Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE SALMON FISHERIES OF ENGLAND
AND WALES.1

THIS report, although the first issued by the Board of
Agriculture and Fisheries, is on the same lines as the
forty-three previous annual reports of the Inspectors of
Fisheries of England and Wales issued by the Board of
Trade. It embodies the reports of the three Inspectors of
Fisheries of England and Wales, Messrs. Archer and Fryer
and Dr. Masterman. Besides these reports there are twelve
appendices.

It is pleasing to learn from Mr. Archer's report that the salmon and trout season of 1903 was on the whole a good one. Mr. Archer refers to the long-standing difficulty of getting accurate statistics, and has made inquiries of the various boards of conservators as to the possible methods of obtaining them. The answers from these boards are not encouraging, and it is apparent that legislation is necessary in order to compel the recording of fish caught.

As usual, the want of funds by the boards of conservators, and the impossibility of their carrying out their proper work without such funds, is discussed. The present system by which the boards derive their revenue solely from the net and rod licences granted annually is obviously inadequate, and Mr. Archer quotes a resolution adopted unanimously by the Wye Board of Conservators, which is as follows:

"That_as the present system, by which the income of Fishery Boards in England and Wales depends entirely upon the amount realised from licences paid for nets and rods, has proved inadequate for the proper protection of the Fisheries, this Board is of opinion that legislation is urgently required to enable any Fishery Board, with the consent and subject to conditions formulated by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, to assess the annual value of all the Fisheries in its district and to levy a rate upon each Fishery for the purpose of providing the Board with a sufficient income for the proper protection and management of the Fisheries in the district under its charge.

power given under existing Acts to enforce those Acts being carried out.

Dr. Masterman, who was appointed only just before the end of the period with which the reports are required to deal, submits a short but interesting paper upon fish scales and upon the method of distinguishing the species of Salmonidæ. He refers to the work so far done upon fish scales as a means of recording the age of fishes, and in this connection we are glad to learn that the salmon scale is being studied at the present time by Mr. H. W. Johnston. The salmon scale is particularly interesting, as a number of rings roughly about thirty-immediately surrounding the nucleus of the scale, and occupying roughly about 0.5 mm. or 0.6 mm., are much finer, and are situated much closer together, than the rings outside this area, perhaps representing the fresh-water life period of the individual.

We notice that the gross revenue returned during 1903 was 75041., as against 66061. in 1902. There were more rod licences issued than in any previous years since the commencement of the statistics, although the revenue therefrom, amounting to 32941., was not equal to that realised in 1892, when it was 33861. Revenue from nets was also slightly better than in 1902, being 39941. as against 3905l., but in 1902 these licences realised less than in any year since 1867, the first year of the statistics, when only 38511. was obtained.

Trout licences produced more in 1903 than in any previous year.

The report is published at His Majesty's Stationery Office, and is obtainable from Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, or through any bookseller, price 8d. FRANK BALFOUR BROWNE.

[blocks in formation]

THE classification of corals based upon the structure of the hard or skeletal parts alone, such as has been used by zoologists in general since the publication of MilneEdwards and Haime's "Histoire Naturelle des Coralliaires " (1857-1860), is clearly not satisfactory. Some consideration in the system of the general anatomy of the soft tissues of the living coral polyps is clearly necessary if our classification is intended to indicate at all the natural groupare pigeoning of the genera and species.

We quote this, not because it is new, for the suggestion that some form of assessment of fisheries was probably unavoidable was made by the Salmon Fisheries Commission in their report in 1902, but because this move on the part of the Wye Board is worthy of commendation, and seems to us to be a move in the right direction. Too often our Royal Commissions make valuable reports which holed, and perhaps if the various boards of conservators pass similar resolutions to that passed by the Wye Board, and thus show some common agreement in the matter, it will go some way towards making those in authority take the matter up seriously. We have heard' rumours of new salmon legislation, and let us hope that the financial side of the question will have full consideration.

Mr. Archer discusses further evidence brought forward by those who believe in the advantages of artificial propagation of salmon to show the success of the experiments upon the Weser in Germany, and he shows quite clearly that " not proven must still be the verdict on the question

of their success.

