588 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1059 



the introduced herds of reindeer, the Steller's sea- 

 lions, and the native birds were shown in motion. 

 About 350 persons were present. 



M. W. Lyon, Jr., 

 Hecording Secretary 



anthropological society of 'WASHINGTON 



At the 478th meeting of the society held De- 

 cember 1, 1914, in the Public Library, Dr. George 

 S. Duncan delivered an address on "The Sumer- 

 ian People and their Inscriptions." Their oldest 

 inscriptions antedate 3,000 B.C., and the EnlU 

 temple in Nippur dates back probably to 6,000 

 B.C. The Semites from Arabia conquered the Su- 

 merians before 2,100 b.c. Of the Sumerian cities, 

 only Lagash and Nippur have been thoroughly ex- 

 cavated. iScholars agree that the Sumerians were 

 neither Semites nor Indo-Europeans, but were 

 probably Mongolians. Their language was agglu- 

 tinative. Their only garment was a rough woolen 

 skirt. Various cereals were grown; also the date 

 palm. There were many occupations, including 

 weavers, smiths, boat-builders, jewelers and carv- 

 ers in wood and ivory. There were priests, li- 

 brarians, notaries, physicians, astronomers and 

 musicians. The country was divided into city 

 states ruled by kings. The age of Gudea, about 

 2,600 B.C., was one of high artistic development. 

 The chief divinities were Anu, god of the sky, 

 Enlil, god of the earth, and Enki, god of the 

 water. Their religion was nature worship. The 

 inscriptions consist mainly of historical records, 

 laws, contracts, epics and religious texts. The 

 tablets contain the oldest records of a paradise, a 

 fall and a flood. 



At the 480th meeting of the society, held Jan- 

 uary 5, 1915, in the Public Library, Dr. John E. 

 Swanton read a paper on "Ethnologic Factors in 

 International Competition." He showed that the 

 factors which tend to disunion between human 

 societies have been operative in all parts of the 

 world and were probably necessary to the best de- 

 velopment of the race. At the same time, the end 

 of warfare may be confidently predicted from the 

 constant increase in size and decrease in number of 

 political units, from the progressive weaving of 

 the world more closely together by means of trans- 

 portation facilities and other means of communi- 

 cation, and because of the gradual international 

 bankruptcy which war entails. A standing army 

 goes with an aristocratic ruling class. There can 

 be no permanent peace until exploitation of one 

 nation or class by another ends. 



At the 481st meeting of the society, held Jan- 

 uary 19, 1915, Prince Sarath Ghosh delivered an 

 address on "The Ancient Civilization of India." 

 The Aryans settled in India between 6,000 and 

 4,000 B.C. and there adopted agriculture, the be- 

 ginning of civilization. Here also man passed 

 from promiscuity to monogamy. The government 

 was first patriarchal, then a republic, then an 

 oligarchy, then a monarchy. With the latter be- 

 gan the caste system. Man first worshipped tools 

 and weapons; later, nature. By 2,500 B.C. the 

 Hindus worshipped a supreme deity and the lan- 

 guage in the Vedas had reached its highest per- 

 fection. Deity was regarded in its gentler quali- 

 ties as feminine. With religion began the arts and 

 sciences. The age of life on the earth was esti- 

 mated at four million years. An exalted code of 

 warfare was evolved. By 600 B.C. Hindu civiliza- 

 tion had reached its zenith. The Aryan invaders 

 conquered the Turanian or Dravidian races they 

 found in India and made of them subordinate 

 castes. India taught the arts and religion from 

 Java to Japan. 



Daniel Polkmae, 



Secretary 



ACADEMY OP SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS 



At the meeting of March 15, Professor Nipher 

 gave a brief account of work done in his labora- 

 tory. During the summer of 1914 he detected 

 what appeared to be an effect of the fog-horn of 

 a steamer on the magnetic field of the earth.i In 

 his recent work a large bar magnet in a room con- 

 taining an influence machine, and in contact with 

 one terminal, served as a deflecting magnet upon 

 a magnetic needle in an adjoining room. The 

 deflecting effect of this magnet was balanced by 

 another bar magnet, on the opposite side of the 

 needle. The needle was made very sensitive by 

 means of compensating magnets. A musical note 

 from an organ pipe, operated by means of com- 

 pressed air, produces effects precisely like those 

 attributed to the fog-horn. Here also the effect 

 is superposed on disturbances of the same order 

 of magnitude due to other causes. Professor 

 Nipher remarked that any disturbance of ionized 

 air appears to be the origin of electro-magnetic 

 waves in the ether. When we talk to each other 

 in air ionized by solar radiation, we are perhaps 

 sending wireless messages through the ether of 

 space. 



C. H. Danpoeth, 

 Recording Secretary 



1 Science, January 15, 1915. 



