1868. | Astronomy. 373 
The ‘ Anthropological Review’ for April contains nothing that 
demands notice from us except a partial report of the proceedings 
of the Congress of Pre-historic Archzology which was held at Paris 
last year. Certain questions were proposed for open discussion; but 
of course we cannot give in this Chronicle even an outline of the 
facts and opinions advanced in illustration of them. With respect 
to caverns, however, we learn from the ‘Anthropological Review’ that 
it was agreed that they should be divided into three classes, namely, 
(1) those which contain the Quaternary fauna, now utterly extinct ; 
(2) those in which the Reindeer assumes a large development; and 
(3) the caverns which contain only the animals now found in the 
country, many of which had been no doubt domesticated. We also 
learn that it was generally admitted that cannibalism was practised in 
pre-historic times down to the period of polished stone. Other ques- 
tions related to the antiquity of man, the megalithic monuments 
and their builders, the Bronze age, the Iron age, and the anato- 
mical characters of Pre-historic man. On the last question, apart 
from minor differences of opinion, there was some amount of agree- 
ment that there were two races of Pre-historic men, one brachy- 
cephalic and the other dolicocephalic. M. Pruner-Bey, however, 
preferred describing the former as characterized by a lozenge-shaped 
face and the latter by an oval-shaped face. 
This year the Congress will be held at Norwich, commencing 
on August 20th, under the presidency of Sir John Lubbock, 
Bart., F.B.S. 
3. ASTRONOMY. 
(Including the Proceedings of the Royal Astronomical Society.) 
Tue re-discovery of Brorsen’s comet is the most interesting astro- 
nomical occurrence of the past quarter. This comet must not be 
confounded with another—also called Brorsen’s comet—which re- 
volves in a much more extended orbit. The comet just discovered 
belongs to that remarkable family of comets of which Biela’s, De 
Vico’s, and other objects are members. All the comets of this 
family—in other words, all the comets of short period—have the 
aphelia of their orbits pretty close to the orbit of Jupiter. It seems 
probable that the introduction of these comets within the solar 
system—or at least to their present position in that system—is 
due to the action of this great planet. This is certainly the case 
with Brorsen’s comet; since D’Arrest has shown that before 1842 
it had been moving in an orbit of very different figure. In that 
year it passed very near to Jupiter, and was compelled by his 