We are very glad to see from Mr. Fryer's report that salmon-marking experiments, which have now been carried on for some years in Scotland and Ireland and in Norway, have been undertaken in England. The percentage of returns of marked salmon is not very high, and the more the experiment is extended the better chance there is of gathering data which will throw some light upon the migratory habits of the species.

At last steps are being taken to alter the anomalous state of the law as to the English and Scottish sides of the Solway, as recommended by the Royal Commission on Tweed and Solway Fisheries, which sent in its report eight years ago.

There is a résumé of the various local questions with which Mr. Fryer has had to deal, and it is in reading this that one sees the futility of our present fishery laws. While inspectors or boards of conservators are corresponding with this manufacturer or that company or corporation as to the steps to be taken to mitigate some nuisance, the seasons slip by and nothing is done, often because there is insufficient 1 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Annual Report of Proceedings under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Acts, &c., for the Year 1903.

The startling discoveries made by Moseley during the voyage of the Challenger, that the coral Heliopora and the corals of the family Stylasterida do not belong even to the same order as the Madrepores, was an important, if not the principal, stimulus to the investigations of the anatomy of these zoophytes that have been published in recent years. Moseley himself, and his pupils Bourne, Fowler, and Sclater, and abroad von Heider and von Koch, contributed valuable memoirs on the anatomy of different species of Madreporaria, and slowly but without any further startling effects our knowledge grew. The result of these investigations was to confirm the belief in the close relationship of the Madrepores to the sea anemones, and to show that in the structure of the mesenteries, tentacles, and other organs there are differences between the genera of great systematic importance. But still our knowledge remained insufficient to suggest any permanent improvement on the Edwardsian system.

Some years ago Mr. Duerden, when stationed in the island of Jamaica, commenced a series of investigations upon the living corals of Kingston harbour and its neighbourhood. observing them alive on the reef and in his aquarium; he He took advantage of his opportunities for was equipped with a profound knowledge of the structure of the Actiniaria and of the modern methods of anatomical investigation. A series of papers and notes marked the period of his residence in Jamaica; but he reserved for this magnificent memoir of 200 quarto pages a general and detailed account of his work.

To say that the memoir is brilliant is to express an opinion, but to say that it is important is but to state a fact. Zoologists who are interested in the structure of corals must refer to this memoir as a great store of first-hand

1 "West Indian Madreporarian Polyps." By J. E. Duerden. Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. viii. (Washington, 1902.)

facts, and whoever attempts in the future to classify the Zoantharia must base his conclusions upon many of the anatomical details which are here for the first time adequately recorded.

No less than twenty-six species of corals, distributed among twenty genera, formed the materials of Mr. Duerden's investigations, and, although the descriptions are not exhaustive, there is a very full and interesting account of the general structure of all these forms.

The brilliancy of the colours of many corals in the living state has excited the interest and admiration of the naturalists and travellers who have visited coral reefs. These colours appear to be due to a variety of causes. In many cases the cavities of the polyps and the adjacent canals bear large numbers of the symbiotic algæ called Zooxanthellæ. The colour of these cells accounts for most of the prevailing brown and yellow-brown tints. In some few instances, such as Astrangia solitaria and Phyllangia americana, the Zooxanthellæ are nearly or wholly absent, and the polyps then are remarkably transparent and almost colourless. But there are in many cases definite pigment cells, both in the ectoderm and endoderm, which may add to or give the only colour effect of the expanded polyps. A third cause of colour is to be found in the boring filamentous red and bright green alga with which many corals are infested.

The chapter dealing with the structure and arrangement of the tentacles is one of exceptional interest. To investigators in this country the tentacles have always offered difficulties and uncertainties. However carefully the

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

material they can obtain is preserved, it is impossible to Mr. prevent a great deal of retraction and shrinkage. Duerden's careful observations, therefore, of the fully expanded tentacles of his living corals form a particularly welcome addition to our knowledge.

The most elaborate, and perhaps we may say the most important, part of the author's work deals with the number and arrangement of the mesenteries. This is not the place to relate or to criticise details which are necessarily highly technical and somewhat intricate; but it may be said that it is upon the results of this part of his investigations that the suggestions he has to offer for the classification of the order very largely depend.

