TRANSACTIOXS OF SECTION H. 1011 



Numerous specialised forms of supei'stition and traditional belief arise out of 

 tlie circumstances of h\gh altitudes, especially some connected with sun worship, 

 mininw, the forms or habits of mountain fauna, and the reappearance of dis- 

 embodied spirits. 



3. On the Human Ear as a Means of Identification. By Miss M. A. Ellis. 



1. For purposes of identification the helix, or outer rim of the ear, and the 

 general shape of the/)/w?zrt, or whole outer ear, are the most useful features. Ears 

 do not change shape after childhood, although they enlarge slightly after middle life. 



2. It is possible to catalogue the great varieties of shape that are found to 

 occur by marking off the helix into five division? — viz. (1) from the neck of the 

 ear to the top, (2) the top, (3) the turn, C4) the slope half way to the lobe, (o) the 

 rest of the slope to the lobe. These are the natural divisions in well-formed ears, 

 though seldom more than two or three of them are seen distinctly formed in the 

 same ear. 



3. From the varieties of sixty-four pairs of ears — many belonging to individuals 

 noted in art, science, or literature — printed from life by the writer, it has been 

 found that the right and left of each pair of ears usuallj' vary in shape. Generally 

 the most distinctive features are found in the upper half of the left ear and the 

 lower half of the right ear. The educated upper classes exhibit the greater 

 variety, and can be more easily identified than the ' masses.' 



4. On Tabu in Japan in Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern Times. 



By K. MiNAKATA. 



The author described the tahu observances of Japan in three successive periods. 



In the first, from the earliest times to 710 A.D., an indigenous and elaborate 

 system of tabu prevailed respecting the person and name of the Emperor, the 

 Imperia.1 family, the nobles, chiefs, priests and priestesses, the temples with their 

 properties and servants, certain trees and animals, sick persons, dead bodies, pre- 

 parations for warfare, certain totems, days, times, directions, and unclean objects 

 such as garlic and venison. The system was extended to the nether land of dark- 

 ness, wherein this world's vegetation was tabu to those souls who would partake 

 of food cooked on an infernal hearth. 



In the second period, from 710 a.d. to the Restoration of 1867 a.d., this 

 indigenous system was largely overlaid and, on the whole, relaxed by beliefs 

 introduced together witli the Chinese and Indian cultures, some socially per- 

 nicious tabus being prohibited strictly by law. But at the same time numerous 

 fresh restrictions, appropriate to Tanist and Mantranist magic, came into vogue ; 

 and the Buddhist theory of universal metempsychosis gravely impressed upon 

 the popular mind an abhorrence of many kinds of food. 



In the third period, from 1867 a.d. onward, this heterogeneous and compli- 

 cated tabu system was officially abolished ; but a number of primitive tabus, 

 mostly connected with the Shintoist ritual, were at the same time restored, 

 though the only tabu which remains of social importance is that which relates 

 to the death of close relatives. 



The author ascribes in great part to the tabu, system thus outlined the loyalty, 

 probity, and courtesy of the Japanese, and their close observance of the forms of 

 natural objects and historic scenes evinced by their art and literature. 



5. Ori Stone Implements from South Africa. By George Leith. 



The author narrated the results of his investigation in cave shelters, in remote 

 parts of the Stormberg, described the situation and characteristics of the bushmens 

 haunts, and told how, in some of them, were found implements and other signs of 

 occupation, just as they had been left years ago. He remarked upon the various 



3t2 



