rest of the body, with the result that a hairy 
covering was produced over the body. The hairless condition 
now normal in man had evidently been gradually acquired 
through a long period of time, as such a change could not take 
place rapidly and become such a stable condition as it was found 
to be otherwise. Abnormal development of fingers occurred 
sometimes in man, but must be classed entirely apart from such 
forms of abnormality as had been considered in the hair-growth. 
In arrested development the abnormal organ or portion of 
the body, instead of going through the various stages it usually 
does till it arrives at the condition it normally assumed in the 
group of animals in which it occurs, stops short at one or other 
stages. The stage at which it stops may correspond to that 
which is normal in a lower grade of animal life, and so gives 
direct evidence that the higher forms of animal life, such as man, 
pass through and beyond the stages at which the lower stop. It 
must not be forgotten also that in some respects an animal of a 
lower grade may possess specialisations in some structures or 
organs of a higher ground than animals much higher in the 
scale of life. 
Dr. Robert Laws, from Livingstonia, Lake Nyassa, East 
Central Africa, read a long and interesting paper descriptive of 
the manners and customs of the Bantu tribes living around Lake 
Nyassa in Eastern Central Africa. In the outset of his paper 
Dr. Laws said that Lake Nyassa was 350 miles long, and varied 
from 16 to 60 miles broad, and around that vast inland sea they 
knew of fifteen different tribes, speaking so many different 
languages, besides dialects of these languages. Though these 
tribes had much in common, they differed among themselves in 
many of their habits, customs, and religious beliefs. He pro- 
ceeded to notice the names and residences of the leading tribes, 
and gave a brief summary of what was known of their history. 
As a rule, he said, the people of all these tribes were physically 
developed, but their vigour and general healthy condition dif- 
fered considerably, depending chiefly on the climate, soil, and 
food. Where maize and mapira were the staple foods, the 
natives were strong and hardy. Where cassava root was their 
chief food, and especially if along with that there was a state 
of actual or dreaded warfare, the people were weak and sickly. 
On the hills the people were hardier and more vigorous than on 
the lake-shores and on the river-banks. Mental energy was 
greater on the hills than at the lake-side, and at places where 
there was most radiated heat this was less than where the breezes 
played freely. Keenness of vision and acuteness of hearing 
were spoken of as being remarkable in civilised tribes, and 
among the lake tribes these faculties attracted the attention of 
travellers, but Dr. Laws was inclined to attribute these charac- 
teristics to training and exercise in given directions rather than 
to any radical superiority in the organs of sight and hearing 
among the tribes, All the tribes depended principally on agri- 
culture for their support, and the only appearance of a rudi- 
mental division of labour was to be found in the classes of 
fishermen and blacksmiths. No traces of a Stone age had 
been found among these tribes. Yet in certain districts they 
were to be found cultivating their gardens with tools of 
hard wood instead of iron, distance from markets being the 
cause of their use. At the east side of Nyassa many 
lake-dwellings were found in 1875, and often on war being 
threatened the inhabitants of the lake shore took refuge by 
living in such constructions. Iron mines had been found, and 
copper had been found in cne of those near the Livingstone 
range. The iron of the mines was usually near the surface. 
Charcoal was used for smelting. Dr. Laws went on to describe 
the manner in which the tribes made their canoes, their nets, 
and their huts. Fire was procured among them by the rapid 
rotation of rods of wood between the hands, the spark being 
caught in cloth and kindled into a fame. The natives exhibited 
great surprise when they saw the traveller strike a lucifer match, 
and that was regarded by them as an unquestionable proof of 
his superior knowledge. The natives indicated time by pointing 
to the position of the sun. They named Sunday as the day of 
God, Monday as the day for beginning work, Saturday as the 
day for stopping work. The intermediate days were indicated 
by numbers. The eclipse of the moon was described as the 
moon put in a bag, and comets as stars with tails. Slavery was 
common in all the tribes, and half of its horrors had not been 
told. Infanticide was not practised, but infant mortality was 
very high, and cases had been found of children labouring under 
a lingering disease having been buried alive. Polygamy was 
common, and the number of a man’s wives taken as an index of 
his wealth. One chief told him he had a hundred wives, and he 
(Dr. Laws) believed he was rather under-estimating than over- 
estimating the number. The early marriage of girls was the 
rule, and in one tribe a girl was often betrothed before she was 
born. In buying land they had to buy it first from the chief 
and then buy the tenant-right from the cultivators. After 
describing the customs of the tribes relating to the punishment 
of crime, Dr. Laws concluded his paper by noting the leading 
peculiarities of the language of the tribes, directing especial 
attention to the complications in the forms of speech, and 
especially to the extraordinary number of variations in the 
verbs. 
Mr. E. H. Man contributed a paper on Zhe Nicobar /slanders. 
—In the interior of Great Nicobar there is a wild race, styling 
themselves ‘Shab Dawa,” of whom as yet little information has 
been obtainable ; they are distinct from the inhabitants of the other 
islands and of the villages on their own seaboard, who are of 
Malay origin, and by whom they are called ‘“‘Shom Pei” 
(‘*Shom” denoting tribe,” and ‘‘ Peni’’ being the tribal desig- 
nation). It appears certain that they are the descendants of a 
very ancient aboriginal population of Mongolian origin. The 
first mention that we find of them is from the pen of pastor 
Rosen, a Danish missionary, who, while resident at the Nicobar 
Islands between the years 1831-34, spoke of them, from hear- 
say, as in much the same degraded condition as we find them at 
the present day. He said that ‘‘they wear no clothes, possess 
no houses, live like animals in the depths of the forest, and shun 
the sight of men, never leaving their lairs except to search for 