If we regard the Madreporaria as an order, we may divide it into two suborders: (1) the Entocnemaria, (2) the Cyclocnemaria. In the former the mesenteries always arise in bilateral pairs, and beyond the protocnemic stage the increase takes place within one or both of the directive entocales. In the latter the mesenteries, beyond the protocnemic stage, arise in isocnemic unilateral pairs within the primary exocoles. The Entocnemaria are represented only by the single section Perforata, the Cyclocnemaria by the two sections Aporosa and Fungacea. The arrangement of the families of the Aporosa into two groups, the Gemmantes and the Fissiparantes, based upon the method of asexual reproduction by gemmation or by stomodæal fission-supported as it is by Mr. Duerden's later researches, can be regarded as only tentative and suggestive at present; but the facts upon which it is based are among the most interesting and important of his many results.

It is a matter for regret, which many will share with the reviewer, that in the introduction to the systematic part of the memoir Mr. Duerden has not given us his views as to the relation of the Actiniaria to the Madreporaria, a difficult matter upon which no one is more competent to express an opinion.

There are some points in the terminology employed by Mr. Duerden that appear to me to be open to some objection. "By universal acceptation," he says, "Coenenchyme is the calcareous deposit originating from the cœnosarc." This is most unfortunate. The word was introduced by Milne-Edwards and Haime to signify the common tissue which precedes the existence of the polyps and plays a considerable part in their constitution. In a similar sense Kölliker uses the expression as the tissue that gives rise to the axis of the precious coral. It was for the soft, not the hard, parts of the common tissue" that the word was introduced. But to say that by "universal acceptation" the word is used for the calcareous deposit is not accurate, for the writers on Alcyonarians invariably use the word to signify both hard and soft parts, other than the axis, which lie between the neighbouring zooids.

[ocr errors]

Again, the use of the word " gastro-colom" for the general body-cavity of the Cœlenterate, suggesting as it does a compromise with the old-fashioned gastro-vascular cavity, is to be regretted. Either of the words enterocoel" or "cœlenteron" is preferable.

On the other hand, the discussion (pp. 443-4) on the use of terms referring to the aspects of the colenterate body is excellent. The aspect of the body towards which the faces bearing the musculature of the two complete bilateral pairs of mesenteries, i, ii, are turned was called by Haddon the "sulcar" aspect, and the opposite the "sulcular" aspect. This terminology was adopted by Bourne in his " Anthozoa of Lankester's "Treatise on Zoology." Marshall, in writing upon certain Alcyonarians, had previously used the terms "abaxial" and axial respectively, and these terms were introduced to supersede the ventral' and dorsal" of Moseley, Kölliker, and others. It is quite clear now from Mr. Duerden's remarks that the use of the newer sets of terms can lead to nothing but confusion. Anything that can be called a "sulcus " occurs only in Alcyonaria and a few Zoantharia; the "sulculus" is a myth.

[ocr errors]

66

But of more importance is the fact that, as shown by Carlgren, the "sulcus" is dorsal in Cerianthus and ventral in the other forms where it occurs. The axial-abaxial relationship, moreover, is not constant. In the Alcyonaria and in the majority of Zoantharia the dorsal aspect of the polyp is turned towards the axis of the colony, and the ventral aspect away from the axis; but in Madrepora this arrangement is reversed. In the solitary Anthozoa the use of the terms "axial" and "abaxial" has no meaning. The conclusion is then that, although they are open to some objections, the use of the terms dorsal and "ventral" for the two aspects of the bilateral anthozoon must be retained.

66

production of a really great work which marks an imIn conclusion, Mr. Duerden may be congratulated on the portant step forward in the history of our knowledge of the Colenterata. SYDNEY J. HICKSON.

SEISMOLOGICAL NOTES.

IN No. 10, vol. ix., of the Boll. Soc. Sismol. Italiana, Dr. Agamennone records the fact that his idea of taking photographs, at intervals, from fixed points, in regions suspected of bradiseismic movements, was independently suggested by F. Salmojraghi. The object is to detect slow or rapid changes of relative level in the interior of a continent, where there is no such convenient datum level as is afforded by the sea, and the paper is specially devoted to showing that the effects of refraction, being irregular, would not prevent the detection of a bradiseismic change of relative level in a regular series of photographic records.

