9° 



NATURE 



[November 22, 1894 



snch work, added to a telescope of accurate construction and of 

 great power. This explains why it is that it was not seen before 

 1882. In the ten years that have transpired since that time, it 

 has been seen and described at eight or ten observatories. 

 Nevertheless, some still deny that these phenomena are real, 

 and tax with illusion (or even imposture) those who declare 

 that they have observed it. 



Explanations of the Gemination of Canals. 



Havins regard then to the principle that in the explanation 

 of natural phenomena, it is universally agreed to begin with the 

 slmi'lest suppositions, the first hypotheses on the nature and 

 cause of the geminations have for the most part put in opera- 

 tion only the laws of inorganic nature. Thus the gemination 

 is supposed to be due either to the effects of light in the atmo- 

 sphere of Mars, or to optical illusions produced by vapours in 

 various manners, or to glacial phenomena of a perpetual 

 winter, lo which it is known all the planets will be con- 

 denined, or to double cracks in its surface, or to single cracks 

 of which the images are doubled by the effect of smoke 

 issuing in long lines and blown laterally by the wind. The 

 examinaiion of these ingenious suppositions leads us to con- 

 clude that none of them seem to correspond entirely wiih 

 the observed faci-s either in whole or in part. Some of these 

 hypothcse.s would not have been proposed had their authors 

 been able to examine the geminations with their own eyes. 



It is far easier to explain the gemination if we are willing to 

 introduce the forces pertaining to organic nature. Here the field 

 of plausible supposition is immense, being capable of making an 

 infinite number of combinations capable of satisfying the appear- 

 ances even w iih the sm.-illest and simplest means. Changes of vege- 

 tation over a vast area, and the production of animals, also very 

 small, but in enormous multiiudes, may well be rendered visible 

 at such a distance. An observer placed in the moon would be 

 able to see such an appearance at the times in which agricultural 

 operations are carried out upon one vast plain — the seed time j 

 and the gathering of the harvest. In such a manner also would i 

 the flowers of the plants of the great steppes of Europe and Asia 

 be rendered visible at the distance of .Mars— by a variety of 

 colouring. A similar system of operations produced in that 

 planet may thus certainly be rendered visible to us. But how 

 difficult for the Lunarian's and Areans lo be able to imagine the 

 true causes of such changes of appearance, without having first 

 at least some superficial kno« ledge of terrestrial nature ! So 

 also for us, who know so little o( the physical stale of Mars, 

 and nothing of its organic world, the great liberty of possible 

 supposition renders arbitiary all explanations of this sort, and 

 constitutes the gravest obstacle lo the acquisition of well-founded 

 notions. All that we may hope is that with time the uncertainly 

 of the problem will gradually diminish, demonstrating, if not 

 what the geminations are, at least what they cannot be. We 

 may also c jnfidc a lilllc in what Galileo called " the courtesy of 

 nature," lli.irks lo which, sometimes from an unexpected source, 

 a ray of light will illuminate an invesiigali.n at first believed 

 inaccc-sible to our speculations, and of which we have a 

 beautiful tx.Tnii-1c in celestial chemistry. Let us therefore hope 

 and »tu<K 



EARLY lililTISH RACES} 

 \\. 



