SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—G, H. 353 
of wire ropes and of the sags of ropes and spans employed. Effect of 
stretch of ropes. Functions, range and limitations of cableways. 
Descriptions of the different types of cableway and their applications to 
and suitability for different uses and situations. Particulars of some special 
types and a more detailed description of two or three particular installations. 
Dr. R. H. Evans and Mr. J. ‘THomLinson.—Shear stress distribution 
in reinforced concrete beams (11.10). 
The paper describes measurements of strain with the object of determining 
the distribution of shear stress in both plain and reinforced concrete beams. 
The strains have been measured in three directions with extensometers 
having a gauge-length of one inch. Reference is also made to the hori- 
zontal and vertical stress conditions and to the position of the neutral axis. 
The results show that concentrated loads have considerable influence upon 
the general stress conditions, the shear stress being a maximum not at the 
neutral axis, but at some point between the axis and the loading point. 
The characteristic shape of the graphs obtained can also be explained in 
terms of the radial stresses produced by concentrated loads. ‘The observed 
shear stresses in sound concrete beams are often somewhat less than those 
estimated and increase very rapidly with the appearance of cracks in the 
concrete. In that portion of the beam situated above cracks the shear 
stresses are found to be considerably higher than those calculated. Observa- 
tions are also made regarding the variation of the stresses induced in both 
the vertical and inclined reinforcing rods for shear. 
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EARTH PRESSURES. 
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ELECTRICAL TERMS AND DEFINITIONS. 
SECTION H.—ANTHROPOLOGY.! 
Thursday, September 6. 
Mrs. M. M. Has_uck.—The flattening of Albanian heads and the evolution 
of European cradles (10.0). 
The conspicuous flatness of Albanian heads at the back has long puzzled 
_ anthropologists. Other Balkan races say it is artificial, produced by strap- 
_ ping babies to boards, but Albanians deny this, and foreign investigators 
have always found Albanian babies in cradles equipped with an ordinary 
pillow and mattress. In 1931, however, accident enabled me to solve at 
least part of the riddle. In certain well-defined areas Albanian babies 
are really strapped at birth on a rough board—not to flatten their heads, 
however, but only with the superstitious purpose of making their hold on 
life as firm as the board or the practical purpose of making their bodies 
easier to handle. As the majority are left only a single day on the board 
before being transferred to a proper cradle, there seems no time for the 
skull to be seriously affected. Besides, heads are flatter in South Albania 
_ where no boards are used than in North Albania where they are. 
Various derivatives of the board exist up and down the country, and when 
these preliminary cradles are set beside the varieties of cradle proper, one 
1 In the absence of the President owing to indisposition, the chair of this 
Section was taken by the Rt. Hon. Lord Raglan, Vice-President. 
