Apbil 26, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



663 



Turkish of the last 250 years. Although 

 the Cretan Mussulmans are mainly of na- 

 tive extraction and include only a small 

 minority of Turkish half-breeds, yet their 

 cephalic index is (79.9) a unit higher than 

 that of Christians (78.9) in the same 

 provinces. 



The tendency from Neolithic times, to 

 increasing brachycephalism in Crete has a 

 parallel in Italy and Greece, v?here the 

 greater immigrations of northern peoples 

 have produced the same phenomenon in a 

 more marked degree. 



Dr. Berthold Laufer made 'A Plea for 

 the Study of the History of Medicine and 

 the Natural Sciences.' A museum; of the 

 hLstory of medicine from prehistoric times 

 to the present would be of special im- 

 portance. Such a museum should incliide 

 the medical lore of the Indians. Eefer- 

 ence was made to the two professorships 

 of the history of medicine in the Univer- 

 sity of Berlin. 



The paper by Dr. K. S. Kennard on 

 ' Ellis Island as a Field for Anthropological 

 Study,' dealt with the large quantity and 

 variety of material presented at this sta- 

 tion. The ease and rapidity with which it 

 could be examined at this point would save 

 delay and expense in accumulating data. 

 Over four million aliens in the last six 

 years had entered this port— comprising 

 those nations which had been but scantily 

 examined anthropologieally>— namely, the 

 Magyars, people of the Balkan states and 

 Hebrews. 



Anomalies of head forms were witnessed 

 among the southern Italians, who are gen- 

 erally believed to be a long-headed people. 

 These unusual head forms resembled that 

 of the Armenians. This was believed to 

 be a racial trait — not an artificial product. 

 The stature of Neapolitan women being 

 greater than that of the men was noted, 

 but could not be explained, also the lighter 

 pigmentation of their eyes. Opportunities 



for study in folk-lore, linguistics and ele- 

 mentary music of these people were here 

 offered. Advantage should be taken to 

 make use of all this material, for nowhere 

 else in the world could it be effected with 

 so little expense and such complete results. 



Dr. K. D. Jessen discussed 'Geometrical 

 Design in Primitive Decoration.' Although 

 Ernest Grosse, in his discussion of the so- 

 called geometrical decorative design found 

 among primitive races, argues convincingly 

 for the original imitative character of it, 

 this view is not at all, it seems, universally 

 accepted. The paper tries to show that 

 the geometric design is, by origin, of an 

 imitative character, naturalistic, not imagi- 

 native, esthetically speaking, representing 

 objects or phenomena found in nature or 

 made by culture. It is conventionalized 

 just as the later botanical design becomes 

 conventional, the imitative origin of which 

 no one can deny. The facts, as represented 

 by ethnological observation corroborated 

 by the facts concerning the beginnings 

 of art in the child, are best explained by 

 Grosse 's theory. In fact any other theory 

 would involve a most extraordinary break 

 in the evolution of the human mind and 

 would have to be excluded, perhaps, logic- 

 ally, under the law of contradiction.. 



Miss H. Newell Wardle's communica- 

 tion was on a kindred topic— 'Studies in 

 the Life History of Primitive Art.' The 

 art of primitive man was, at its inception, 

 bound by no laws, governed by naught 

 save size and contour of the object where- 

 on he wrought. It was realistic. "With 

 the invention of basketry, geometric figures 

 were introduced. The discovery of pot- 

 tery furnished a new field for the growth 

 of the esthetic sense. The clay vessel in- 

 herited the geometric decoration from its 

 predecessor, the basket, but ornamentation 

 of pottery was by means of incising and 

 painting, and these, more ancient than the 

 textile arts, came unbiased to the clay of 



