From the DEUTSCHE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR ANTHROPOLOGIE.-Archiv für Anthropologie. Band XVI, 1s. und 2s. Vierteljahrsheft. Correspondenz-Blatt. 1885, Nos. 6-9. From the R. ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI.-Osservazioni Meteorologiche fatte al R. Osservatorio del Campidoglio. Dal Luglio al Dicembre, 1884. From the SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.-Archæologia. Vol. XLVIII. From the SOCIETA ITALIANA DI ANTROPOLOGIA.-Archivio per l'Antropologia e la Etnologia. Vol, XV, Fas. 1. From the BERLINER GESELLSCHAFT FÜR ANTHROPOLOGIE.-Zeitschrift für Ethnologie. 1885, Heft. 2, 3. From the SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. The Scottish Geographical Magazine. Vol. I, Nos. 1-3. From the SECRETARY OF THE CONGRÈS INTERNATIONAL D'ANTHROPOLOGIE ET D'ARCHÉOLOGIE PRÉHISTORIQUES. Compte Rendu de la Neuvième Session à Lisbonne, 1880. From the ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, AGRAM.-Viestnik Hrvatskoga From the GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY OF CANADA.- Catalogue of Canadian Plants. John Macoun, M.A., F.L.S. Part II: Gamopetala. By From the DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.Report. Vols. III, VIII. Monographs. Vols. IV, VI, VII, VIII. Contributions to North American Ethnology. Vol. V. From the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.-Smithsonian Contributions to Prehistoric Fishing in Europe and North America. By From the ACADÉMIE ROYALE DE BELGIQUE.-Annuaire, 1884, 1885. Mémoires Couronnés et autres Mémoires. Collection in 8vo. Mémoires Couronnés et Mémoires des Savants Etrangers From the SOCIETA DI SCIENZE NATURALI ED ECONOMICHE DI PALERMO. Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei. Serie Terza. Bulletin de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Péters- Kongl. Vitterhets Historie och Antiqvitets Akademiens From the AssOCIATION.-Journal of the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of Ireland. Fourth Series. Nos 61, 62. Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association. Vol. Transactions of the Devonshire Association. Extra Volume. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Vol. IX, Nos. From the INSTITUTE.-Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute. Vol. XVI. Proceedings of the Canadian Institute. Vol. III, No. 2. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 1884. Vol. XVII. From the INSTITUTION.―Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. No. 10. From the SOCIETY.-Proceedings of the Royal Society. Nos. 237, 238. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries. Index to Vol. IX. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1885. July to November. Journal of the Society of Arts. Nos. 1701-1719. Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1885. Nos. 1-5. - Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.. Vol. LIII, Part II, No 3; Vol. LIV, Part I, Nos. 1, 2. Centenary Review of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. From 1784 to 1883. - Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. Vol. XII, Part 4; Vol. XIII, Part 1. Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Nos. 1, 2. Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 1884-5. Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of -The Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland. Vol. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. Nos. The Organization and the Constitution of the Women's Bulletins de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris. 1885, Bulletin de la Société d'Anthropologie de Bruxelles. Tome Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou. From the SOCIETY.-Bulletin de la Société de Borda, Dax. 1885, Schriften der Physikalisch-ökonomischen Gesellschaft zu Boletim da Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa. 4a Serie, From the EDITOR.-"Nature." Nos. 817-836. Journal of Mental Science. Nos. 98, 99. "Science." Nos. 123-130, 132–142. The American Antiquarian. 1885, July, September. Revue d'Ethnographie. Tom. IV, Nos. 2, 3. L'Homme. 1885, Nos. 12-18. Matériaux pour Octobre. l'Histoire de l'Homme. 1885, Juillet, 1885, Nos. 3-8. Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana. Revista Internacional de Ciencias Médicas y Biologicas. The election of H.H. PRINCE ROLAND BONAPARTE as an Honorary Member, and of Dr. A. ASHER, Dr. ALEXANDER BAIN, C. F. CLARKE, Esq., J. W. CROMBIE, Esq., M.A., T. H. EDWARDS, Esq., P. NORMAN, Esq., and EDWARD TREGEAR, Esq., as Ordinary Members, was announced. The PRESIDENT, in opening the meeting, spoke as follows: OPENING REMARKS by the PRESIDENT. THERE is little doubt and little cause for surprise that the appreciation of Anthropology is on the increase. Besides the gratifying facts that more new members are joining the Institute, and that the corresponding section of the British Association has become increasingly popular, there are other examples of a no less solid kind. For example, the authorities of Trinity College, Cambridge, have lately extended the tenure of one of their Fellowships for five years, to enable its holder, Mr. J. Frazer, to pursue his anthropological studies; and again, at the meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen it was the Rector of the University, Dr. Bain, who contributed one of the most thoughtful of the Anthropological Memoirs. A notable