SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H. 405 



ball, or in salivation where the act of digestion is ' touched-off ' but may 

 never be actual or completed) there is the motor ' set ' of the bodily mechan- 

 ism towards the fulfilment of the wish. The connection of this with the 

 art of the caves as magic is to be noted, as well as with the origin of primitive 

 art, since a resemblance on the wall of the cave to the desired food-animal 

 sets in motion the mechanism of wish, gesture and magical purpose, which 

 creates the likeness as a whole. 



Miss Eleanor Hardy. — Pollen analysis and archceology (11. 15). 



The sequence of vegetation since the last Ice Age can be traced from 

 analyses of the pollen grains preserved in recent deposits. This gives an 

 indication of the climate and environment with which early man had to 

 contend at different periods, and which to some extent controlled his mode 

 of life. 



Examination of the stratigraphy of peat bogs has revealed several distinct 

 climatic phases. These phases and the history of the vegetation can be 

 correlated with archaeological periods, and used as an arbitrary time-scale 

 for dating finds of unknown age. 



In places where there have been changes in the relative levels of land and 

 sea, information as to the date and significance of these movements is yielded 

 by investigation of submerged forests or of bogs on the uplifted land. 



In England, work on these lines has not been so fully developed as it has 

 in Sweden, its country of origin. In many parts of this country bogs must 

 have been destroyed by drainage and cultivation, and comparatively few 

 remain untouched. It has, however, been possible to use pollen-analysis 

 for archaeological purposes in several instances. 



Dr. A. N. Tucker. — The background of Central African folk tales (11.50). 



Three aspects are discussed : — 



1 . The principal themes underlying the stories. 



2. The historical or sociological background revealed by the stories 

 themselves. 



3. The setting in which the stories are told and the manner of their 

 telling. 



1. Reference to Dr. Alice Werner's Myths and Legends of the Bantu. 

 Although the Bantu live to the south of the people here discussed, the* 

 topics which form the basis of legend are characteristic for all Negro races — 

 including even the American Negroes. 



(a) Stories of the beginning of things : Man's origin, the origin of Death 

 and Life, local versions of the Fall, and of the Flood. 



(6) Stories of the supernatural : Gods and Ghosts, the Cult of the Dead, 

 tribal Heroes who have attained the status of demi-gods. Were- 

 wolves, Half-men and other monstrosities. 



(c) Unexplained phenomena of nature : Rainbow, Lightning. 



{d) Animal stories : Stories of the type Lion versus Hare, stories of 

 animals and people, the Language question. 



2. Obvious historical and sociological data supplied by stories. Ex- 

 amples of the less obvious (from the Bari). 



(a) The 'dupi myth and the hght it throws on pre-history. 



(6) Light thrown by animal stories on clan organisation in the past. 



3. The setting of the stories in relation to the occasion, the narrator, the 

 audience, their reaction, the musical element. 