No. 23 of the Mittheilungen of the Austrian Earthquake Commission is a paper by Prof. Láska on the application of earthquake observations to the investigation of the constitution of the interior of the earth. From a consideration of the observations of the Caraccas earthquake of

October 29, 1900, in Europe and Japan, he arrives at the conclusion that if the earth consists of a central core and an outer shell, each of uniform composition, the outer shell must have a thickness of not more than 500 km. This result would fall in with Milne's hypothesis, but as this is considered to be inconsistent with the facts of astronomy, he adopts the conclusion that there is a continuous increase in the rate of propagation from the surface to the centre of the earth, this increase being much more rapid near the surface than at greater depths; this condition would result in the wave motion being propagated along curvilinear paths, and give rise to a small apparent rate of propagation near the origin as compared with that found at greater distances. The value of Prof. Láska's conclusion is diminished by the fact that it is based on the consideration of only a single earthquake, the time of origin of which is not known by direct observation.

66

In the Boll. dell Accademia Gioenia di Scienze Naturali in Catania of February, 1904, Prof. Ricco returns to the consideration of the gravitational anomalies he has detected under Mount Etna, and shows that they are accompanied by corresponding irregularities in the course of the lines of equal magnetic force. Prof. Ricco merely records the fact of these magnetic irregularities, but the observation is important in its bearing on the explanation of the gravitational anomaly, which is equivalent to the removal of more than 1000 metres in thickness of rock, at sea level, from under the summit of the mountain. It is inconceivable that this can be due to the existence of huge cavities in the earth; more probably the effect is due to the existence of a "" root of the mountain, depressed into a denser magma, by the buoyancy of which the visible mountain is supported. There is independent geological evidence that Mount Etna lies over a region of special subsidence, the basis of sedimentary rock on which it was heaped up having been depressed during its formation, and if we suppose this depression to have caused the displacement of denser by less dense rocks to a considerable depth, we get an explanation of both gravitational and magnetic anomalies. A rough calculation shows that the buoyancy of the downward protuberance would, on the most favourable supposition, be inadequate to support the whole weight of the mountain, and it must be concluded that Mount Etna is not in a condition of complete isostacy, but partially supported by an upward force.

In No. 1 of the tenth volume of the Bolletino of the Italian Seismological Society Prof. Grablovitz discusses the vexed question of the nature of the wave motion in the third phase of the record of a distant earthquake. The occasion is the series of earthquakes which originated in the Balkan peninsula on April 4, 1904; as registered at Ischia, the great waves had a period of about 8 seconds, and, if the records of the horizontal pendula are interpreted as due to tilting, they indicate angular movements of as much as 100 seconds of arc, and this means a vertical movement of more than 2 metres; in the same earthquakes the instrument for recording the vertical component of the movement gave only negative results. From this Prof. Grablovitz concludes that the records obtained from the horizontal pendula and the vasca sismica are not due to tilting; he admits that there may have been a small amount of vertical movement which the instrument failed to record, but this must have been much smaller than that obtained by calculation in the ordinary way.

The same number contains Agamennone, of a new form of very delicate seismoscope, a description, by Dr. adapted for the detection of both near and distant earthquakes; and an account, by D. Vassalo, illustrated by a sketch plan, of the condition of Stromboli in June, 1904.

Dr. R. von Kövesligethy, of Budapest, has made an ingenious_calculation of the work done by great earthquakes. Regarding the observed irregularities in the displacement of the poles as compounded of a regular epicycloid movement, and an irregular movement, which has been shown by Prof. Milne to vary with the frequency of great earthquakes, he calculates that each of the 200 great earthquakes registered during the eight years 1895-1902 caused an average displacement of the pole through -o"-00275; the negative sign is interesting, as showing that the tendency of great earthquakes is to diminish the departure of the instantaneous from the mean axis of revolution. The work done by this displacement is calculated as equivalent to that NO. 1827, VOL. 71]

which would be required to raise a mass equal to that of the earth through 1.2 mm. at its surface (Die Erdbebenwarte, iii., 1904, pp. 196-202).

