THE SCIENCE CONGRESS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 169, 22 August 1914, Page 12

THE SCIENCE CONGRESS.

A SENSATION CAUSED.

AUSTRALIA'S PRIMITIVE MAN. SIR OLIVER LODGE ON MIND AND MATTER. By Cable. —Press Association. —Copyright. (Received August 22, 10.20 a.m.) SYDNEY, August 22. A sensation was eaused at thfe Science Congress by Professors Wilson and David exhibiting an aboriginal's skull, discovered in the Darling Downs, which, it is believed, is twenty-five thousand years old. 11 Professor David, in describing the skull, said it belonged to the pleistocene age, and was far older than any other human remains yet found in Australia. He concluded, '' If we are asked, is man a geological antiquity in Australia, we can reply, yes." Other scientists supported Professor David's deductions, and commented on the great importance of the find. Another important announcement was the discovery that the juice of the plant euphorbia peplus, acted upon a sensitive photographic plate in the dark. Sir Everard Im Thurn, and Professor Elliott Smith read interesting papers dealing with the development of man, the former, dealing with Polynesians, concluded by saying that the ultimate cause of the decrease in natives when they came in contact with civilised folk lay in the difference of their hereditary mentality, and incapacity of the savage to take on civilisation quickly enough. Sir Oliver Lodge, in the course of an interview dealing with the relations of mind and matter, said: —"I have reason to say that I know of the existence of intelligences and of their powers to communicate, which are no longer associated with terrestrial bodies.'' He added that this was a very important statement to make from the scientific side, and he was now prepared to hold that science is giving an affirmative answer to'the question as to whether'we survive bodily death.