TEE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



191 



1851, being edited by Dr. George Wil- 

 son; Cavendish's electrical researches 

 were edited by J. Clerk Maxwell from 

 original manuscripts in the possession 

 of the Duke of Devonshire, and pub- 

 lished in 1879; since then there has 

 been no important monograph concern- 

 ing him. 



THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN 

 SPECIES. 



The discovery by Dubois of the 

 much discussed remains of Pithecan- 

 thropus erectus in a situation which 

 seems to indicate for them a late Plio- 

 cene horizon, has reawakened interest 

 in the phylogeny and antiquity of 

 man, and has led to a reexamination 

 of some of the more interesting pre- 

 historic remains. The Neanderthal 

 skeleton has recently been carefully 

 studied by Schwalbe and Klaatsch and 

 minute comparisons have been made 

 with recent races on the one hand, with 

 the Spy remains and Pithecanthropus 

 on the other and also with the recent 

 anthropoids. 



The results of these studies have 

 demonstrated a great similarity be- 

 tween the Neanderthal and Spy skele- 

 tons and the possession by these of so 

 many peculiarities which lie beyond 

 the limits of variation in recent human 

 races, that it has been thought neces- 

 sary to recognize them as representa- 

 tives of a distinct species of Homo, 

 the H.Neanderthaliensis. Of this species 

 we know at least three individuals and 

 possibly more, and it seems certain that 

 it is quite distinct from the Pithecan- 

 thropus, the skull characters of this 

 Javanese form placing it on a much 

 lower level than the Neanderthal- Spy 

 skulls, and showing a more pronounced 

 approach toward generalized anthro- 

 poid condition than is to be seen in 

 the European skulls. There is, how- 

 ever, an enormous gap between even 

 Pithecanthropus and the recent anthro- 

 poids, and, indeed, it seems certain that 

 the latter cannot be regarded as coming 

 into the direct line of human descent, 



but both these and existing human 

 races must trace back to a common 

 ancestor, whose characteristics are per- 

 haps indicated in the cranial peculiari- 

 ties of young anthropoids. 



If this be the case it would seem that 

 the origin of the human race must be 

 referred back to a period antedating 

 considerably the horizons to which H. 

 Neanderthaliensis and Pithecanthropus 

 belong. The former is assigned by 

 Klaatsch to the first interglacial period, 

 at the close of the Chellean era, while 

 the latter seems to pertain to the late 

 Pliocene, and the divergence of form 

 which led to the genus Homo would 

 accordingly seem to be referable to the 

 early Pliocene or possibly even to the 

 Miocene period. 



SCIENTIFIC ITEMS. 



We regret to record the death of 

 Henry Morton, the eminent engineer, 

 president of Stevens Institute of Tech- 

 nology since its foundation in 1870. — J. 

 Sterling Morton, ex-Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, died on April 27. — The death is 

 announced of Mr. Patrick T. Manson, 

 son of Dr. Patrick Manson, on Christ- 

 mas Island, whither he had gone to in- 

 vestigate the cause and treatment of 

 beriberi, on behalf of the London School 

 of Tropical Medicine. — M. Alfred 

 Cornu, the eminent physicist, since 1867 

 professor at the Ecole polytechnique, 

 Paris, has died at the age of sixty-one 

 years. — M. Emile Renou, founder and 

 director of the Meteorological Observa- 

 tory at St. Mauri, died in Paris on 

 April 7, aged eighty-seven. — M. Henri 

 Filhol, professor of paleontology at the 

 Jardin des Plantes, Paris, and the 

 author of numerous important con- 

 tributions to this science, has died at 

 the age of sixty years. — Immanuel 

 Lazarus Fuchs, since 1884 professor of 

 mathematics in the University of Ber- 

 lin, died on April 26 at the age of sixty- 

 eight years. — Dr. E. von Pfleiderer, pro- 

 fessor of philosophy at Tubingen, has 

 died at the age of sixty years. 



