1 84 



NATURE 



\7an. 6, 1876 



In Figs. I and 2 the proximal vessels alone are repre- 

 sented to save confusion. 



M. Marey claims for this his new schema that with it 



he can reproduce all the phenomena of the cardiac circu- 

 lation ; at the same time that with it he can master all 

 the theories with reference to the signiftcance of the most 



Fio. 



important elements of the pulsation of the heart. In this 

 we think he is too sanguine ; for there are fundamental 

 elements of the cardiac circulation which it is quite unable 

 to indica»^e even the existence of bv means of it. One of 



the most important of these is the fact that the relative 

 length of the systole and diastole varies with the rapidity 

 of the pulse, a most important point not at present suffi- 

 ciently laid stress on. Another is the active diastole of 

 the ventricle, which immediately follows the closure of 

 the aortic valve. These and other minor considerations 

 all go to prove that, though the new schema of the circu- 

 lation is a great improvement upon all others yet intro- 

 duced, nevertheless the exact representation of acts so 

 complicated as the systole of muscular cavities cannot 

 yet be imitated by the employment of the unaided 

 mechanical powers. 



DAMMANN'S RACE-PHOTOGRAPHS 

 Ethnological Photographic Gallery of the Various Races 

 of Man. By C. and F. W. Dammann. (London: 

 Triibner and Co.) 



THE science of anthropology owes not a little to the 

 art of photography. It is true that in previous 

 times some few artists took the trouble to draw careful 



race-portraits, Catlin's American Indians (particularly 

 the large copies) and Burchell's Hottentots and Bushmen, 

 were among those of real value. But most engravings of 

 race-types to be found in books were worthless, either 

 wanting the special characters of the race, 

 or absurdly caricaturing them. Now-a-days, 

 little ethnological value is attached to any 

 but photographic portraits, and the skill of 

 the collector lies in choosing the right indi- 

 viduals as representatives of their nations. 

 Thus the great Aiithropologisch- Ethfiolo- 

 i^isches Album of Carl Dammann of Ham- 

 burg, completed some months go, is one of 

 the most important contributions ever made 

 to the science of man. Consisting of fifty 

 plates, portfolio size, with ten to twenty pho- 

 tographs on each plate, it goes far toward an 

 adequate representation of man in all his 

 varieties. A copy may be seen at the Anthropological 

 Institute, but its cumbrousness and cost (18/.) are beyond 

 the limits of most private libraries. It is therefore satis- 

 factory that the publishers have now brought out a smaller 

 educational atlas, price 3/. 3^., containing from 150 to 200 

 portraits, in a binding suitable for a drawing-room book. 

 We wish it all success, for it will make new anthropologists 

 wherever it goes. 



The plan on which the portraits are arranged is mainly 

 geographical, exact race-division being from the nature 

 of the case impracticable. Indeed one of the effects of 

 both the large and small albums will be in a negative 

 direction. They will do more than any quantity of written 

 criticism to check the rash generalisation as to race so 

 common in ethnological systems, and they will do this by 

 impressing on the minds of students ^the real intricate 

 blending of mankind from variety to variety. It is not 

 impossible that some day the time may come for scienti- 

 fically calculating the constitution of a race, on Quetelet's 

 principle of a central type with gradually decreasing 

 variants. But that time has not come yet, and the most 



