864 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



does not always correspond with that of the 

 locks. Generally, of ten thousand young 

 men examined for military service, twenty 

 were rejected for premature baldness, and 

 fifty-two for diseases of the scalp. A few 

 cases of red hair are found, and in one 

 commune this color is predominant. The 

 origin of this colored hair is a subject of 

 discussion. Some think it has come down 

 from an almost extinct race ; others that it 

 is a mere physiological accident, from which 

 no conclusion can be drawn. 



The English National Fish Culture Asso- 

 ciation reports that its last year's growth of 

 newly hatched salmon was six and a half 

 inches, and of white-fish five inches. 



Mr. Blanford, meteorological reporter 

 to the Government of India, is testing from 

 year to year a theory of a connection be- 

 tween the Himalayan snow-fall and the mon- 

 soon, to the effect that the later and heavier 

 the snow-fall in winter and spring, the later 

 and feebler would be the following mon- 

 soon. The forecasts according to his theory 

 were fairly accurate last year. This year 

 they appear favorable to a prompt mon- 

 soon and abundance of rain. 



A Swedish naturalist remarks upon the 

 frequency with which names derived from 

 natural history arc adopted by the nobility 

 of his country. Lion, eagle, tiger, wolf, 

 and bear, and even mythical animals like 

 the griffin and the dragon, have furnished 

 several families with parts of their names. 

 Most of the domestic animals are also rep- 

 resented, and plants, such as the lily, rose, 

 laurel, cedar, oak, and lime, are still more 

 fully represented. Numerous stars form 

 the prefix of names, but in no case the sun 

 or moon. The word stjerna, star, is used 

 both at the beginning and at the end of 

 names ; but the stjerna in Oxenstjerna does 

 not represent this word, but the German 

 Slim, forehead. 



M. Blanchard conceives that the recent 

 seismic catastrophe in New Zealand lends 

 probability to his theory that that island is 

 one of the remnants of a formerly existing 

 Australian continent that has been sub- 

 merged. Evidence was wanted of the lia- 

 bility, present or past, of the regions to 

 shocks severe enough to suggest that former 

 stronger shocks might have produced such 

 phenomena of submergence as he predi- 

 cates. The late shock was one of the kind. 



MM. Cailletet and Mathias have re- 

 ported to the French Academy of Sciences 

 concerning their researches on the density 

 of the liquefied gases in the cases of pro- 

 toxide of nitrogen, ethylene, and carbonic 

 acid, that at the critical point the density 

 of the liquid gas is equal to that of its 

 vaoor. 



The number of births in France per ten 

 thousand inhabitants has diminished more 

 than one third in a century. It was 380 in 

 mi-'SO, 289 in 1831-'40, and only 241 in 



isn-'8o. 



Mr. Alfred Bennett has given an inter- 

 esting account of the egg-laying and hatch- 

 ing habits of the emu. The hen-bird lays 

 her brood of twenty eggs or more, at inter- 

 vals of two days, during about six weeks in 

 October and November. Before the pro- 

 cess is completed, the cock-bird begins to 

 sit. The eggs laid subsequently are de- 

 posited by the hen by the side of her mate, 

 who puts out his foot and draws them under 

 him. As soon as the eggs begin to hatch 

 it is necessary to isolate the hen, because 

 she fights furiously with her mate and seems 

 disposed to kill the chicks if she could get 

 at them. The whole of the tending of the 

 young is performed by the male bird. 



The first case of the admission of a wom- 

 an to the French Academy of Sciences oc- 

 curred on the 28th of June, when Sophie 

 Kowlewska, Professor of Mathematics at 

 the University of Stockholm, and daughter 

 of the eminent paleontologist, was received 

 as a member. Admiral Jurien de la Gra- 

 viere, President of the Academy, made her 

 a graceful address of welcome, and she took 

 her seat between General Fave and M. 

 Chevreul. 



Miclucho Maclay, the explorer of New 

 Guinea and the neighboring islands, has 

 brought with him to Odessa, Russia, a 

 large collection of objects illustrating the 

 qualities of scientific interest in the coun- 

 tries in which he has traveled. 



OBITUARY NOTES. 



Mr. Gerrard Kinahan, son of the Irish 

 geologist, who had connected himself with 

 an African trading company, was killed by 

 a poisoned arrow in a fight with the native 

 tribes at Anyappa, May 23d. His training 

 as a chemist and geologist at scientific 

 schools in Dublin and London had thor- 

 oughly qualified him for scientific research, 

 and there is no doubt that had he lived he 

 would have added much of value to our 

 knowledge of Africa. 



The death is announced of Mr. George 

 Busk, F. R. S., a well-known English sur- 

 geon and naturalist, in the seventy-eighth 

 year of his age. 



Dr. R. J. Mann, who was for three years 

 President of the English Meteorological So- 

 ciety, has recently died. He was a popular 

 and prolific writer, and gave much attention 

 to the subject of the protection of buildings 

 from lightning. He was for several years 

 head of the education department and medi- 

 cal officer in the colony of Natal. 



