98 LIEUT. ELTON.-Notes on Natives of the Solomon Islands. Answer. They possess pigs, dogs, cats, and fowls. The natives confess that the pigs were brought here by white men a long time ago. They are of an inferior breed, with very long heads. Dogs, I believe, are natives of the islands. They resemble a fox more than a dog. They do not bark but howl, and live mostly on vegetable food. The natives are very kind to them. Cats and fowls have not been long among the natives. The predominating colour of the animals is a reddish brown. Question 26. What is the kind of government? Any odd details about their religion, &c., &c., will be most interesting. Answer. They have no established government. If a man is married and got a little money and a few slaves, he calls himself a chief, but does not exercise any power over his slaves; they do pretty well as they like. They recognise one or two as the head chiefs or mani pina in a village, but do not listen to them unless in a fight, or in any of their tamboos. The white trader's tobacco has more power than a chief's word. But should a chief put a taboo on anything, say, against eating yams or cocoa-nuts, they will observe it most strictly. If anybody dies, his relations are tabooed from eating anything that grows underneath the ground, likewise from all saltwater fish for the space of about one year or less, according to the rank of the deceased. They carve images and put them into their tamboo houses or yam plantations, and believe them to have power over all evil spirits. Question 27. How do they note and divide their time? How do they carry on war; and what are their usual weapons? Answer. They divide their time into days, months, and years. The days they note by the sun, the months by the moon and the year by the growth of a yam. Their warfare consists in treachery and surprise. They never stand in open fair fight. If they are not able to kill their enemy with one blow, they do not stop to give him another, but take to their heels. Their usual weapons are tomahawks, clubs, spears, and bows and arrows. They possess many guns, but I have heard of very few cases where men died by getting shot. Although the natives are very fair marksmen when cool and collected, yet in a surprise they fire off their guns without taking aim. Some time ago a native had a shot at me not 10 paces off, with intent to kill, but missed. Concluding Remarks by Lieutenant Elton. You will observe that in Mr. Howard's answer to my eighth question, he refers to the domestic bringing-up of the child and not to its progress in physical growth and strength, which was the sense of my question. In reply to my fifteenth question as to the usual food of the people, he has confined himself strictly to naming the usual daily victuals and has not spoken of the human flesh they occasionally feast on; but he verbally informed me that the natives round him at Ugi now and then went over to the neighbouring island of Guadalcanar, and bought human victims for an approaching feast time; these victims being mostly women. These women were then taken away in canoes and regularly fattened in their purchasers' villages till the festive time. Then they were deliberately killed and eaten, just as fattened pigs would be. When they happened to be fighting with neighbouring villages or tribes, they always feasted on any unlucky enemy they captured or killed; but these capturings and killings were not on a large scale, as these natives are exceedingly cowardly and timid fighters. Hence human flesh by purchase was more to their liking and more common. MAY 10TH, 1887. FRANCIS GALTON, Esq., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. The Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed. The following presents were announced, and thanks voted to the respective donors: FOR THE LIBRARY. From H.E. the BRAZILIAN MINISTER.-Archivos do Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro. Vol. VI. 1885. From ROBERT CUST, Esq.-The Origin of Primitive Money. By Horatio Hale. From the AUTHOR.-The Oceanic Languages Shemitic. By Rev. Canoes und Canoebau in den Marshall-Inselm. By Dr. O. Hausbau, Häuser, und Siedelungen an der Südostküste von L'Indice ilio-pelvico o un indice sessuale del bacino nelle razze Sul terzo condilo occipitale e sulle apofisi paroccipitali. By From the AUTHOR.-Prebasioccipitale o basiotico (Albrecht). By Prof. G. Sergi. Ricerche di Psicologia sperimentale. By Prof. G. Sergi. Interparietali e preinterparietali del cranio umano. By Antropologia Fisica della Fuegia. By Prof. G. Sergi. From the UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.-Mineral Resources of the United States. Calendar Year 1885. From the BERLIN GESELLSCHAFT FÜR ANTHROPOLOGIE, ETHNOLOGIE, UND URGESCHICHTE.-Zeitschrift für Ethnologie. 1886, Heft 6; 1887, Heft 1. From the ESSEX FIELD CLUB.-The Essex Naturalist. No. 4. From the SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.-The Scottish Geographical Magazine. Vol. III. No. 5. From the ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. -The Archæological Journal. No. 173. From the ASSOCIATION.—Journal of the East India Association. Vol. XIX. No. 3. From the SOCIETY.-Journal of the Society of Arts. Nos. 1797, 1798. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. 1887, May. Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien. From the EDITOR.