Chinese Names of Colours. THE Correspondence on the above subject, started by Mr. A. H. Crook in NATURE of January 11, 1906 (p. 246), was lately recalled to me when I heard, for the first time, the phrase hsuch ch'ing (Cantonese sut, ts'eng)-snowblue-used in conversation. It was used in this case in naming the colour of a flower, and struck me as particularly appropriate; the colour might well be described as one of those termed " ch'ing "diluted to a pale shade with white snow. It hardly seems likely that any natural colour of snow itself should be the origin of the phrase, or how would one account for "shui hung "-water-red? The latter means pink, or, as one might say, a watery and "washedout red. Natural water of a pink colour is scarcely common. Independently of the foregoing, though perhaps bearing on it, I should like to point out how the origin of some Chinese phrases may well have been obscured; this is by the substitution of one character for another nearly like it in sound, but not in sense. This may be illustrated by a case in which the change appears to be now taking place. fully Wang pa'"-forget eight-is a term denoting a person of infamous occupation, and also a kind of tortoise. This looks already sufficiently obscure, but is accounted for to the satisfaction of dictionary-makers and their kind. It happens, however, that illiterate persons frequently wish to write this name. In many cases they may not know the character for "forget," but they well know that for "king" (wang), and the slight difference in sound is easily overlooked. The practice is being copied among the more literate, and it seems likely that in the end " wang2 pa"-king eight-will entirely supplant the original (and now less common) form, and when this process is complete a sensible derivation will be impossible without reference to an older literature. The process is almost parallel to some changes of spelling in English, but results in more complete obscurity. ALFRED TINGLE. Pei Yang Mint, Tientsin. Percentages in School Marks. In MR. CUNNINGHAM'S inquiry (August 5) is aimed, apparently, at obtaining a kind of index mark for each candidate in an examination containing several papers. getting a boy's percentage mark in any one paper there is no trouble; but the question is, By what law are percentages in different papers to be combined in order to get an index mark? Percentages may be combined in an infinite number of ways; which is the way Mr. Cunningham desires? Consider three papers :-(1) looking at all the questions in the three papers as a whole, if marks have been assigned to each question with due relativity to all the other questions, (2) if the boys have each been properly prepared for all these questions, and (3) if fair time has been allowed for each of the papers, then each boy's index mark is clearly his total marks gained in the three papers divided by the total maximum marks of the three papers. The whole matter may be expressed more easily thus:-Let a boy gain marks x, y, z in three papers the maximum marks of which are a, b, c; his index mark may be expressed by px+qy+rz, and will depend on the constants p, q, r. For example, if p=1/a, q=1/b, r=1/c, the index mark is x/a+y/b+z/c (or this divided by 3, the mean of the averages). Again, let p=1/(la+mb+nc), q=&c., r=&c., then the index mark will be (x+my+nz)/(la+mb+nc), which reduces to the first example when 1=m=n. In this case we have still the ratios 1:m:n in our power. For example, suppose papers set in Latin, French, and Greek, and take Mr. Cunningham's numbers for them respectively, namely, 37 out of 50, 50 out of 50, 71 out of 100, and suppose, on comparing the papers, that Latin is reckoned half as hard again as French, and Greek a quarter harder than Latin, then their difficulties would be Latin, French, Greek as 12: 8:15, and it would seem fair to take these values for 1:m: n. Thus the index mark for this boy would be (12.37+8.50+15.71)/(12.50+8.50+15.100), or 1909/2500, or 0.7636 (per cent. 76.36). If, however, each one of the questions has had marks assigned to it relatively fair when compared with the marks of all the other questions of the three papers, and if the time allowed for each paper is proportionate to the work required by an average boy to answer the paper, then would l=m=n=1, and the index mark would be 158/200 (or per cent. 79.00). Thus, Mr. Cunningham must settle for himself, in accordance with the circumstances of each case, the values of the ratios 1m: n. The above includes the cases of Mr. Whalley and Mr. Abegg, and, I believe, will cover Mr. Pickering's case too, but I have tried unsuccessfully to understand his numerical table. A kindred question is sometimes asked, What is the master-average of a set of averages? For example, thirty schools send in candidates for a paper; each school gets its own average of the marks gained by its pupils in the paper (this is the mark of value for the school); but the examining body wants some information as to how the paper has been done in general, for the sake of comparison with similar papers in other years, hence a masteraverage, or some equivalent, has to be determined. Assuming all the candidates from the whole thirty schools to be equally prepared for the paper, obviously the examining body will obtain its desired result by dividing the total sum of all gained marks by 100 N, if N be the total number of candidates and 100 be the maximum marks of the paper. This amounts to putting l=m= . 