Prof. Omori contributes a note on the variations of sea level on the east coast of Japan to part xiii. of vol. ii. of the reports of the Tokio Physico-Mathematical Society. The curves of barometric pressure and sea level are very similar, and approximately reversed; the maximum sea level is in September and the minimum in February, while the minimum barometric pressure is in July and the maximum in November. The range of barometric pressure is 9.3 m., corresponding to 126 mm. of sea level, while the range of sea level amounts to 276 mm. at Misaki and 219 mm. at Ayukaua; these figures show that while the local variations of barometric pressure doubtless influence the level of the sea, this is also dependent on the variations of barometric pressure over the Pacific Ocean. The net result is that the variations of pressure on the bed of the sea are the opposite of those on the adjoining land, and Prof. Omori correlates this fact with the observed variations in frequency of earthquakes originating off the east coast of Japan.

The Deutschen Rundschau, vol. xxvii., part i., contains an interesting note, originally printed in the Honolulu Evening Bulletin of June 21, 1904, by Dr. Otto Kuntze on the present condition of Kilauea, which he describes as being now dormant or extinct. There are no longer any "lakes of fire"; the old lake of lava has cooled, and is covered by a sheet of rock, and though steam issues from some of the cracks in this, no molten, or even red-hot, rock is now visible. A remarkable statement in the note is that the lava lake, formerly visible, did not mark an active vent, but was merely a reservoir of slowly cooling lava, which had flowed from the crater of Halemaumau and accumulated in the lowest part of the caldera of Kilauea. There is no authentic record of this crater, which rises from the floor of the caldera, having been in eruption since June 24, 1897, and the paper contains some strongly worded comments on the mis-statements regarding the present condition of the crater, printed in the guide books issued by the tourist agencies, mis-statements which are unnecessary, as Kilauea, even in its existing condition, is nevertheless one of the most interesting sights in the world, of which Dr. Kuntz claims that few have seen more than himself.

In No. 17 of the Publications of the Earthquake Investigation Committee in Foreign Languages, Mr. S. Kusakabe continues his investigations of the modulus of elasticity of rocks, and publishes some interesting results. He finds that all rocks show a marked hysteresis, that is to say, when exposed to a stress they go on yielding, apparently to an indefinite extent, though after a while the effect is masked by that due to changes of temperature, and when released from the stress the recovery takes place at a continuously decreasing rate, but apparently is never complete. Rocks in a state of strain have a higher modulus of elasticity than in the unstrained condition, and if exposed to a series of alternating stresses, increasing and decreasing in opposite directions, the mean modulus for the whole cycle is distinctly greater than that obtained by the usual method of determination. The mean modulus of elasticity decreases with the increase in amplitude of the cycle, from which it is concluded that the rate of transmission of earthquake waves is a function of their amplitude, and is less for a larger than for a smaller amplitude. The modulus of elasticity was found to have a maximum value at about 9° C., and to decrease by about half per cent. of its value for each rise of one degree of temperature; from this it is inferred that there is a tendency towards a decrease in the rate of transmission as the depth of the wave path increases. On the other hand, the average rate of transmission is higher in Archæan and Palæozoic than in the tion is drawn that there is a level of maximum velocity of newer rocks, and from these two considerations the deductransmission. We may point out that in arriving at this conclusion no account is taken of the increase in pressure with depth, and the consequent increase in compression of the rocks.

(Tokio Physico-Mathematical Society), vol. ii., No. 13, Prof. Imamura, in the Tokio Sugaku-Butsurigakkwai adopts the same notion that there is a level of maximum rate of propagation, and places this level at a depth of a few hundred kilometres. The estimate is based on the

high rate of transmission, as much as 16 km. per second, obtained for near earthquakes by a calculation from the observed duration of the preliminary tremors, on the assumption that their rate of propagation is uniform. In another part of the paper he gives the results of direct calculation in the case of ten earthquakes the time of origin of which was known; for Tokio, at a mean epicentral distance of 665 km., the rates were 7.5 km. per second for the first, and 55 km. per second for the second, phase of the preliminary tremors, while Osaka, at mean epicentral distance of 856 km., gave 8.2 km. and 5.8 km. per second respectively. These values may be accepted as more trustworthy than those obtained by the other method.

a

Globus of September 15 contains a note by Wilhelm Krebs on the distribution of submarine earthquakes, illustrated by a map of the world, on which all the recorded instances are plotted. Many of these are submarine volcanic eruptions, and their great concentration in the middle of the narrowest part of the Atlantic Ocean, between Africa and South America, is very striking. The utility of charts of this description would be much increased if they bore on their face indications of the principal trade routes of the oceans; as it is, some doubt may be felt as to whether the much greater frequency of recorded seismic phenomena in the Atlantic Ocean may not be due to a very large extent to the fact that this ocean is, proportionately, much more frequented than the Pacific. The other centres of activity, according to the map, are the West Indian islands, the west coast of South America, the south of the Bay of Bengal, the Malay Archipelago, the east coast of Japan, and the Mediterranean.

