39 
should he ascertained how far the numeral words now used are 
borrowed from other people. In the further development of 
arithmetic, it should be noticed how far the four simplest rules 
are understood, and by what mental or written processes they 
are actually worked out. The system of figures or cipher used 
by a nation, and the rules of their higher arithmetic, often show 
from what people they must have been obtained, thus throwing 
light on the later history of their civilization. 
1. Do people generally count on fingers and toes, and in a 
particular order, beginning with one particular finger P 2. Do 
they use pebbles, heaps of grains, &c. as aids to counting ? 
3. What names have they for numbers ? up to how many P 
4. Does any particular number stand as an indefinite expres¬ 
sion for “ many ” ? 5. Do any of the numerals show that they 
originally referred to counting by fingers and toes, such words 
as “hand” for 5, “hands and feet,” or “man,” for 20, “two 
on the feet’’for 12? 6. Have any of the lower numerals a 
meaning besides that of the numbers they signify ? 7. Does 
numeration go by fives, tens, or twenties (quinary, decimal, 
vigesimal) ? or, for instance, does such a numeral as fourteen 
signify 10+4 ? or is there a term for 65 like threescore-and-five, 
i. e. 3x20 + 5? 8. Are any numerals, especially high ones, 
borrowed from a foreign language ? 9. How far are addition, 
subtraction, multiplication, and division understood ? 10. Are 
they done mentally, or with the aid of counter or abacus? 
11. What is the exact process carried on by the reckoner’s 
mind ? 12. Does trade, barter, taxation, &c. involve any com¬ 
plex calculation ? 13. Are any figures or ciphers in use? and 
how used ? 14. Any higher arithmetic ? 
No. XXIII.—MEDICINE. 
By Dn. BARNARD DAVIS, F.R.S. 
1. What are the diseases suffered by the natives ? 2. Give 
the native names and the ordinary English names. 3. Which 
of these diseases prevail most ? 4. What are considered to be 
the causes of the particular prevalence of any of these diseases 
which do most prevail ? 5. It would be of much interest to 
describe briefly the chief symptoms and course of any of these 