IN continental caves human skeletons of this period have been 

 found; of these, pcihaps, the best known is the famous 

 Neanderthal one, from a cave near Diisseldorf. Upon this 

 skeleton alone it woulil not have been prudent to have base.l 

 the chaiacieis of I'.ilaioliihic cave men, because Ihe circum- 

 stances under which it was found have given rise to some 

 doubt ax lo in being of this age, and it is by some con- 

 sidered "o belong to the next period which we have lo deal 

 with. When it is taken in conjunction with others presenting 

 similar characlem, regarding which there is no doubt as to 

 the age lo which ihey belung, ihe evidence it affords is 

 consiiltrably Mrerglhcncd. The find of two skeletons at 

 Spey (in Hclgium) in 1886, has been most important, both in 

 advancing our knowledge and confirming ihe characters 

 ascrilicd 10 this race from various less complete specimens. The 

 cranium of the Neanderthal »kcleton, though very imperfect, 

 is long and pro|«irtionatcly n.nrrow in form, having a cephalic 

 index of 72, the glabella, brow ridges, and external orbital pro- 

 I Conliniicd from p. 7C^ 



cesses are enormously developed, the forehead is remarkably 

 fl.ittened, the occiput is prominent, and the elevation of the 

 whole vault is extremely low. The skulls of bolh the Spey 

 skeletons are also long and narrow, one having a cephalic 

 index of 70, and the other of 746 ; the superciliary ridges and 

 also the glabella are very prominent ; the frontal sinuses are 

 large, the external orbital processes are thick and projecting, 

 the ridges on the frontal, parietal, and temporal bones for 

 muscular attachments are strongly developed ; Ihe occiput is 

 prominent with a well-marked "torus" at the junction of the 

 curved muscular ridges, which are also large : the cranial vault 

 is low and llattened from above downwards, and presents an 

 antero-posterior curve very similar to the outline of the side of 

 an ellipse. The malar bones have thick and broad orbit.al 

 processes, the orbital cavities are deep, and the oviiilal breadth 

 is;but slightly inferior to the width ; the zygomatic arches are 

 large. The sire of the lower molar teeth increases from before 

 backwards, the first molar bting the smallest, and the wisdom 

 or last molar the largest. The lower jaw shows no prominence 

 of the chin ; indeed, it recedes somewhat from the alveolar 

 border downwards, and has a symphesial angle of ill". It is 

 thus a counterpart of the Naulette mandible, which presents 

 similar characters, bolh as regards the molars and symphesial 

 angle. The stature of the Neanderth.al skeleton, estimated 

 from the length of the femur, is I 604 metres (5 ft. 3 in.l, and 

 from the humerus 2 cm. less ; that of the Spey skeleton (there 

 being only one of these in which the long bones could be 

 measured), estimated from the femur and tibia, is i 504 metres 

 (4 ft. Ili in.), and from the femur alone, i'540 metres 

 (5 ft. o\ in.). The stature of the Naulette skeleton, that of a 

 woman, estimated from the ulna, is i"433 metres (4 ft. 4A in.), 

 and shows that she also was very short. 



The long bones of bolh upper and lower limbs of the Neander- 

 thal skeleton are characterised by their unusual thickness, and 

 the great development of the elevations and depressions for the 

 attachment of muscles, the articular ends of the lemur are 

 also of larger size than usual. The femur of ihe Spey skeleton is 

 more arched forward than usual, it is somewhat llatlened from 

 side to side in section, and the articular ends are of large size, 

 especially the lower, in which there is enormous anteroposterior 

 development of the articular surface of the condyles. The 

 tibia is actually and proportion.ately very short, flattened later- 

 ally, and therefore plalycnemic. The bones generally are 

 remarkable for their sioutness, and indicate that the muscles 

 attached to them were large and powerful, especially those of 

 the lower limb. In respect to the plalycnemism of the tibia, 

 the Spey skeleton corresp nds to the Langcrie Hasse and Made- 

 lainc bones from the I'erigord Caves, and confirms in a very 

 positive manner the evidence of thtir surroundings and relicts 

 that Palreolilhic jieople were sons of the chase, as it is connected 

 with the development of the tibialis posticus muscle, and not a 

 race character. 



Portions of skulls and skeletons found in various parts of the 

 continent, associated with Pal.-colithic implements and animal 

 remains of late Pleistocene limes, suppoit the peculiar race 

 characters of the specimens just described. The osieological re- 

 mains of Pal.-colilhicage now in hand from different pans of the 

 continent seem to me lo afford sufficient evidence of the exist- 

 ence, both in drift and in cave deposits, of a race of men 

 possessing physical characters quite distinct from those of the 

 Neolithic period, which we will next consider. The assertions 

 which have been made at various times wilh respect to indi- 

 vidual specimens being more or less pathological, will, to my 

 mind, not hold good when we fiml specimen alter specimen 

 from the same deposits showing similar characters. It may not 

 be possible, in some cases, to establish the fact that the speci- 

 men cannot have been deposited at a later period in the stratum 

 in which it is found, but a careful examination of each speci- 

 men, such, for example, as Prof. Topinanl has made of the 

 m.andilile from Naulette, shows anatomical conditions which, 

 not in one respect but in several, indicate as dislincllv as his 

 iinplcmenis the progress of man's evolution, ami preclude the 

 idea of this type being a variety ol the Neolithic people. The 

 specimens ol Pala;olilhic man seem lo me to show identity of 

 race, whether ihcy have been found in the river drift or in the 

 Palaroliihic stratum of caves. Ihe ideaol Prof, lioyd Dawkins, 

 that the implements found in the rivcrdi ids and later Palrco- 

 liihic deposits of caves, give evidence of lliere being two Pala;o- 

 lithic races, is not supported by the osieological remains yet to 

 hand. From extensive examination of ancient Hiilish skelelonF, 



NO. TH08, vol. si] 



