Dec, 1904.] 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



301 



tinguishcd from the chimpanzi by tlic presence of this 

 great nasal fold running to the margin of the upper 

 lip, bv the large size ajul peculiar characters ot the 

 tusks and cheek-teeth; by its broad, sliort, thick hands 

 and feet, of which the lingers and toes are partially 

 webbed; by the long heel; and by the relative length of 

 the upper half of the arm as compared with the fore- 

 arm. .An important distincti\e featme c.f the skull of 

 the gorilla is the great length of the nasal bones. 

 Finallv, in life the gorilla is sharply differentiated 

 from the chimpanzi by its sullen, untaiiialjle, ferocious 

 disposition. 



As regards the relationship existing between the 

 gorilla and the chimpanzi, Dr. Keith's observations 

 are so important and so interesting, that they may be 

 quoted, with a few verbal alterations, at length : — 



" .\n examination of all the structural systems of the 

 .\frican anthropoids leads to the inference that the 

 gorilla is the more primitive of the two forms, and 

 approaches the common parent stock more nearly than 

 does the chimpanzi. The teeth of the gorilla, indi\ idu- 

 allv and collectively, form a complete dentition, a 

 dentition at the very highest point of development; 

 the teeth of the chimpanzi show marked signs of retro- 

 gression in development both in size and structure. 

 The muscular development and the consequent bony 

 crests for muscular attachment of the gorilla far sur- 

 pass those of the chimpanzi. The muscular develop- 

 ment of the adult chimpanzi represents that of the 

 adolescent gorilla. Some of the bodily organs of the 

 gorilla belong to a simpler and earlier type th;m those 

 of the chimpanzi. But in one point the chimpanzi 

 evidently represents more nearly the parent form- — its 

 limbs and body are more adapted for arboreal locomo- 

 tion; of the two, the gorilla shows the nearer approach 

 to the human mode of locomotion. On the whole, the 

 evidence at our disposal points to the conclusion that 

 the chimpanzi is a derivative from the gorilla stock, in 

 which, with a progressive brain-developiiient, there 

 have been retrograde changes in most of the other 

 parts of the body. The various races of chimpanzi 

 differ according to the degree to which these changes 

 have been carried." 



In conclusion it should be mentioned that four types 

 of gorilla are now recognised by naturalists. Firstly, 

 we have the true An(hropopitliccu% gorilla tvpiais, vS 

 the Gabun, in which the general colour is blackish grey, 

 frequently with a mixture of reddish brown hair on the 

 crown of the head; while very old males take on ;i 

 whitish grey tinge on the upper portion of the thigh 

 and the lower part of the back. .Secondly, there is 

 A. g. castaneiceps, which apparently ranges southward 

 to Portuguese West .Africa, and has longer hair, with 

 the crown ochre-brown, the back grey, and the limbs 

 blackish. The third form is A. g. bcringeri, founded 

 on the skull of a male killed near Mount Kirunga. 

 south of the .Albert Kdvvard .\yanza. in which the males 

 are bearded. Finally, A. g. 'dtehli is known onlv by a 

 skull from the Cameruns. 



" Pliysiography " (Macmillan and Co.). by T. H. Hii.xlcv. 

 This excellent standard work on the introduction to the 

 Study of Nature has been revised, extended, and to some 

 extent re-written bv Professor R. A. Gregory, of Queen's 

 College. London. He has done his work with modesty and 

 discretion, and the addition of copious illustrations greatly 

 add both to the usefulness and attractiveness of the book. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Snake Forms irv the Corvstella.tions. 



To THE EnlTOKS OF " Knowlkdge." 

 Gentlemen, — In your issue of October, 1904, Mr. Maunder 

 writes as follows: " If we take a preccssional globe, move the 

 pole back some 64° or 65° of precession, corresponding, say, 

 to about 2700 li.c, and .idjust the globe for N. Lai. 40' — in 

 other words, set it to the time and place when the constella- 

 tion figures were first defined — what do we find ? First of all 

 the Great Dragon . . . 



" Next Hydra. Here we have an arrangement even more 

 striking. As fig. 3 will show, Hydra at this time lay rif;ht 

 along the equator, extending over about 105', or seven hours 

 of Right Ascension. Thirdly, Serpens ... It is 

 scarcely conceivable that this threefold arrangement, which 

 is not suggested by any natural grouping of the stars, should 

 have been carried out as a matter of pure accident. It nui.st 

 have been intentional. For some reason or other— possibly 

 for the simple one that a snake was the animal form that 

 best lent itself to such a purpose — tlie equator, the eoliire, the 

 zenidi and the poles were all marked out by these serpentine 

 or draconic forms." 



Will you allow me space in your columns to re-state an 

 alternative suggestion made by me, concerning the date of the 

 first imagining of the constellation Hydra, in a paper entitled, 

 " .-Vstronomy in the Rig V'eda," read in Rome, October, iSqy, 

 at the Oriental Congress, and reprinted in my book, "Ancient 

 Calendars and Constellations." 



This suggestion would credit the astronomers of old with a 

 recognition of the deeper meanings of an almost universal 

 serpent symbohsm ; and it is, as it appears to me, more in line 

 with the results of recent archa;ological discoveries which 

 seem almost necessarily to throw back such symbolism, and 

 with it the dawn of astronomy, to a date much earlier th.an 

 2700 H.C. 



" On the celestial sphere many serpents and dragons are 

 represented, but the far-reaching constellation Hydra exceeds 

 .ill the others in its enormous length from head to tail. No 

 very brilliant stars mark the asterism, nor in the grouping 

 of its stars is there anything especially snake-like. For some 

 reason other than its appeal to the eye did astronomers of old 

 invest with all the horrors of the Hydra-form the monotonous 

 length of this space on the vault of the skies. 



" This reason may be arrived at, with almost certainty, in 

 studying, with the help of a precessional globe, the position in 

 the heavens of this constellation in different ages of the world's 

 history. So studying, we shall find that 4000 b.c. — or, to be more 

 precise, one or two hundred years earlier— Hydni extended 

 its enormous length for more than tjo' symmetrically along 

 one astronomically important (though invisible) mathematical 

 line — the line of the heavenly ecpiator— and was at the same 

 date accurately bisected by another equally importaTit mathe- 

 matical line, namely the colure of the summer solstice. 



" Almost irresistibl v, as it appears to me, the conviction forces 

 itself on the mind, in considering the position held by the con- 

 stellation Hydra 4000 n.c., that it was at tliat date that this 

 baleful figure was first traced in imagination on the sky, there 

 fitly to represent the power of physical (and may we not 

 suppose also, of moral ?) darkness— a great and terrible power 

 — but a power ever and ever again to be conquered by the 

 victorious power of light. In astronomic myth this power was 

 represented as that of the sun at the season of its highest cul- 

 mination, the season of the suimner solstice. For an observer 

 in the temperate northern zone all through the long nights of 

 mid winter, the whole length of the dreadful Hydr.i was at 

 the date named visible above the horizon. The dark mid- 

 winter season was therefore the time of the Hydra's greatest 

 glory. At every season of the year, except at that of mid- 

 summer, some portion of the monster's form was visible 

 during some part of the night. Hut at tlie summer solstice 

 no star in the constellation might show itself for ever so short 

 a time." 



I am. Gentlemen, &c.. 

 The Oaks, E.mmeline M. Plunkkt. 



Wimbledon Common. 



