MISCELLANY 



S l 9 



themselves, when they sit in church, by the 

 dulness or length of the sermon, or other 

 circumstances that offend against Nature, 

 and which they sometimes soothe with fennel 

 or hartshorn, or by changing of position, 

 and not seldom with sleep. When children 

 know they are not really deserving of pun- 

 ishment, the effect of whipping is to deaden 

 the moral sensibilities, diminish self-respect, 

 and render young natures rude, reckless, 

 and desperate." 



The report proper closes with a summa- 

 rized statement of the more important feat- 

 ures of the St. Louis school system, which, 

 both for the intelligent care with which it 

 is directed, and the excellent results at- 

 tained, is worthy of the consideration of 

 educators generally. 



Report on a Topographical Survey op the 

 Adirondack Wilderness op New York. 

 By Verplanck Colvin. Albany, 1873. 

 The Argus Company, Printers. 



This is an important contribution to the 

 geography of the State of New York. All 

 the maps of the Adirondack region hitherto 

 published abound in iuaccuracies, which are 

 here, for the first time, authoritatively cor- 

 rected. Even so prominent a landmark as 

 Mount Marcy, the highest mountain of the 

 State, is, in the usual maps, located miles 

 distant from its true place. When a map 

 of the Wilderness is constructed on the 

 data of Mr. Colvin's survey, it will indicate 

 a multitude of great streams, lakes, and 

 mountain elevations, quite ignored by the 

 map-makers. With regard to the future of 

 the Wilderness, Mr. Colvin thinks that the 

 whole water-shed of the Hudson, within the 

 limits of the Adirondack region, should be 

 preserved in its present condition, as a for- 

 est farm, and as a source of water-supply 

 for the cities and great towns on the Hud- 

 son, from Troy to New York and Brooklyn. 



MISCELLANY. 



Fossil Monkeys. With the title " On 

 the Primitive Types of the Orders of Mam- 

 malia Educabilia," Prof. E. D. Cope recent- 

 ly read a very remarkable paper before the 

 American Philosophical Society. The pro- 

 fessor referred to a previous description, by 

 himself, of certain fossil remains under the 



name Anaptomorphus cemulus, in which he 

 pointed out similarities of the teeth and 

 other parts to like parts in monkeys and 

 man. He also quoted Prof. 0. C. Marsh as 

 saying that three fossil genera, previously 

 described by himself, were all referable to 

 the Quadrumana, or monkeys, saying that 

 " they have the principal parts of the skel- 

 eton much as in some of the lemurs," the 

 lowest of the monkey race. Some fossil 

 remains, previously described by Prof. Cope, 

 were referred to a genus Tomitherium, but 

 with no suggestion as to the order to which 

 they might belong. A reexamination of 

 this genus has caused it to be referred to 

 the Quadrumana. A remarkable feature in 

 the osteology of this genus is, the relation- 

 ship shown also to the Coati (JVasua). " The 

 first impression derived from the appear- 

 ance of the lower jaw and dentition, and 

 from the humerus, is that of an ally of the 

 Coati (JVasua). The humerus, indeed, is 

 almost a fac-simile of that of JVasua. . . A 

 comparison with JVasua reveals no distant 

 affinity." The fossil remains of these an- 

 cient monkeys were obtained in Eocene 

 strata in the Bridger beds on Black's Fork, 

 Wyoming, and already some seven species 

 are described. 



As an example of remarkable scientific 

 prescience, as regards this monkey-cou3in- 

 ship of the JVasua, or Coati-Mondi, we give 

 the following foot-note on page six of this 

 interesting paper : " Dr. Lockwood, of Rut- 

 gers College, in a recent number of The 

 Popular Science Monthly, expressed seri- 

 ous suspicions of the quadrumanous rela- 

 tionships of the Coati, little thinking at the 

 time that the specimens to confirm his 

 view were, at that moment, in the hands 

 of palaeontologists." It is also worthy of 

 mention that Prof. Lockwood's singular in- 

 duction was worked out of psychological 

 considerations, he stating that the material 

 basis was not at hand, although he insisted 

 that such must exist. Results like the above 

 cannot but give confidence in the processes 

 of the science of comparative anatomy. 



Light-Waves and Sound- Waves. A cu- 

 rious instance of the analogies of light and 

 sound is given in the Medical Times, from 

 a German medical journal. Two brothers, 

 named Nussbaumer, are said to receive vis- 