10 60 2 75 5 =3 for twenty-nine of the schools, and n=1 for the school in question. To add the thirty averages and take one-thirtieth of the result is of no value at all. This is easily seen from the adjacent diagrams; in the first, sixty boys have an average 109 of ΙΟ marks, fifteen an average of 9, and five an average of 2; the mean of the averages is (10+9+2)/3, or 7; in the second case, five boys have an average of IO marks, fifteen of 9 marks, and sixty of 2 marks; the mean of the averages is still only 7. Hence the same mean of averages is derived from two obviously different and even independent cases. Is it not fairer, in the absence of any other information, to take 5 15 2 60 (600+135+10)/80=9.31 and (50+135+120)/80=3.81 as the means of the averages, or rather as the representative index marks of the two groups of candidates? In other words, is not one group about two and a half times better than the other? Hence, for a single paper in a number of schools, the apparently easiest plan is to treat all candidates as equally well prepared, and to take the index mark required by the examining body as equal to the total marks gained by all the candidates in the thirty schools divided by 100 N as before; and this seems also fair. This index mark may be got as the quotient (fu+go+hw+ ...)/100(f+g+h....), where u, v... are school averages, and f, g, h each school, so that f+g+h+ are the numbers at = N. The same Dr. Stein's systematic investigation of cause and effect which might lead us to believe in a return swing of the climatic pendulum; another beat in the "pulse of Asia" of which Mr. Huntington writes so convincingly. Here and there were found a people pushing gradually outward from the narrow ring of cultivation which borders the desert back again towards the old-world sites, although, in Dr. Stein's opinion, the sources of water supply once dried up will never again reopen. However that may be, the important part of Dr. Stein's work in the field was the collection of those archæological relics of the past, including miscellaneous records (some of which are far older than any which have as yet come to light in Central Asia or China), bearing inscriptions in Indian Kharosthi and Brahmi, and specimens of early Buddhist art in moulding and in painting, the classification and interpretation of which will certainly prove to be the work of several years. Undoubtedly Dr. Stein has added a new chapter to Indian history, a chapter which deals with the period of Indo-Chinese religious affinity, when Buddhism, still rooted in the land of its birth, had spread outwards to the older civilisations of Central Asia and a never-resting tide of pilgrims passed to and fro, seeking inspiration at every wayside fount of knowledge that marked the weary road from the Chinese frontier through Khotan to Kashmir, or, striking farther west, refreshed the devotee in Badakshan and Kabu!. FIG. 1.-Hall of Ancient Dwelling (Third Century A.D.) after Excavation, Niya Site. it seems probable that we may sit expectant for many months yet before the extraordinary mass of information contained in his collections can be reduced to concrete form. Meanwhile, the Royal Geographical Society has published the text of the lecture (considerably amplified) which he delivered before it last March, and has issued a neat little map which is in itself a most necessary illustration to the story of his adventures. The particular field of exploration which Dr. Stein has made his own is the Tarim basin of Chinese Turkestan. It was here at the very beginning of the century that he unearthed the first relics of an ancient civilisation, which, under the joint influence of India and China, had flourished in the oases of the Takla Makan desert and surrounded the shores of that elusive lake, Lopnor, some fifteen or twenty centuries ago. It has been usual to think and to write of these buried Buddhist cities of the past as if the gradual encroachment of a great sand-sea, sweeping in huge progressive waves from the westward, had in the course of ages irresistibly engulfed them, and driven forth their ancient population to seek for more profitable fields elsewhere. To a certain extent this is true, but the movement of the sand-drifts was fre FIG. 2.-Southern Series of Cave Temples at the "Halls of the Thousand Buddhas. quently the result rather than the cause of the desertion of these ancient sites. It was the failure of the water supply, the universal process of desiccation which now almost ranks as a geological feature recognisable throughout the world, that permitted the sand-waves. Yet there are points in The bourne of pilgrimage was ever the same. It was northern India and the cradle of Buddha on the borders of Nepal that was the end of all endeavour; and the marvel of our present knowledge (derived chiefly from the results of Dr. Stein's researches) is that the way was made so plain and the facilities for travel were so great in the early centuries of our era. We read of regular posts and connected lines of open route which must have been furrowed by the feet of thousands where never a soul passes in these later days. With new history we have also to welcome a broad expanse of new geography. Dr. Stein's methods are nothing if not thorough. We have no uncertainty as to whereabouts he found this or that most ancient site; and when he records his remarkable discovery of a long extension of the time-worn wall of China he is able to define, not only its exact position, but its geographical significance as a defensive work with regard to surrounding topography. He does ample justice to the ability of his geographical assistant, Rai Sahib Ram Singh, but Ram Singh would never have effected such results without Dr. Stein's effective guidance and active help. One hundred and thirty sheets of the standard degree size, on the scale of four miles to the inch (which is what has been secured for the records of the Indian Survey), is a solid addition to our geographical knowledge which ranks well even with his vast store of accumulated archæological lore. Perhaps