instance of zeal for the science is now before the Council. It is a proposal by Mr. Featherman to bequeath to the Institute a sum now yielding £100 a year for the following object. Mr. Featherman has been continuously engaged for fifteen years in 1 See page 380. compiling the MS. of a large work, the "Social History of the Races of Mankind," of which only two volumes are actually published, and which, like the "Descriptive Sociology" of Mr. Herbert Spencer, contains a multitude of data concerning customs and institutions, methodically arranged. Such works are precious to investigators, but costly to print, as they cannot be expected to sell widely enough to pay expenses. Mr. Featherman devotes the annual sum above-mentioned to print a volume from time to time, and now desires to place the eventual publication of the whole series beyond the reach of the accident of his life. He proposes to make the bequest for the purpose of continuing the printing, leaving at the same time the copyright and stock of the work to the Institute, and providing for the subsequent application of the income to anthropological purposes, leaving considerable discretion to the Council as to how it should be applied. The social history of alien peoples is full of problems. Thus it is a frequent observation that men inay thrive and be happy under the most cruel governments, but the explanation of the several cases is imperfect. We have yet to learn how far it depends on hidden compensations, and how far on the genius of the people. The question of innate varieties in mind and instinct between different races requires more exact investigation than it has yet received. Anyhow, we have to get rid of the common illusion that the axioms of moral conduct, which are or appear to be natural to ourselves, must be those of every other sane and reasonable human being. The very existence of the Anthropological Institute should be construed into a standing protest against such narrowness of view. The world of human mind and instinct is richly variegated, persons even of the same sex and race differing sometimes more widely than ordinary men differ from ordinary women, though of course in other ways, and this amount of difference is indeed large. Foreigners say that we are stiff, and that our naturally narrow powers of sympathy are still further contracted by insular prejudices. Be this as it may, it is certain that the English do not excel in winning the hearts of other nations. They have to broaden their sympathies by the study of mankind as they are, and without prejudice. This is precisely what the Anthropologists of all nations aim at doing, and in consequence they continually succeed in discovering previously unsuspected connections between the present and past forms of society, between the mind of the child and of the man, and between the customs, creeds, and institutions of barbarians and of civilised peoples. Anthropology teaches us to sympathise with other races, and to regard them as kinsmen rather than aliens. In this aspect it may be looked upon as a pursuit of no small political value. Many are now endeavouring to test mental differences with numerical precision. The possibility and importance of their investigations was strongly insisted upon by Dr. Bain in the Memoir referred to above, while another paper by Mr. Jacobs, which arrived too late to be read at the British Association, and will be published through another channel, contains noteworthy proposals on a method of conducting them. Both of the memoirs submitted to the meeting to-night belong to this branch of Anthropology. That by Mrs. Bryant gives the result of a first scientific attempt to test certain elementary characteristics in the disposition of school-children, and that by Mr. Jacobs endeavours to assign a numerical ratio to the intellectual ability of the Jews as compared to that of other races. The following paper was then read by the writer: EXPERIMENTS in TESTING the CHARACTER of SCHOOL CHILDREN. By Mrs. SOPHIE BRYANT, D.Sc. Lond. I EARLY in this year, at the suggestion of Mr. Francis Galton, I made some attempts to devise means for testing the mental characteristics of children. Long experience in teaching had made me aware of the fact that the manner in which a paper of written questions is answered sometimes reveals to an attentive observer quite as much about the character of the writer as about the extent and soundness of his or her knowledge. was in the habit of making mental notes for practical purposes concerning my pupils' defects and excellences as so revealed; and I knew, as a matter of experience, the naturally-to-beexpected fact that a writer tells more tales about his own fundamental intellectual characteristics than a talker in close contact with another mind or other minds is likely to tell; at any rate, he tells different tales. A So I made my first attempt in the following manner. number of children, all aged thirteen, were allowed to remain for about ten minutes in a room which they did not know, and were then required to write a description of it. I did not know the children personally at all, and I had no preconceived idea as to the character-points which I expected to be revealed. I read the papers, noting on them what I found in them; and when I went to the teachers who knew the children afterwards and gave the descriptions of character which I inferred, the agreement with |