October 14, 1909] 



NA TURE 



All 



about the middle of the eighteenth century, when turnips 

 were added to the diet, and the introduction of oil cake 

 about 1797 made it possible to fatten during the winter. 

 It is found that a linseed-cake feed gives the results most 

 desired by the butcher, a cotton-cake feed giving a poorer 

 bullock. The oil was long considered to be the valuable 

 constituent; later, most importance was attached to the 

 albumenoids. Maize was introduced in 1875, brewers' 

 grains a few years later, and the carbohydrates are now 

 regarded as a most important constituent. 



In the subsequent discussion the minimal protein was 

 defined as that sufficient to supply the units for tissue 

 formation. Dr. E. F. Armstrong alluded to the import- 

 ance of the mineral constituents in a colloidal state and 

 their analogy to enzymes. Prof. Starling pointed out that 

 the physiologists diet for health, whereas the agriculturists 

 feed for fattening purposes. 



ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 

 "yHE meeting of Section H at Winnipeg, apart from being 

 •^ one of the most enjoyable of recent years, was also 

 Iruitful of much good work, and was undoubtedly in every 

 respect a great success. It was hardly to be expected that 

 the audiences would be as large as at an English meeting, 

 but although the numbers attending the section were at 

 first few, they increased daily, and at the end were well 

 up to the average. Last year a great diminution in the 

 number of papers dealing with physical anthropology had 

 to be recorded. Unfortunately, this was still more apparent 

 at Winnipeg, and only one paper on the subject was pre- 

 sented. It is to be hoped that this is only a temporary 

 falling off, and that in future years the papers on physical 

 subjects will be as numerous as in the past. 



The address of the president, Prof. J. L. Myres, on 

 " The Influence of Anthropology on the Course of Political 

 Science," need only be mentioned here, as it has already 

 appeared in the pages of Nature. The last few para- 

 graphs of it, however, in which the president urged 

 the importance and necessity of undertaking an ethno- 

 graphic survey of Canada, must have particular attention 

 directed to them, as, in a way, they struck the keynote of 

 the meeting. 



When the association met at Montreal in 1884 Prof. 

 Tylor presided over the newly formed anthropological 

 section, and the chief result of the meeting was the 

 foundation of an ethnographic survey of Canada, under 

 the auspices of the association, which appointed a com- 

 mittee and gave liberal grants. This committee did much 

 good work and published annual reports, but the lamented 

 death of Dr. George Dawson brought work to a standstill. 

 Since then, with the notable exception of IVIr. Hill-Tout's 

 work on the Salish of British Columbia, practically nothing 

 has been done by Canadians towards a systematic study of 

 the natives inhabiting the Dominion. It was felt, therefore, 

 that the time was ripe for endeavouring to organise an 

 ethnographic survey, and a whole day was accordingly set 

 apart for papers and discussion on this important subject. 



This discussion was opened by Mr. Sidney Hartland, 

 who gave a risumi of the work that had been done in the 

 past from the times of the Jesuit fathers onwards. This 

 retrospect made it apparent how small had been the part 

 taken by Canadians in contributing to our knowledge of 

 the natives of the Dominion, and how little interest had 

 been taken by the Dominion and provincial Governments, 

 which had been content to leave inquiries, which have a 

 bearing, not only on scientific questions, but also on the 

 practical problems of government, to the Government and 

 museums of the United States, and to individual effort. 



Mr. Hartland was followed by Dr. Franz Boas, of New 

 York, who, in a paper on the ethnological problems of 

 Canada, urged the immediate importance of undertaking 

 such a survey at once, before it is too late. Primitive life 

 is rapidly disappearing before the economic progress of 

 Canada, and unless the work is undertaken at once the 

 opportunity will be gone for ever, and information which 

 will have a most important bearing upon general anthro- 

 pological problems will never be obtained. Dr. Boas then 

 directed attention to some of the problems awaiting solu- 



liO. 2085, VOL. 81] 



tion, and pointed out what an important field Canada 

 offered to the investigator. 



Dr. G. B. Gordon, of the Philadelphia Museum, 

 explained the work which is being undertaken by the 

 Smithsonian Institution and the various museums in the 

 United States. 



But the native question, although the most pressing, is 

 not the only ethnographic problem in Canada which re- 

 quires study. The problem of the white immigrants is in 

 many respects even more important, and a strong feature 

 was therefore made of this side of the question. Dr. 

 Shrubsall, who opened the discussion on this aspect of 

 the problem, pointed out the great importance of coUecting 

 careful statistics so as to be able to ascertain the effect 

 of Canadian environment upon immigrants of European 

 origin. He urged the vital importance of a survey of 

 physical characters, mental conditions, and physique, so 

 as to discover what type was best suited to the Canadian 

 environment, and he also pointed out how necessary it was 

 that the Dominion should take preventative measures now 

 to stop the landing of the physically or mentally unfit, 

 rather than remedial measures later. The task before 

 the Dominion was to prevent these problems, which are 

 now facing the great centres of population, from arising 

 in Canada rather than to let them arise and then to 

 attempt to remedy them. 



As a result of this discussion a committee was appointed 

 by the association to consider what steps can be taken 

 to organise an ethnographic survey of Canada, and a 

 memorial has also been drafted urging upon the Govern- 

 ment the importance of undertaking the work before it is 

 too late. It is hoped that this memorial will be presented 

 in due course. 



As was natural at a meeting in Canada, many papers 

 dealing with American, and particularly Canadian, .ethno- 

 logy and archseology were presented to the section. 



To take first of all those dealing with Canadian ethno- 

 logy. Mr. Hill-Tout, whose reports on the various British 

 Columbian tribes have appeared from time to time in the 

 Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, presented 

 a further instalment of his work in a report on the 

 ethnology of the Okanagan of British Columbia. These 

 people are the most easterly division of the Salish of the 

 province, but they are not confined to British Columbia, 

 but extend southwards into the United States, the inter- 

 national boundary dividing them into two fairly equal 

 divisions. The material culture and language of the stock 

 was discussed, and from the linguistic and cultural 

 evidence a most important conclusion was arrived at, 

 namely, that the original home of the stock, before its 

 division into its present sections, was not the rivers and 

 bays of the Pacific coast. The staple food of these people 

 is now, and as long as they lived where they do now 

 must have been, the salmon. If, therefore, they had in- 

 habited their present districts before their language was 

 divided into its present groupings, we would expect to find 

 the same word for salmon among the different stocks ; but 

 this is not the case, and, in addition, their myths as to 

 the origin of the salmon differ. It seems clear, therefore, 

 that, before the division, the people cannot have inhabited 

 their present district. Where they came from is another 

 matter, but it is noticeable that the linguistic evidence 

 points to a connection with Oceanic stocks. 



An interesting paper on the Blackfoot Medical Priest- 

 hood was presented by Dr. John Maclean. The_ paper 

 dealt with every aspect of the subject, with the initiation 

 ceremonies, dress, and facial decoration, and with the 

 causes of disease, especially the influence exerted on the 

 mind and body of the native by his belief in evil spirits. 

 Native medicines and remedies were also discussed, and the 

 value of the work of the medicine-men among the natives 

 and the influence exercised by them on the native religion. 



Mr. William Mcintosh presented a paper on the present 

 native population and traces of early civilisation in the 

 Province of New Brunswick. At the present time the 

 native and half-breed population numbers about 1500, and 

 Is composed of two tribes, the Micmacs, on the east coast 

 and part of the shores of the Bay of Fundy, and the 

 Malecites, on the St. John River valley,_ which is 

 approximately the site of their ancient habitations. There 

 are abundant traces of the prehistoric occupation of the 