the most noteworthy discovery made by Dr. THE SIXTEENTH INTERNATIONAL MEDICINE is so self-centred, and its practice is those who know the truth, whilst the humble and earnest worker in the difficult paths of research goes home strengthened by the encouragement which he has received from fellow toilers. The sixteenth International Congress of Medicine was held at Budapest during the first week of September. The seventeenth congress will be held in 1913 at some town in Great Britain. Budapest lends itself especially to a large gathering of foreigners. It is a splendid city, magnificently placed on the Danube, easy of access both to the northern and eastern races of Europe. The inhabitants are active, intensely patriotic, eager to show the progress that has been made, and to prove that the youngest civilised State in Europe has not much to learn, and is in some respects already ahead of the older civilisations the best points of which it has endeavoured to copy. It is, indeed, very difficult to realise that Budapest was a Turkish possession little more than two hundred years though the vigilant observer will notice the very faintest trace of orientalism as he walks amongst the people and through the smaller streets of the town. For a medical congress, Budapest is ideal, because it is full of springs and baths which would in themselves have brought it fame, the Hunyadi and Apenta springs being known throughout the world. ago, FIG. 3.-Frescoed Wall in Cave Temple at "The Ten-thousand Buddhas." Stein during his investigations was the extension of the Turkestan basin eastwards to a point some seven degrees farther east than had been previously recorded. From the Chinese frontier town of Suchau a clearly defined line of drainage follows a course parallel to the extension of the Great Wall towards the central depression at Lop-nor; nor can there be much doubt that in the early days of Buddhist settlements in this region this now partially desiccated line of drainage marked the main trade-route from China to Turkestan. That route now hugs the foothills of the Altyn Tagh to the south between Anshi and Lopnor, but it is a desolate and forsaken route, untrodden by the trader and unsanctified by the pilgrim. It may be long yet ere we are able to appreciate as they deserve the discoveries and collections of Dr. Stein in relation to their bearing on the history of India; for the mass of raw material which has yet to be classified is so great as to have proved almost an embarrassment to its owner. In the meantime the short and instructive booklet on the subject now issued by the Geographical Society is well worth careful study. The congress was excellently organised, and the greatest credit is due to the president, Prof. Kálmán Müller, and the general secretary, Prof. Emil de Gròsz, for the manner in which they brought things to a successful issue. His Royal and Imperial Highness the Archduke Joseph, acting on behalf of the King of Hungary, was indefatigable in the cause of the congress, for he not only attended the inaugural meeting in the municipal buildings, where 5000 persons were gathered together on one of the hottest days in the year, and remained throughout the whole sitting of three hours, but later in the week he welcomed the members to the palace and spoke personally to a very large number of the more important official delegates. He was ably assisted throughout by Count Albert Apponyi, the Hungarian Minister of Education, who made several important and statesmanlike speeches showing that he was in touch and in full sympathy with the work of the medical profession throughout the world. The work of the congress was divided into official, sectional, and general. The official work was of unusual importance. It was decided that in future a meeting should be held once in four years instead of once in three years, as has been the case hitherto; that a permanent committee should be formed, with a president, a paid secretary, and a fixed office. Dr. F. W. Pavy, F.R.S., the president of the National Committee for Great Britain and Ireland, was nominated president, and it was determined that the office of the paid secretary should be at The Hague. By these means it is hoped that there will be a continuity of policy in the affairs of the congress which has hitherto been impossible, because there has been no permanent board to which difficulties and questions of policy could be referred. The work of the sections did not prove of much interest, although many members attended and the papers were exceptionally numerous. The subjects chosen for discussion, like appendicitis, malignant disease of the larynx, the tuberculin treatment of tuberculosis, and uterine myomata, did not lend themselves to the expression of very novel views, and if the speakers who took part in them were not very inspiring, they were not belligerent, and the congress was spared the painful scenes which have occasionally turned the arena into a veritable battlefield. Puerperal infection was selected appropriately as a subject of discussion. It was a tardy tribute to the memory of Semmelweis, the pioneer of modern obstetric prophylaxis, who died broken-hearted in the town where he had spent the best years of his life in declaiming against the fearful mortality of childhood and showing some of the means by which it might be avoided. He remained a voice crying in the wilderness until the end, but the statue erected by international effort, and placed in the gardens of the Ergebet-teren, was visited by every member of the congress, and was duly decorated with tributes from every nation. The general addresses were excellent, and drew very large audiences, who listened most attentively. Prof. Holländer showed by means of lantern-slides some of the diseases