426 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 
belief regarding the Domovoy, at once a brownie and an ancestral spirit, 
and in similar beings in Eastern Europe. This belief is connected again 
with the household snake, real or imaginary, embodiment of an ancestral 
spirit. Belief in such a household spirit was aided by burial in the dwelling, 
probably a survival from the Stone Age. 
Though connected with the ancestral spirit, the personality of the brownie 
is one round which imagination and mythopeic fancy have played freely, 
showing man’s desire to give corporeality to the phantoms projected on the 
stage of his existence. 
Tuesday, September 10. 
Miss B. BLackwoop.—Physical types of the N.W. Solomon Islands (10.0). 
This paper is based on material collected by the writer in three villages 
on the north coast of Bougainville and two small islands off the west coast 
of Buka, the most north-westerly of the Solomon Islands. The principal 
physical measurements and observations on series of both sexes are analysed 
and discussed with reference to the available comparative data. The main 
points of interest are illustrated by lantern slides, including examples of 
racial crossing. 
Dr. M. A. MacConatt and Dr. F. L. RaLpus.—Development of pigmen- 
tation in a Nordic group (10.30). 
The population of Sheffield has been shown to deserve the status of a 
Nordic group (MacConaill, Clegg and Ralphs, Proc. 1st Int. Congr. Anthrop. 
and Ethnol., London, 1934). ‘The percentage of eyes falling into different 
classes in a total of 2,600 male children from 5 to 20 years old was observed 
and the same kind of analyses was carried out for hair colour in the same 
individuals. Eyes were classified as dark blue, light blue, gray, hazel, 
light brown, dark brown, black. Hair was classified as light blond, dark 
blond, red, light brown, dark brown, black. 
A statistical consideration of the tables strongly suggests that all forms of 
pigmentation in the adult are derived from an infantile combination of light 
blond hair with dark blue eyes. From the thirteenth year onwards this 
combination is stabilised as a constant fraction (seventeen per thousand) of 
the population. ‘These facts are briefly discussed in connection with the 
idea of the evolution of the full Nordic type by a process of neoteny. 
Prof. A. M. BLackman.—The value of Egyptology in the modern world (11.0). 
Owing, among other factors, to the extreme conservatism of the 
Egyptian peasants the importance of Egypt for anthropology can hardly be 
exaggerated. 
Egypt offers the philologist an unique opportunity for linguistic studies, 
and must occupy a prominent position in any history of astronomy, 
mathematics, or medicine. 
That country can also supply the economist and historian with much 
interesting material. 
Modern architects and sculptors might study with considerable profit 
the works of their ancient predecessors in the lower Nile Valley. 
European literature and religious thought are much indebted to ancient 
Egyptian writers and sages. 
