March 15, 1888] 



NATURE 



477 



ducted as with us. There are too few officers, and everybody has 

 too much to do ; nevertheless many of the reports exhibit an 

 amount of zeal and industry deserving of all the more recognition 

 on account of the difficulties under which much of the work is 

 done. 



From this point Mr. Warburg explains and describes in some 

 detail what has been eftected by the combined action of Kevv 

 and the Indian botanic gardens in the introduction, resulting in 

 the extensive cultivation, of economic plants of the first import- 

 ance, such as the cinchona, tea, and coffee, the cultivation and 

 manufacture of which have developed into industries of incalcul- 

 able value. He further alludes to the cultivation of rubber- 

 trees, ipecacuanha, fibre-yielding plants, &c,, which is, in 

 many instances, still in a more or less experimental stage. He 

 also enters into particulars and comparisons of the climate of 

 different districts in its relations to cultivation, and altogether his 

 Report is an interesting and instructive one, containing much 

 information new to the English public. He specially mentions 

 the great interest taken in the Madras gardens by Sir Mountstuart 

 Grant-Duff, and the material assistance he extended to Prof. 

 Lawson. And he concludes with a brief review of the literature 

 directly or indirectly connected with the botanic gardens of India, 

 culminating in Sir Joseph Hooker's gigantic undertaking, " The 

 Flora of British India." With regard to the intimate connection 

 between Kew and the Colonial and Indian gardens, Mr. 

 Warburg thinks it is at present most beneficial, though he looks 

 forward to the time when they shall have developed so far as to 

 be less dependent on a central institution. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Revue d'Anthivpologie, troisieme serie, tome iii. fasc. I (Paris, 

 1888). — On the colour of the eyes and hair among the non-nomadic 

 Tunisian tribes, by Dr. R. CoUignon, based on the observations of 

 Capt. Rebillet and Lieut. Fannezo. These observations, which were 

 conducted in accordance with the methods employed in France 

 for similar investigations, refer to more than 2000 individuals 

 belonging to the "sedentary" or settled populations of the 

 towns and rural district^. The men observed being all regular 

 soldiers, the tables do not refer to any nomads of Arab race, 

 since all the dwellers in tents are exempt from conscription in 

 Tunis. Expressed in general terms, among these 2030 indi- 

 viduals, dark eyes occurred in 1543 cases, or 7 '6 per cent., and 

 light eyes in 69 cases, or 3-5 per cent. ; while dark hair occurred 

 in 1887 cases, or 92 per cent., and light hair only in 7 cases, 

 or 0-4 per cent. On considering the data obtained from a 

 comparison of the tables referring to different districts, it is found 

 that the blond type occurs only sporadically, and almost ex- 

 clusively in the littoral settlements, on which account Dr. 

 Collignon thinks it may be assumed that its presence in the 

 Tunisian population is due to the incidental amalgamation of 

 foreign elements through invasion or immigration by more 

 northern races.— On the colour of the eyes and lyiirin Denmark, 

 by Herr Soren Hansen (communicated to the Society by Dr. 

 Topinard). From this paper we learn that observations made 

 on 2000 males of the a2:e of twenty, belonging to the southern 

 and eastern districts of Jutland, yielded the following results : 

 light, i.e. blue, eyes, 1527 ; dark eyes, 65 ; leaving 408 of medium 

 colour. In regard to the colour of the hair it was found 

 necessary to establish four groups, which gave the following 

 figures: dark brown, 306; medium, 1267; light (blond), 333"; 

 and red, 94. From this it would appear that the majority of 

 the population have blue eyes, and medium brown, or chestnut, 

 hair. A further analysis of Herr Hansen's tables shows that 

 while the perfect brown type— /.^. where both hair and eyes are 

 dark — occurs only in 27 per cent. ; blond hair and light eyes 

 are met with in i6-2 per cent. Finally the curious circumstance 

 has been deduced that while light eyes are twenty-four times 

 more frequent than dark ones, light hair is only seven times 

 more frequent than dark hair ; hence Dr. Topinard is led to 

 ask whether the explanation of [this peculiarity may not have to 

 be sought in some general law by which in a mixed race, 

 descended from blond and dark races, the eyes may be more 

 generally transmitted from theformer, and the hair from thelatter. 

 -—On recruiting in the cantons of St.-Omer, by Dr. H. Favier. 

 The enormous difference in the cantons north and SDuth of St.- 

 Omer in the number of persons available for military service has 

 been attracting much notice among French officers of late years. 