THE RACIAL ELEMENTS IN THE PRESENT POPULATION OF EUROPE.1

THE lecturer opened his discourse with a graceful acknowledgment of the honour conferred upon him by the Anthropological Institute, and paid a respectful tribute to the memory of Huxley, who was the first to make the two-fold division of the peoples of Europe into xanthochroid and melanochroid races. With the name of Huxley he coupled the names of Beddoe and Broca as pioneers in European ethnographical research. To the two races mentioned above a third was soon added-the Mediterranean race--and the lecturer himself had in 1897 made a further step by dividing the population of Europe into six main He then dealt with criticisms which had been passed upon his own theories, chiefly by the American ethnologist Ripley, and stated that the further researches upon which he had continually been engaged since that date, and of which he was about to lay the results before the audience, had confirmed him in his first opinion. During a considerable number of years he had been diligently collecting statistics concerning the stature, colour of eyes and hair, and head measurements of the various nationalities, and now, in spite of certain lacunae, some of which he regretted to observe occurred in Britain, he was able to say that he possessed data covering the whole of Europe.

races.

In no part of the world does there exist such a blending of races, such an intermixture of somatic characters, as amongst the ethnic groups which constitute the present populations of Europe, even when we make abstraction of the "national ' groupings, such as Austro-Hungarian monarchy, for instance, and consider only the properly called ethnic or linguistic groups, like Slavic, Roman, Germanic, &c.

In an anthropological study of the European populations it is impossible to proceed in the same way as in the case of the majority of the so-called uncivilised peoples, where the measurements of a small series of individuals (often twenty or fifty) suffices to give an idea of the whole population.

Another method is required for the study of complicated ethnic groups. It is the combination of the statistical and the cartographical methods, in which the observations, taken on many thousands of individuals permit the investigator to exclude the influence of accidental variations, and to 1 Summary of the Fifth Huxley Memorial Lecture, delivered before the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, on October 7, by Dr. J. Deniker, president of the Anthropological Society of Paris, to whom was presented the Huxley Memorial medal.

deduce one or several racial types in the population of a given region.

Such measurements concerning the principal racial characters, for instance, the stature, the colours of the hair and the eyes, the shape of the head (expressed principally by the cephalic index, i.e. the centesimal relation between the length and the breadth of the head), &c., have been made in nearly all the parts of Europe-especially by the examination of conscripts for the military service.

The only countries in which such measurements are now absent are Montenegro, some provinces of European Turkey and of Caucasus. Some other countries, and not of the least civilised, have not yet furnished sufficient information. For instance, there is no data concerning the cephalic index and the stature for Prussia and some other States of northern Germany; concerning cephalic index and pigmentation for Hungary, Roumania, and Servia; concerning the cephalic index for some parts of Switzerland, of Holland, of Russia, and, the lecturer regretted to have to mention that, for some parts of the United Kingdom.

The lecturer expressed then the hope that in a short time all these lacunae would disappear; considering this fact, that many serious efforts are made now for studying the populations in Germany, Roumania, Russia, and Great Britain. In every case this lacunae represent only a small part of Europe. For the rest, the details are sufficient, and furnish a basis for general deductions.

Taking the whole mass of these results (about 20,000, expressing the observations on more than 3,000,000 of individuals), and correcting them as to be comparable with each other, the lecturer explained how he put on the maps of Europe, of a comparatively large scale (1/10,000,000), district by district, this different data, and obtained in this way the distribution of every one of the principal somatic characters throughout the different regions of Europe.

Concerning the cephalic index, Europe can be divided into four regions:

(1) A region of long-headed people with medium-headed areas in the north-west (Scandinavia, north of Germany, Holland, Great Britain).