and mutilations depicted in the records of the Incas and Huacos. Dr. Bashford, director of the Imperial Cancer Research in London, explained by similar means the present state of the cancer question, whilst Prof. Loeb, of Berkeley, made a remarkable communication upon artificial parthenogenesis. The net outcome of the congress was the hold which the doctrine of immunity has gained upon the whole of the scientific side of the medical profession. Evidence of its importance was forthcoming from every side. There was a general discussion upon the subject. Dr. Bashford laid much stress upon it in his general address, and it formed an important factor in the work done by Prof. Loeb. It is evident that a great future lies before those who are working at the subject. At the present time there is much confusion and overlapping, a jargon of confusing terms masks the principles, but it is clear that before long the whole theory will be simplified and a most important agent will be added to the practice of medicine. THE INTERNATIONAL SEISMOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. THE third meeting of the permanent committee of the International Association of Seismology was held at Zermatt on Monday, August 30, and the three succeeding days. Out of twenty-two States which now belong to the association, seventeen were represented. In his presidential address, Prof. Schuster directed attention to the importance of determining the movement of the soil in a seismic disturbance, and laid stress on the conditions which seismographs must satisfy, in order that the components of the displacements should be capable of being deduced from the records obtained. A number of committees, which had been appointed at the previous meeting, now presented their reports. Perhaps the most important of these referred to the microseismic oscillations, which have lately attracted attention in many places. Two kinds of oscillations are to be distinguished, one having a period varying between four and nine seconds, and the other a period of about half a minute. The short-period microseism is often observed simultaneously over large portions of the earth's surface; its most interesting feature, which was independently discovered by Prince Galitzin in Pulkowa, by Hecker in Potsdam, and by Omori in Japan, is that there is a direct relationship between the amplitude of the oscillation and the period, the larger amplitude corresponding to the longer period. Dr. Klotz, the representative of Canada, has also investigated the subject, and found that whenever a centre of low barometric pressure, after traversing the continent, reaches the ocean, these microseismic waves of short period appear. Though we cannot at present give a quite satisfactory explanation of these waves, Prof. Wiechert's suggestion that they are caused by the impact of ocean waves on land areas deserves further investigation. For this purpose the committee intends to set up, probably on the west coast of Ireland, an instrument capable of registering the number and height of the waves. The microseismic disturbances, which have a period of about half a minute, have been found to depend on the intensity of local winds. They seem due to a wave-motion set up on land in a similar manner to that in which waves are set going on the ocean. Probably the most important communication made to the meeting was that in which Prince Galatzin showed that it is possible to determine the azimuth of the seat of an earthquake by combining the indications of two seismographs, set up so as to give displacements in two directions at right angles to each other. The coincidence of the azimuth determined in this way for a number of earthquakes with that known independently was quite remarkable, the difference in many cases being less than a degree. As the distance of the earthquake can be determined from the interva! elapsing between the arrivals of the forerunners and surface waves, Prof. Galitzin's investigations show that it is possible to fix the locality of an earthquake by observations at one distant station only; but such a result could only have been achieved by means of a perfection of instrumental appliances consequent on a complete mastery of the problems involved. Mr. H. F. Reid, of Baltimore, unable, unfortunately, to be present himself, sent a communication, in which he summarised his experiences gained by a study of the San Francisco earthquake. After directing attention to various instrumental matters, notably the absence of damping in many of the American instruments, which rendered the investigation difficult, he suggests the theory of a slow secular displacement as a pre liminary condition leading to a seismic catastrophe, and shows how, if this theory be true, a certain class of earthquakes might be predicted. Prof. Omori communicated a report on the Messina earthquake, in addition to his report on microseismic waves. Communications were also made, among others, by Prof. Palazzo, of Rome; M. Angot, of Paris; M. Rosenthal, of Tiflis; M. Choffat, of Lisbon; while Prof. Hecker, of Potsdam, gave an account of his more recent results of tidal displacements in the earth. The meeting concluded with a lecture by Prof. Heim, in which an historical summary of the subject was given from the geologist's point of view. At previous meetings the desire had been expressed that a complete bibliography of the subject should be published annually; a committee was appointed which reported in favour of coming to an arrangement with the International Catalogue of the Royal Society, all papers on seismology in that catalogue to be joined together in one volume, instead of, or perhaps in' addition to, their being classified, as at present, partly under geology, partly under physics, and partly