 According to M. Costa, who wrote on the subject in 1866, these 



differences are due to hygienic causes ; the district north of St.- 

 Omer, where the rejections are only 227 in 1000, being well 

 adapted to agricultural and other rural pursuits, while in the 

 southern canton, where the rejections amount to 342 in 

 looo the lands are almost all marshy, exposing the inhabitants 

 to fevers and other malarian influences by which the race is 

 deteriorated. Dr. Favier does not believe that these causes 

 affect the question in any way, but, even if they did so when M. 

 Costa wrote, statistics prove that of late years, more especially 

 since the stricter law of conscription of 1872 has been put into 

 force, the south canton has shown a gradual diminution in the 

 numbers of rejections ; and while he denies the action of malarian 

 causes or the influence of differences of ethnic origin between 

 the people of the two cantons, he believes that to industrial 

 centres, such as d'Arques in the southern canton, may very 

 possibly be ascribed certain conditions antagonistic to the success 

 of recruiting.— On the '' castellets" oi Mont Sainte-Baume in 

 Provence, by Dr. Beranger-Feraud. The presence of numerous 

 little heaps of stones on the higher peaks of Mont Sainte- 

 Baume has repeatedly arrested the attention of strangers, and 

 the fact of their having been deposited by the hand of man is 

 now confirmed by Dr. B. Feraud, who last year made the 

 ascent of the mountain for the purpose of investigating their 

 character and purpose. These so-called " caslellets" (little 

 castles) are either composed of several stones forming a rude 

 sort of pyramid, or of one large stone inserted in a fissure of the 

 rocky soil. Although widely distributed, they are most frequent 

 in the vicinity of the oratory of Saint-Pilon, where they are 

 found at an elevation of nearly 1000 feet, close to the edge of the 

 vertical wall of rock forming the northern boundary of the range. 

 On inquiry he learnt that these structures were also locally 

 designated mouloiins de joye (heaps of joy), and that they were 

 not alone intended to testify to the successful ascent of the 

 pilgrims to the summit of St. Pilon, but were frequently designed 

 to propitiate St. Magdalen, to whom prayers are made on the 

 spot for approval of the special maiden whom the worshipper 

 may desire to marry. In the latter case the mound is visited 

 by the builder at the end of a year, and if he finds the stones 

 undisturbed he considers that the saint approves of his choice ; 

 if, however, the heap is broken up, this is generally regarded as a 

 decisive barrier against the intended marriage. In this super- 

 stition. Dr. B. Feraud sees a survival of the ancient usage of 

 erecting stone monuments as altars, pillars, menhirs, &c., to 

 commemorate some important personal event. — On inequality 

 amongst men, by M. de Lapouge. In this address the view 

 is boldly advocated that a man is what his birth made him, and 

 that education can do no more for him than develop the pre- 

 existing germs derived from his progenitors in accordance with 

 the laws of heredity. This reasoning is extended to classes, 

 nations, and races, who are assumed to be unequal, and incapable 

 of attaining to an equal degree of perfection. The writer divides 

 men into four classes, in the first of which he places those 

 possessed of creative and initiative faculties above their 

 fellows, while it is to the relative numerical preponderance of 

 this class over the others that he refers the undoubted superiority 

 of one race over another. He thus sees in the dolichocepalic 

 blonds the most favoured of all the races of humanity, since, 

 from the dawn of history, all heroes and leaders among men 

 have belonged to this type. In modern times the Anglo-Saxon 

 race has owed its superiority to the preponderance of this 

 dolichocephalic element. He believes that France is suffering 

 from the diminution of this type in its population, together 

 with the rising predominance of the brachycephalic type to 

 which the lower classes of the community belong, while he 

 anticipates as inevitable a great deterioration of the general 

 national character through the amalgamation of the two. Simi- 

 larly he sees in the present movement for raising the negro 

 races a deep source of danger in the future to the more highly 

 gifted Aryan races, who may in time find themselves beaten 

 down by the brute force of teeming masses of inferior brachy- 

 cephalic peoples. Such are some of the leading points in M. 

 de Lapouge's treatise, which, notwithstanding its redundancy 

 of diction, and the dogmatism with which certain views are 

 maintained, is a highly interesting, suggestive, and learned 

 contribution to ethical inquiry. 



Bulletin de V Acadhnie Royale de Belgique, December 1887. — 

 On some new derivatives of normal heptylic alcohol compared 

 with their homologues, by C. Winssinger. After describing the 

 mode of formation and special properties of normal heptylic 

 alcohol, of the chlorides of heptyl, heptylic mercaptan, oxy- 



