BRITISH SAVANTS IN CANADA.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18185, 23 September 1924, Page 10

BRITISH SAVANTS IN CANADA.

HUMAN RACE'S PREDECESSORS. (from otje own cobrespokdxkt.) VANCOUVER, August 20. During the discussions of the several hundred scientists assembled in Toronto representing the British Association for the Advancement of Science, a convention lasting several days and in which Sir Ernest Rutherford of New Zealand played a prominent part, many absorbing topics- werei discussed.

One scientist, Mr, C. Hill-Tout, F.R.S.C., English anthropologist, read out of the human family the pithecanthropus erectus, the ape-man of Java, and the more human-like Heidelberg and Neanderthal skeletons, and instead of being, directly descended from thescotirly types, the human species, said Mr Hill-Tout, exhibits characteristics more primitive and closer to the original stock from which apes, man and early man-like creatures arose independently of one another.

The apes of to-day and the early man-like types whose bones have been .dug up in Europe may be regarded as degraded developments or off-shoots of man's remote ancestors, rather than the reverse, the scientist declared. Gorillas and chimpanzees -actually have evolved and differentiated further from the original anthropoid stock than'man, and they owe their flat skulls and their protruding eyebrows to the development of their jaws at the expense of their grey matter. ' Man, on the other hand, Hill-Tout said, arose through the ages, using his brain rather than his brawn, and thus retained the round-headedness of the common ancestors of man, ape and monkey. Revolutionary Ideas.

The skulls of the new-born apes, compared with.the skulls of the babies of the so-called ancient men and modern, men, gave Hill-Tout his clues to his revolutionary ideas about the evolution of man. Skulls of baby gorillas aud chimpanzees are round and humanlike, while the grown apes develop characteristic flat-hoadedness. The baby ape resembles man more than he does his own father. Scientists have found that the young of all animals, during their growth to maturity, recapitulate the evolutionary history of the race, and, from the characteristics exhibited at and before birth, they trace their ancestry. One ancient skeleton, that of Eoanthropus, the "down man" found at Piltdown, England, is left .by HillTout in the direct chain from earliest forms to modern man. The Piltdown Skull is about 150,000 years old and is more modern in its shape than any other ancient skull, he said. Eoanthropus was the human race's great-grandfather, the speaker held, other so-called ancient men so far discovered, being unsuccessful great uncles, while the apes arc successful greatuncles, many times removed. Dr. A. C. Haddon also presented the idea that the most savage races are the most differentiated and, therefore, less adaptable to changing conditions. In the human racial struggles in progress to-day Professor J. W. Gregory, of the University of Glasgow, advocated segregation of different races in exclusive territories as the best way of treating racial difficulties. Although, he said that segregation would not be consciously adopted in the United States, because of political reasons, he asserted that it would 'ultimately- come about by the natural drift of circumstances.

Absorption of the coloured race into the white race in America would be rejected by the present -white inhabitants, he added, but the infiltration of Italians and Mexicans and other South European peoples, who have no repugnance toward intermarriage, might lead, he said, to the occupation of the cotton districts by a hybrid race similar to that. of tropical South America. He predicted the formation of a form of '' free state'' in the South under a sort of '' home rule' 'to care for the political situation caused by the growing power of the negro vote. "White Indian" Controversy.

The "world has. been, greatly interestr ed in the discovery of so-called ''White Indians" in the Panama hinterland by Biclard O. Marsh, the American scientist, and according to opinions of eminent anthropologists expresssed in their sections of the British Association in Toronto, the definition of albino, as applied to Mr Marsh's white Indians from Darien, rests oh secure scientific ground.

"The father and mother of these children are brown," stated Dr. F. C. Shrubsall, who described the children and their actions- when examined at Prescott, Ontario, whither the. American scientist had placed the white 'lndians at the disposal of tho British savants for! their examination. " This is in accordance with the conclusion .that they are albinos," added Dr. Shrubsall. "If these people have a large family, the probability is that the great majority of them will" be coloured. It is an interesting fact-that in some communities there is a very large proportion of albinos. This is of great scientific interest. A further . investigation of these white villages' .would be of great help in-throwing-light on albinism in the human-race."

At this point- Mr Marsh, discoverer of the white Indians, sprang to his feet. He was anxious, he said, to 'bring the children before any doctor, or scientist, or group of scientists, for examination, but he took objection to such examination being made in his absence and to the aforementioned conclusions being based upon incorrect information received. Proceeding, Mr Marsh declared that the children were naturallynervous and shy during the examination by strangers; that the jerkiness of the movement and eye-shifting, .which Dr. Shrubsall had remarked, -were merelv signs of childish embarrassment; and that, far from being mentally deficient as the investigators had .believed, the children had shown marked mental alertness. Though there were four types of Indian in Darien, these white Indians had been found only among- one "roup. There were no instances of children springing from pure brown parentage; If children ever showed white characteristics, it was always traceable to a white strain in the grandparent-age. • - : " "We are much indebted to Mr' Marsh for coming and giving this further full statement," Dr.'Shrubsall said at the conclusion of Mr Marsh's remarks. "I am sure if Mr Marsh had more experience with albinism he would realise" that we could take him to any of our large cities.'and- show-him.' e'asos of albinism identical with his white Indians. They are cases of partial albinism. Cases, of full or complete albinism are extremely rare." Muscular-Tests Criticised. Criticism of the widespread use of the mechanical efficiency of muscular worka physiological measurement -involving amoiig other factors the- 'determination of the. oxygen-, intake,"-the - enrbon dioxide output and the heat equivalent of the work performed, was voiced bv Pro(Continuedat foot of aest column.)

fessor E. P. Cathcart,. of Glasgow University, who addressed', the Physiology and Psychology Section's of. ; the, British Association, when.th'eae sections: met,for a .ioint discuysion to consider the factors of muscular '-efficiency in industry. ' Too much stress had been put on the determination of the .mechanical efficiency in industries, stated " Prof essof Catheart. Although of academic interest, the speaker stated, that, this measurement was of no practical- use, as it was a hypothetical standard based on a whole series of indefinite factors, some Of which-from the,.scientific point of view were untenable, "We'dp. not want to'determine the efficiency/of a man as a machine. -We desire-to-know the optimum- effective conditions, under which a-man as.-fl-buman being is.capable of doing, a- good day's-.work, or, in other words, how a .man is. able to get the maximum, amount of work out of the minimum amount of -expend!turc * ' ' " '• ■ Professor F.- 3- Lee stated that in spite at the vast amount of .research done on fatigue, no method nor apparatus had yet been devised for its measurement: Be pointed out the confusion • existing in' the literature.- regarding. the nlivsic'al and chenucal. changes ■which' thebodyundergoes as a.rcsult of fatigue. . ; •