under applied mathematics. There is good ground for believing that such an arrangement could be made, and the meeting adopted the committee's report. A report on the arrangements for an annual catalogue of earthquakes was presented by Prof. Forel, of Morges. The method to be adopted in such a catalogue, in order to make it most generally useful, gave rise to a good deal of difference of opinion; but after discussion in committee a compromise between different views was effected. Prof. Forel having completed his tenure of office as vice-president, M. Hipites, of Bucarest, was elected to be his successor. The Federal Council of the Swiss Republic had entrusted the arrangements for the meeting to the Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, and, with the assistance of Mr. Seiler, the delegates and their families were cared for in a most excellent manner. At the conclusion of the meeting satisfaction was expressed both at the success of the scientific results, and at the hospitable reception accorded to the members present. BRONZE-AGE INTERMENTS IN SWITZERLAND. UNI NDER the title of "Le Cimetière du Boiron de Morges," M. F. A. Forel has issued a report on some remarkable prehistoric interments in Switzerland, and though it occasionally lacks the lucidity of arrangement and grace of style which characterise French work of this kind, it will still be found full of interest. These interments are attributed to the Bronze age, or, as the author terms it, "le bel-âge du bronze des Palafitteurs." The graves are flat, without mounds or stone pedestals, the latter, he thinks, having been probably replaced by wooden posts which have now decayed. They lie in no definite order or in lines one behind another; nor is there any rule of orientation in the graves themselves. It is remarkable that earth burial and cremation are found side by side; in fact, the two methods of disposal of the dead seem to be contemporary, if the evidence of identity in the style of vases and bronzes deposited with the corpse be accepted as conclusive. It may be noted that M. Forel treats as cases of inhumation those in which the teeth are found intact; those of incineration when the roots of the teeth alone survive. There is nothing in the shape of a regular cist, only a slab laid in a horizontal position over the head and upper part of the body. The slab graves of this class contained funeral plates and dishes, or piles of urns and bowls, three or four in number, laid one above another. Only one tomb which held a cremated corpse contained a cinerary urn; in the others the bones lay in the mass of charcoal and other remains of the cremation. In such interments only a single corpse was discovered; hence it is supposed that the custom of sacrificing slaves or animals in the belief that their spirits would accompany the dead to the other world did not prevail. There are occasional remains of some kind of coffin; and in the cremation graves the jars probably contained offerings of food to the dead, meat in some cases forming part of such deposits. It is thus obvious that the people who used this cemetery believed in the survival of the spirit after death. M. Forel seems to imagine that this custom of providing food for the dead implies the existence of a sacerdotal class; but this is not confirmed by the analogy of the customs of modern savages, among whom the head of the household or some tribal elder performs the death rites. The paper is accompanied by photographs of the graves and their contents, and is, on the whole, a useful contribution to our knowledge of the Bronze Age on the continent of Europe. NOTES. WE learn from the Pioneer Mail that the Government of India has issued a resolution concerning malaria in India. The Governor-General has had under consideration a proposal of the sanitary commissioner that a permanent organisation should be formed to inquire systematically into the problems connected with malaria. The number of deaths ascribed to fever throughout India approximates to four and a half millions, representing a mean death-rate of nearly twenty per thousand, and though this total is greatly in excess of the actual figure, owing to the practice of ascribing to "fever" deaths which are in reality due to other causes, yet it has been estimated that the actual death-rate from malarial fever is about five per thousand. The Governor-General has decided to convene a conference to examine the whole question, and to draw up a plan of campaign for the consideration of the Government of India and of the local governments. The conference will assemble at Simla on October 11, and it is expected that it will last about a week. The following is a rough outline of the subjects to be discussed :-(1) the distribution of malaria in India as a whole and in various provinces, with special reference to the sickness and mortality to which it gives rise; (2) the measures of prevention which have been adopted in the different provinces-drainage, mosquito destruction, the distribution of quinine-and the measure of success which has attended each; (3) the improvement of schemes of prevention, including the question of the most suitable form of quinine and the agency by which it can most effectively be distributed. THE International Aëronautical Congress at Nancy opened on Saturday last, and will conclude to-day. The programme included papers on dirigible airships, on light motors for airships and aëroplanes, on the history of aëroplanes, on cartography, on photographic topography from balloons, on the properties and uses of hydrogen, and on the theory and practice of aerodynamics. Ar the Brescia aviation meeting a record in altitude flight was made on Monday last by M. Rougier, who ascended to a height of 198.50 metres (645 feet), as com |
