Deokmber 4, l!i03,] 



SCIENCE. 



i2] 



banana seed being: especially valued in 

 Uganda. Claws of lions are such impor- 

 tant amulets in Africa tliat they are quite 

 generally counterfeited. So with the teeth 

 of jackals, which are imitated in wood, if 

 the real thing is not to be had. When 

 gold tirst became known, it was regarded 

 exactly as the stones mentioned above. 

 ''Thus the Debae, an Arab tribe who did 

 not work gold but had an abundance in 

 their land, used only the nuggets, stringing 

 them for necklaces alternately with per- 

 forated stones." Magnetic iron and hema- 

 tite were particularly prized, the belief 

 being that the former was endowed with 

 a living spirit. "It is thus clear that the 

 use of all objects still employed in modern 

 jewelry has arisen priniarily from the 

 magical powers attributed to them, by 

 which they were thought to protect the 

 wearer. ' ' 



Mr. Edward Lovett, in "Some Sug- 

 gestions as to the Origin of the Brooch, 

 and the Probable Use of Certain Rings at 

 present called ' Armlets, ' ' ' .suggests, as the 

 prototype of the ring-and-pin contrivance 

 for fastening a cloak, the use, by a hunt- 

 ing people, of the mammalian os innom- 

 inatu7)i and os calcis, the corners of the 

 cloak being drawn through the oval per- 

 foration of the former, and pierced by the 

 sharp point of the latter. It is further 

 noted that very many rings of early date 

 and of various materials, usually described 

 as 'armlets,' are of too .small diameter to 

 allow the entrance even of an infant's 

 hand. "As such rings are frequently 

 found associated with pins of similar ma- 

 terials, commonly regarded as 'hair-pins,' 

 and as ring and pin are sometimes found 

 in siUi on the brea.st of a skeleton, it is 

 inferred that they represent a simple ring- 

 and-pin fastening." It was pointed out 

 that an apron fastener of this type, com- 

 posed of an iron ring and a horseshoe nail, 

 is .still worn in some blacksmith shops of 



Scotland. The shepherds of Perthshire 

 wear, a brooch of similar pattern. The 

 next step in the development is to be found 

 in the ring-and-pin fastening .so common at 

 present in China. The ring is of agate, 

 and the pin, which is of silver and per- 

 foi'ated, is attached to it by means- of a 

 silken thread. A further step is taken 

 when the pin itself is hinged upon the ring 

 for security, by bending its flattened head 

 around the ring, a form abundant in (Jeltic 

 times. 



There were a number of communications 

 of general ethnological interest. Dr. W. 

 H. Rivers presented two: 'The Toda Dairy' 

 and 'Toda Kinship and Marriage.' From 

 the ordinary operations of the dairy, the 

 Todas of the Nilgiri hills have evolved an 

 elaborate religious ritual. The priest is 

 the dairy man ; the temple, the dairy. The 

 dairy temples are of dift'erent degrees of 

 sanctity corresponding to the different de- 

 grees of sanctity of the buft'aloes tended in 

 each. Only the milk of the sacred buffa- 

 loes is churned in the dairy temple. The 

 milk of those that are not saci-ed is churned 

 in the front part of the huts in which the 

 people live. "The more sacred the dairy, 

 the more elaborate its ritual. The dairy 

 vessels, in all, are divided into two groups, 

 those which come in contact with the milk 

 are the more sacred; those which receive 

 the products of the churning, the less 

 sacred. The kinship system and marriage 

 institutions of the Todas were studied by 

 means of the genealogical method." The 

 .system of kinship is ' classifieatory, ' every 

 male of an individual's clan being his 

 grandfather, father, brother, son or grand- 

 son, and every female his grandmother, 

 mother, sister, daughter or granddaughter. 

 As to marriage regulations, the people are 

 divided into two endogamous groups, each 

 of which is subdivided into a number of 

 exogamous groups. There can be no mar- 

 riage between the two chief groups ; a man 