(2) A region in the south-west (Portugal, Spain, south of Italy, east of Balkan Peninsula), characterised by even greater length of head.

(3) A very short-headed region in western Central Europe (south-eastern France, southern Germany, northern Italy, Switzerland) and in the immediate west of the Balkan Peninsula.

(4) A region comprising Russia and Poland subdivided into three, moderately long-headed in the centre, and medium-headed on the east and west.

After discussing these regions in detail, he proceeded to the subject of stature. He remarked that the great mass of his data was compiled from measurements taken on conscripts, and explained an ingenious method by which these measurements could be modified so that they represented fairly the typical stature of the full-grown male population. In Europe there are no people of very short stature according to the classification invented by Topinard (under 1,600 mm., or 63 inches); on the other hand, this continent is distinguished by the tallest race known, the Highlanders of Scotland. Hence, for the purpose of this lecture, he would speak of statures ranging between 1650 and 1675 mm. (65 inches to 66 inches) as medium, those below these measurements as short, and those above as tall. Tall statures are, with a very few exceptions, particularly well represented in the north-west; the rest of the population of Europe is, again with certain exceptions, chiefly in the Balkan Peninsula, of medium or short stature. People of medium stature are found grouped round the regions where the tall peoples occur, and connect the tall races of the north-west with those of the south-east. Short statures he divided into three groups, eastern (Russia), western (France), and southern (Spain and Italy), and showed how the eastern zone communicated by narrow "channels" with other centres of

[blocks in formation]

than 17 per cent. occur the population is termed blond, where more than 30 per cent. dark.

According to this grouping the two extremes are the Swedish (3 per cent. brunettes) and southern Italy (70 per cent.). From this point of view the map showed that north Europe was mainly blond, South Europe dark, and Central Europe intermediate. He traced the southern limit of the blond races through the various countries, showing that it nowhere reached below the 50th parallel in Central Europe, and below 55th parallel in Britain and Russia. The northern limit of the dark peoples is more irregular. In the intermediate zone blond areas are rare (one of these occur in south England, i.e. Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Sussex and Middlesex), dark areas fairly numerous, but individually very small. Intermediate areas in the blond zone are only found in the British Isles, but in the dark zone are fairly frequent in western Europe.

From these data and certain other considerations relating to shape of face and nose, character of hair, &c., Dr. Deniker had been confirmed in his theory that the present population of Europe is composed of six main races. These he proceeded to enumerate, giving their typical characteristics, tracing their positions throughout the map, and indicating the proportions in which they had intermingled to form the existing populations of the various countries. The following is an abbreviated sketch of his classification :

(1) A race, blond, wavy-haired, long-headed, very tall, with long face, a straight prominent nose; the northern race, so called because its representatives are confined almost exclusively to North Europe. This is the Cymric race of Broca, the Germanic or Reihengräber race of German authors, the Teutonic race of Ripley, or the Homo Europaeus of Lapouge.

With this race is connected a subrace, blond or intermediate, straight-haired, medium-headed, of tall or medium stature, angular face, and retroussé nose, the subnorthern race, found in the neighbourhood of the northern.

(2) A race blond, straight-haired, moderately shortheaded, and of short stature, broad square face, nose often retroussé; the Eastern race, so named since its principal home is in eastern Europe.

Connected with this is a subrace, blond or intermediate, medium-headed, of very short stature, named the Vistulian race, occurring in Poland, parts of Prussia, and probably Saxony and Silesia.

(3) A race dark, hair sometimes curly, long-headed, of very short stature, straight or retroussé nose; the Iberoinsular race. This is the Mediterranean race, or Homo Mediterraniensis of certain authors, found chiefly in the Iberian Peninsula and the islands of the

Mediterranean.

western

(4) A race dark, very short and round headed, of short stature, round face, broad nose, and thick-set body; the Cevenole or western race. This type occurs in its greatest purity in the extreme west of Europe, though found sporadically elsewhere. This is the race called variously by other authors Celtic, Celto-Ligurian, Celto-Slavonic, Sarmatian, Rhetian, Ligurian, or Homo Alpinus.

