Members will be interested to know of progress and developments since the reorganization and expansion of the London office which were announced in the Journal for January 1944. In April 1944 a meeting of the Bureau of the Institute was held, when policy was considered and schemes for future work approved. A Consultative Committee was set up under the chairmanship of Sir Harms Vischer, and including French and Belgian members, to advise the officers on the development of the Institute's scientific and general activities within the framework laid down by the Executive Council before the war. The Linguistic Advisory Committee has been re-established under the chairmanship of Professor Ida Ward.

An outstanding characteristic of Bantu speech is economy of form combined with flexibility in the use of forms. This economy in word form contributes to simplicity of expression, but can nevertheless be baffling to non-Bantu people unless flexibility in function is accorded its due recognition.

The archaeological material described in this note is the result, like many other finds, of mining operations. Other collections of prehistoric human and animal figures have been found in Nigeria, usually in circumstances offering little evidence of their origin: these specimens, though there is as yet no concrete evidence of their age, origin, and cultural significance, have come to light in conditions which give good reason to hope that the further investigations contemplated will reveal associated evidence contributing to the solution of some of these problems.

The eminent scholar-missionary J. G. Christaller, compiler of the Twi dictionary and of 3,680 Twi proverbs, wrote in 1879: ‘May those Africans who are enjoying the benefit of a Christian education make the best of the privilege; but let them not despise the sparks of truth entrusted to and preserved by their own people.’ Now Dr. J. B. Danquah, well known as the author of those admirable volumes Akan Laws and Customs and Cases in Akan Law, has brought a philosophical mind trained by such teachers as G. Dawes Hicks of University College, London, to expound the religious and ethical system of his own people. It is the first time, I believe, that an African educated on western lines has produced so detailed an exposition. It should, and doubtless will, be studied sympathetically by every Africanist. It would, however, be no compliment to the talented author if his statements were accepted without question. Very unfortunately two of the three manuscript volumes were destroyed by fire; and these, we are given to understand, contained many of the data upon which Dr. Danquah based his conclusions. Had the book been published in its entirety no doubt many of the questions we now ask would have been forestalled.