Apbh, 8, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



559 



no one tape has changed its length during any 

 one season by as much as one tenth of a milli- 

 meter, or one part in 500,000. 



A long step forward was made in geodesy when 

 it was found that a primary base could be meas- 

 ured with steel tapes. But especial care had to 

 be exercised with steel on account of the large 

 coefBcient of expansion, and all measurements 

 were made at night. A second important advance 

 was made in substituting nickel-steel tapes on 

 account of their very small coeflBcient of expansion. 



The observing on the Texas-California line of 

 primary triangulation vsdll be resumed in July of 

 this year. 

 Field Oiservatiotts in Iceland: Dr. F. E. Wright, 



of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. 



This paper dealt with the observations of a six- 

 weeks' trip in Iceland by the speaker in the 

 summer of 1909, especial attention being given to 

 the physiographic and geologic features of the 

 island and their influence upon the development 

 of the country as a whole. The area of Iceland 

 is about 40,000 square miles, and has about 6,000 

 miles of coast line. Its present population is 

 about 90,000 people, largely an urban population. 

 Iceland was settled by the Norseman in the ninth 

 century, and for the first three hundred years 

 thereafter it had a republican form of government. 

 It is now a dependency of Denmark, but is largely 

 self-governing. 



Most of the houses in the country districts are 

 built of peat, but in the towns corrugated iron 

 is the chief material of house construction. The 

 chief exports of Iceland are fish, eiderdown and 

 ponies, many of the latter being used in the coal 

 mines of England. 30,000,000 pounds of fish were 

 exported from Iceland in 1901, most of which went 

 to Spain. 



Geologically, Iceland is a very young country, 

 and for volcanic and glacial study it is the best 

 region in the world, and affords the best idea 

 of geologic forces. Iceland is a region of high 

 seismicity and of much local magnetic disturbance. 

 R. L. Fabis, 

 Secretary 



THE ANTHBOPOLOGICAI, SOCIETT OF WASHINGTON 



At the 443d regular meeting of the society, held 

 March 1, Mr. William H. Babcock presented a 

 paper on " The Two pre-Columbian Norse Visits 

 to America." So far no reliable evidences of 

 Norse visits have been found on American soil, 

 which is, however, not surprising in view of the 

 great lapse of time, the small number of the 



visitors and the short duration of their sojourn. 

 The records of the Norse visits are found in the 

 saga of Thorfinn Karlsefin and the nearly identical 

 saga of Erie the Red. The Flattoy book adds to 

 the number of voyages, exaggerating many of the 

 improbable features, and in other respects exhibit- 

 ing signs of later development and corruption. 



The lecturer gave an exhaustive survey and 

 analysis of the sagas, subjecting their geograph- 

 ical, ethnological, historical and other data to a 

 thorough and searching criticism. In conclusion, 

 he said: "It seems clear that America was dis- 

 covered. In addition we may be pretty safe in 

 fixing on the neighborhood of the Bay of Fundy 

 as the chief temporary home of Thorfinn's party 

 in Wineland; and in following his route from 

 Greenland thither, and later around Cape Breton 

 into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and back to Straam- 

 firth about as given. All else remains still open 

 to discussion and more or less probable con- 

 jecture." 



Mr. A. P. Bourland followed with an address on 

 " The Study of Culture History in German and 

 American Universities." The speaker gave a 

 description of the " institutes " for the study of 

 culture history established at some German uni- 

 versities. Such an institute is equipped with a 

 series of libraries illustrating the development of 

 the human race in all its aspects and directions, 

 such as industry, arts and crafts, politics, juris- 

 prudence, religion, etc. The creator of these insti- 

 tutes was Professor Carl Lamprecht, of Leipsic, 

 whose conception of history is: The study of the 

 development of human life on its economic and 

 social sides. 



At the 444th meeting of the Anthropological 

 Society, held March 15, Dr. Elnora 0. Folkmar 

 gave a lecture on "Education; Some Examples 

 among Primitive Peoples." The field covered ex- 

 tended from Australia to Africa. The point 

 brought out by the speaker was that among primi- 

 tive peoples imitation and object lessons, as it 

 were, take the place of methodical and theoretical 

 teaching and training. The children unconsciously 

 imitate the practises and doings of their elders 

 and thus successively acquire what knowledge 

 they have and need for life. 



In the discussion Dr. J. R. Swanton called 

 attention to the specialization in training among 

 the Indians of the coast. Thus the Creek Indians 

 have a kind of graded course of study, especially 

 for the medicine men, with some sort of gradua- 

 tion marks by some insignia, such as a fox's skin. 



