826 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 181. 



plants a more vigorous growth. The effi- 

 cacy of spraying cucumbers with Bordeaux 

 mixture to prevent attacks of Downy Mil- 

 dew {Plasino2jara cubensis) was demonstrated 

 by an extensive experiment. Incidently 

 Mr. Stewart records a new host, Cucitmis 

 moschata (winter crook-neck squash) for 

 this mildew. 



C. S. Crandall in Bull. 41 of the Colo- 

 rado Expt. Station discusses ' Blight and 

 other Plant Diseases, ' bringing together in 

 compact form the history of the investiga- 

 tion of blight, culminating with the discov- 

 ery of the bacterium. Micrococcus amylovorus 

 (Bacillus amylovorus), by Burrill in 1878-80, 

 and the demonstration that this organism 

 is the active cause, by Arthur in 1884-5. 

 Charles E. Besset. 

 The Univeesity of Nebraska. 



CUBRENl NOTES ON ANTHROFOLOOY. 

 THE ARYAN QUESTION. 



In the Revue Mensuelle for February, Dr. 

 Zaborowski, a high authority, sums up the 

 result of his long researches into the origin 

 of the Aryans. At the beginning of the 

 neolithic period, he tells us, the blond, 

 long-skulled energetic Aryans of primitive 

 stock occupied the plains of the center and 

 north of Europe. They extended gradually 

 to the west and the British Isles (peoples of 

 the 'long barrows'), and to the east into 

 Asia (Ossetes of the Caucasus, ancient 

 Persians, etc.). Their migratory move- 

 ments were accelerated during the neolithic 

 period by the constant pressure of short- 

 skulled Turanian tribes from northern Asia, 

 who by their settlements and intermixture 

 of blood have left profound traces in the 

 present European peoples. It was during 

 the early neolithic period that the division 

 of the primitive Aryan tongue into its 

 numerous dialects and languages took place 

 under complicated conditions of tribal 

 minglings. 



POLYANDRY AMONG THE SEMITES. 



There is a frequently quoted passage in 

 Strabo which attributes a condition of the 

 polyandry to the Semitic tribes of southern 

 Arabia. This assertion has remained open 

 to doubt for lack of supporting evidence, 

 although the Israelitic proper name Ahab, 

 'brother of his father,' and that of the 

 daughter of Sargon, Achat- Abi-sha, ' wife 

 of her father,' indicate such a custom. 

 In the Proceedings of the Berlin Anthropolog- 

 ical Society for January, Dr. Hugo Wink- 

 ler gives the translation of a Minseean in- 

 scription (Halevy, 504) which leaves no 

 doubt of the correctness of Strabo's state- 

 ment. From these facts he concludes that 

 polyandry in its most extended form, that 

 in which the communal wife belonged at the 

 same time to both fathers and sons, ' was 

 generally prevalent.' 



It is well known that an allied method of 

 marriage still obtains in various parts of the 

 world, and even among the comparatively 

 civilized inhabitants of Tibet. 



THE ' FOLK-MIND. ' 



In the Beilage to the Mimchener Allgemeine- 

 Zeitung (No. 76, 1897) the writer, Max 

 Buchner, undertakes a general onslaught 

 upon the works and the teachings of the 

 eminent anthropologist Adolf Bastian. It 

 were scarcely worth while to take serious 

 notice of this feuilletonist, who humorously 

 quotes some of the brain- twisting para- 

 graphs of the ' Altmeister ' as specimens of 

 his style ; but the main aim of the article 

 is to overthrow the notion of the ' Vol- 

 kergedanke,' as so often and diffusely pre- 

 sented by Bastian. This is an integral and 

 indispensable part of his anthropological 

 edifice and must not be given up lightly. 

 That each human group (nation, folk) has 

 its own peculiar way of looking at things 

 and taking in ideas cannot be disputed. 

 Upon this way its fate in the world's his- 

 tory largely depends. Such a folk-mind 