-Nature. Nos. 913, 914. The Photographic Times. Nos. 292, 293. Prof. FLOWER read a letter from Emin Pasha, dated Wadelai, 8th November, 1886. Prof. VICTOR HORSLEY, F.R.S., delivered a discourse on "Trephining in the Neolithic Period," illustrated by numerous photographic transparencies projected on the screen by the oxyhydrogen lantern. TREPHINING in the NEOLITHIC PERIOD. By VICTOR HORSLEY, B.S., F.R.S., &c. THE object the author had in view was to obtain the criticism of the Anthropological Institute upon certain views which he had formed from a surgical standpoint, of the operative procedure of trephining as practised by the people of the polished stone epoch, and the reasons which led to its performance. After discussing the evidence which has now accumulated respecting the probable mode of operating, namely, whether it was done by boring, scraping, or sawing, he shewed reason for believing that in the majority of instances it was by means of sawing, and that in some cases this might have been supplemented by scraping. The evidence upon which these opinions were based was supplied by numerous photographs of specimens in the Broca Museum and elsewhere. The most usual seat of operation was next discussed, and in illustration of this part of the subject photographs were shewn of a skull upon which the author had marked in outlines, the margins of all the trephine openings of which he had been able to obtain specimens. By means of this composite arrangement it was demonstrated beyond question, that in almost all the known instances of this practice the opening in the skull was made over that portion of the surface of the brain which is known to be more especially the seat of representation of movement. This region of the brain, moreover, is the seat of origin of that special form of convulsions which is known as Jacksonian epilepsy, and which so frequently follows injuries to the skull and brain. The anatomical grounds, therefore, for accepting the view that the operation was performed to relieve urgent symptoms of the kind mentioned would appear to be very strong. But further facts of interest exist in this connection. This special form of epilepsy most usually commences with a peculiar sensation in one definite part of the body, whence it travels up the limb towards the head, this usually constituting the aura or warning of the onset of the fit. This factor is of special importance since it commonly happens that at the moment when the sensation appears to reach the head consciousness is lost. If, moreover, the mischief is occasioned by a depressed fracture there will be considerable tenderness at the injured place, and this becomes exaggerated at the period of convulsions. Putting these facts together with minor details of such cases too numerous to be mentioned here, the following mode in which the practice may have originated among so savage a people seems to be possible. The tender cicatrix may have first been excised as the source of pain. This probably would have produced a temporary benefit, sufficient to encourage the patient to undergo, in case of relapse, a further operation for the removal of bone. 1 Prof. Horsley was very greatly indebted to the kindness of Prof. Duval and Prof. Topinard, who permitted him to take numerous photographs of the unique specimens under their care. This would in most cases be followed by relief, not merely of the pain but of the fits also. Consequently the operation would gain a certain reputation for the cure of convulsions generally, and as such might have been frequently practised among savages to whom pain is of slight consequence. The author then alluded to the various theories which have been promulgated to explain this interesting problem, and shewed reasons for not accepting them. DISCUSSION. Sir JAMES PAGET, having been called upon by the President to open the discussion, said that he had studied the subject too little to speak on many of the points referred to by Mr. Horsley, but thought that he had shown the great probability that the opening of the skull was, in different instances, practised in all the three methods described by him. The sloping bevelled edges of some of the openings seemed sufficient evidence of the chiselling; the minute holes arranged in forms approaching circles indicated the drilling; the deep-cut narrow lines the sawing; and so far as he knew or had seen in the many dissected skulls in the Museum of the College of Surgeons and in other museums, there was none of them that made it probable that the charges illustrated by Mr. Horsley were results of disease. Openings in the skull, due to the growth of tumours within it, were not very rare, but in these the opening in the outer table was not larger, but often was smaller, than that in the inner, and there was no bevelling from the outer table to the margin of the inner. Necrosis of the skull due to disease might, when healed, nearly imitate some of the changes referred to the trephining; but such necrosis was rarely on only one spot on the skull. The specimens appeared to be excellent examples of recovery from operations which were, probably, far less dangerous to the rough uncivilised people on whom they were practised than they are now to the more cultivated races, even though these may have all the advantages of the skill and knowledge which are employed in modern surgery. Sir WALTER BULLER, K.C.M.G., on being appealed to by the President, as to whether any form of epilepsy was common among the Maoris of New Zealand, said that such cases, if they did exist must be very rare indeed, for he could not remember having met with a single instance. He added that he had listened with much interest to Professor Horsley's excellent lecture, and that while looking at the limelight illustrations he was forcibly reminded of a Maori skull which had come under his own notice. The Maori to whom this skull belonged had evidently sustained a severe injury in the head, probably by a blow from a tewha tewha, or wooden patu, which had completely laid open his skull to the extent of several inches. It was evident that this had happened during life, |