TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 737 



WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7. 

 The following Papers and Reports were read : — 



1. On Mourning Dress. By E. Sidney Hartland. 



The question of mourning dress was discussed by Professor Frazer in the 

 fifteenth volume of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, in which he 

 raised several questions that have not yet been definitely settled. It is clear, 

 as he says, that mourning garb was intended to be something quite distinctive 

 from, if not the reverse of, ordinary costume, but its exact purpose seems still 

 to be under discussion. It has been suggested that it was meant as a disguise 

 in order to deceive the ghost of the dead. All kinds of spirits are easily 

 deceived ; but while it is clear that protection is required from the spirits of the 

 dead, various examples make it by no means so clear that that protection took 

 the form of disguise. Weapons and amulets are certainly employed. Other sug- 

 gestions are that mourning garb and customs were intended as a return to more 

 primitive conditions as a means of expressing the union with the dead. The 

 mourner was supposed to partake, to some extent, of the condition of the dead, 

 especially during the arduous journey of the ghost to its ultimate home. On 

 the whole some weight must be given to these suggestions, but the real intention 

 seems more likely to have been an expression of sorrow and abasement so as to 

 deprecate the malice of a spirit which was naturally annoyed at finding itself 

 disembodied. 



2. Some Prehistoric Monuments in the Scilly Isles. 

 By II. D. Acland. 



The present communication is the outcome of a study of the remains of the 

 prehistoric monuments in the Scilly Isles during the past seven years. Although 

 not yet complete, it is desirable that the results at present reached should be 

 discussed in the hope that help in elucidating some of the problems presented 

 may be obtained. 



Two groups of menhirs were describsd, each of which appears to have an 

 unusual arrangement. Several of the menhirs of one group have a constant 

 orientation differing four degrees from the normal bearing. 



A group of intersecting banks was also described. The bearings of the 

 different members have the same variation from a normal bearing as the menhirs 

 in one of the groups first described. 



3. Excavation of Broch of Cogle, Watten, Caithness. 

 By Alex. Sutherland. 



It is due to Dr. Anstruther Davidson, Los Angelos, that the existence of the 

 Broch was proved. Dr. Davidson had seen the mounds of California, and on a 

 visit to his birthplace in August 1905 he resolved to test the possibility of this 

 Cogle mound containing anything of a bygone age. It stood about 6 feet high 

 and 60 yards in diameter. He made a trial cut through the middle, and from 

 this was satisfied there was here another of those prehistoric buildings called 

 Brochs or Pict's houses, of which Mousa, in Bressay, Shetland, may be regarded 

 as the best-preserved specimen. 



Dr. Davidson now resolved to excavate and investigate, and communicated 

 with Mr. John Nicolson Nybster, who had helped the late Sir Francis Tress 

 Barry, M.P. for Windsor, in his explorations of similar structures at Keiss. 



The plan was carefully drawn by exact measurements on the spot by Mr. 

 Nicolson. The only entrance, about 2 feet wide, to the Cogle broch is on the 

 west. At the Scottack and other excavated Caithness brochs the entrance is on 

 the east. 



The thickness of the walls is 15 feet, and the circle enclosed has a diameter 