(5) A race very dark, moderately long-headed, and fairly tall; the Littoral, or Atlanto-Mediterranean race, situated on the coast of the Mediterranean, from Gibraltar to the Tiber, and in occasional groups on the Atlantic Littoral, but never more than 150 miles from the sea. (6) A race dark, short-headed, tall, nose slender and straight or arched; the Adriatic or Dinaric race, which is found grouped round the northern Adriatic, particularly in Bosnia, Dalmatia, Croatia, and the centre of the Balkan Peninsula, but found also sporadically and with somewhat modified characteristics in Central Europe.

With the last two races are connected two secondary races, which are perhaps no more than types, produced by the admixture of the two former with each other or with the northern, subnorthern, and western races.

(a) The north-western, long- or medium-headed, situated between the northern and Atlanto-Mediterranean races, spread chiefly in Ireland.

(b) The sub-Adriatic, moderately short-headed, more rarely short-headed, of medium stature, found in many parts of Central Europe, probably the result of admixture between the Adriatic and subnorthern and western races.

NO. 1827, VOL. 71]

REPORT OF THE SURVEY OF INDIA. THE Indian Survey report is a full record of useful work and widespread progress, but it lacks some of the interest which used to attach formerly to the very varied character of the work undertaken by the Survey department. The scientific section of the report is included within the limits of a few pages; and the narratives of individual surveyors (which always formed a most interesting chapter or two) have entirely disappeared.

The main work of the department, now, is the revision of old mapping in districts which have been sorely in need of such revision for many years. The plains of India, in fact, are being re-surveyed, and, on the whole, the work of the department is increasing, rather than diminishing, on purely utilitarian lines. It would almost seem as if the days of Indian geodetic triangulation, which once took such a strong lead amongst the scientific triangulations of the world, were numbered. Only one first-class series is in progress at present, and this is to connect the great meridional Mandalay series of Burma with a future extension following the Salwin valley. It is, however, satisfactory that the practice and training necessary for surveyors in this class of work is well maintained so far, for it is impossible to say what the future may demand in the way of similar extensions in Persia, Tibet, or even in China.

One subject of special interest dealt with in the report is the deflection of gravity. In 1901 a theory was advanced by Major Burrard that deflections of gravity in India could be classified by regions. Astronomical determinations of latitude have therefore been carried systematically through considerable arcs to prove whether this theory were sound. The results undoubtedly support Major Burrard's prediction, and it is expected that the substitution of this regional law for the old theory of local attraction will exercise a profound influence on future investigations.

64

The report on geographical or reconnaissance surveys (on the scale of 1/500,000) includes an out-turn of 38,000 square miles of survey of this class by one native assistant in western Tibet. This seems a remarkably large out-turn for expedition "; but it is only one instance amongst many of the one surveyor to secure during the progress of a shooting remarkable capacity of well trained native explorers for work of this nature. In reasonably easy country there seems to be hardly any limit to their power of producing fairly accurate geographical maps so long as they have a few fixed points to work upon.

In this connection it is well to note the remarks of the Surveyor-General (Colonel St. G. Gore) on the difficulty that constantly faces him of finding qualified native assistants to meet the demands of military or political missions or geographical expeditions. He most justly observes that in the first place it is difficult to find the men who possess the necessary qualifications, and in the second efficiently in country which is unsuitable for instruction. that, having found them, it is impossible to train them It is due to a combination of natural aptitude with perfect educational environment that the native explorer of the Indian Survey becomes so extraordinarily efficient as a topographer. If these men are wanted (and they are wanted) for Imperial duty over half of the continents of Africa and Asia, it seems but fair that the Imperial Treasury should contribute something towards maintaining a sufficient staff to meet all demands. T. H. H.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL

INTELLIGENCE.

CAMBRIDGE.-The State Medicine Syndicate reports that during the current year there were 57 candidates for the diploma in public health, of whom 34 were successful. For the diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene there were 12 candidates, of whom 8 were successful. The syndicate has resolved to hold two examinations for the latter diploma in 1905, the first beginning on January 10, the second on August 8.

Applications for the vacant readership in botany (annual stipend 300l.) are to be sent to the Vice-Chancellor by Tuesday, November 15.

Mr. R. H. Lock, late Frank Smart student in botany, has been elected to a Drosier fellowship at Gonville and

« PreviousContinue »