G^graphical Collections. 293 



west coast, as on the northern part recently visited by the Danes. The 

 discovery of a Runic inscription at Kingiktorsoak has been already published 

 in the Journal of Natural and Geographical Science. — See letter from Dr 

 Rafn to the Geog. Soc. of Paris Bull. Feb. 1831. 



Travels in South America — M. de Parchappe, old officer of artillery, 

 and pupil of the Polytechnic School, who was driven from France by his 

 opinions at the period of the restoration, has taken advantage of his liberty 

 to explore the less known countries of South America. He found there 

 the unfortunate Bonpland, and became his friend and companion; since then 

 ijinother French traveller, the intrepid and courageous D'Orbigny, has, in 

 conjunction with him, made the most important discoveries in natural history, 

 whilst M. de Parchappe has been occupied with the geography of these 

 countries, of which our maps give but very imperfect sketches. 



The materials collected by M. Parchappe, on the Argentine republic, the 

 course of the streams towards Patagonia, the boundaries of the basin of the 

 Pampas, the manners and customs of the people who inhabit this vast 

 territory, and the rivers Parana and Uragua'i, as yet so little known, will 

 form parts of a publication which cannot but interest statesmen and men of 

 science. — Le Temps. 



Audubon, the American Ornithologist. — This enthusiastic naturalist is gone 

 again to the woods. He left Edinburgh last month, and after visiting Paris, 

 intends to proceed to New Orleans in August. It is his purpose to spend 

 eighteen months or two years in exploring the western side of the valley of 

 the Mississippi, up towards the Rocky Mountains. He will then return to 

 Edinburgh, and spend the rest of his days in arranging his collection, and 

 publishing a continuation of his Ornithological Biography. 



Influence of Climate and local causes over the proportion of Male and Female 

 Births. — Amongst the important investigations in which Dr Bailly has been 

 engaged during his stay in the Levant, we may particularize those which 

 regard the action of climate and local circumstances on generation, or rather 

 on conception and its products. To be able, however, to form a judgment 

 of the labours of Dr Bailly, and the consequences which are deducible from 

 them, it will be necessary to understand the state of the question before his 

 attention was directed to it. 



Before statistics had been applied to the determination of the law which 

 presides over the proportion of male and female births, there was an opinion 

 in the east, which, if not founded on positive knowledge, had at least the 

 institution of polygamy to support it : Most of the publicists, with Montes- 

 quieu at their head, had supposed that where men espoused many wives, 

 nature must have formed more females than males. According to this 

 opinion, polygamy was founded on a physical law proper to the east, whilst 

 nothing could justify it in Europe where the number of male births approxi- 

 mated very closely to that of female births. 



When statistics, which have thrown so much light on the different branches 

 of our knowledge, were applied to this subject, it was thought, from a 

 peculiar interpretation of the results, that an opposite conclusion to that of 

 Montesquieu might be deduced ; and it has been stated that the proportion 

 of males and females is always the same under all climates, and that temper- 

 ature has no influence whatever on the proportion of the sexes. How to 

 reconcile two contradictory opinions, one of which was founded on facts, 

 and proclaimed with the authority of a great name, whilst the other had in 

 its favour the irresistible power of figures, certainly appeared to be an object 

 worthy of consideration. And from the researches of Dr Bailly it appears, 

 that in spite of the authority of Montesquieu, the East does not produce 

 more females than males, and that notwithstanding the opinions admitted in 



