1868. | Zoology. 589 
copper wire, and the other end to another similar wire. These two 
wires were connected to the poles of a battery. The current would 
then divide itself, and a portion would pass through every wire pro- 
portional to the conducting power of that wire. This current 
heated the wire and caused the liquid in the tubes connected with 
the air-thermometers to descend, and the line drawn through the 
top of the columns was nearly similar to the curve already men- 
tioned, which was formed by the bulbs in which the heat-conduct- 
ing bars are fixed. 
11. ZOOLOGY—ANIMAL MORPHOLOGY AND 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
MorpHouoey. 
The Hair of different Races of Men.—M. Pruner-Bey has lately 
published two series of observations on the microscopic appearances 
of human hair in the different races. In five plates, he exhibits 
the forms of transverse sections of the hair in various people, and 
in many cases at different ages. Several of the more interesting 
races are represented by a considerable number of individuals, so 
that the characters of their hair have been established with great 
precision. Other isolated specimens belong to less known races, 
but M. Pruner-Bey has thought it advisable to include them for 
future comparison. He says a few words, especially in the first 
memoir, with reference to the characters of the hair which are 
visible to the naked eye. With respect to colowr, he has established 
the fact that it is not always black in the negress. Besides a red 
colour, which is very exceptional, he has met with hair of an ashy 
tint in some cases. Among two hundred specimens of hair from 
natives of India, only one occurred of a straw colour, and even this 
might have been of foreign origin. The hair of every race south 
of the Himalayas is jet black; but in proportion as we ascend into 
the more elevated regions, a brown colour occurs more and more 
frequently. The differential characters of the hair of various races 
are found chiefly in the forms presented by transverse sections; such 
sections, moreover, afford an opportunity of determining not only 
the form, but also the size of the hair, a character which M. Pruner- 
Bey considers of the greatest importance. Amongst the races whose 
hair our author has examined are Arabs and Jews, Greeks, Brah- 
mins, and Lithuanians, Fins, Esthonians, Samoyedes, Sicilians, 
Nigritoes, Australians, Malays, Polynesians, Americans, Chinese, 
Japanese, and an Ape. The Arian races show a regular oval out- 
