784 KEPORT— 1889. 



Laws as an individual property separate from tribal property. Generally speaking, 

 the ritjlit does not exist in Europe, as all rights are centred in the owner of the 

 soil. It is probable that the personal right of the first discoverer of honey and similar 

 trees, a right defined by Sir H. S. Maine as dependent on discovery, is to be 

 regarded as the origin of an individual right of property rather than any rin^ht in 

 land, which is of no value in a primitive community. Even cultivable land 

 belonged to the community, and was distributed by lot yearly, of which there are 

 modern examples. 



7. Report of the Committee appointed to investigate the Habits and Customs 

 and Physical Characteristics of the Nomad Tribes of Asia Minor, and to 

 excavate on sites of ancient occupation. — See Reports, p. 176. 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. 



The Section did not meet. 



MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16. 



The following Reports and Papers were read: — 



1. Report of the Committee for edithic/ a new Edition of ^ Anthropological 

 Notes and Queries.' — See Reports, p. 186. 



2. Report of the Committee for calculating the Anthropological Measure- 

 ments talcen at Bath. — See Reports, p. 423. 



3. Exhibition of a new Anthropometric Instrument, specially designed for 

 the use of Travellers. By Dr. J. G. GtAKSON. 



4. An Instrument for measriring Reaction Time. 

 By Fkancis Galton, F.R.S. 



The principle of the instrument exhibited, and the scale of its graduations, were 

 •described a few months since (' Journ. Anthvop. Inst.,' xix. I, p. 28), but the details 

 of its construction have been greatly improved. It measures in a very simple 

 manner, the interval that elapses between (1) making a Signal either by Sight or 

 hy Sound, and (2) the Response given to it by the person who is experimented on. 

 It consist of a half-second's pendulum held by a detent at an inclination of 18° to 

 the vertical ; when the detent is depressed, the pendulum begins to swing. The 

 depression of the detent may be effected silently : then levers, an arrangement 

 connected with it, cause a disc of paper to disappear noiselessly, which gives a 

 Sight Signal. Or else a hammer is allowed to strike the detent aside, which gives 

 a Sound Signal. The Response is made by pressing a key, that causes an elastic 

 thread to be suddenly nipped and held fast. This thread is attached above and 

 below to the rod of the pendulum, and parallel to it. Owing to the very small 

 inertia of the thread it can be suddenly checked while in full swing ; and owing 

 to its elasticity the sudden check communicates no jar to the pendulum. The 

 position of the nipped thread indicates that of the pendulum at the moment when 



