I(i2 



POPULAR SOTENCE ITEWS. 



[NoVliMBKK, 1889. 



from purely a zoologist's standpoint. Let, as it 

 w-'re, men be entirely stripped of their habiliments; 

 s>?t aside all their arts, habits, civilizations, and rel- 

 ative powers; set aside, too, all psychological and 

 physiological considerations. Let none of these 

 influence us. or have any weight in the matter; it is 

 then only that we can come down to the plane of the 

 classifier, pure and simple, and deal with the subject 

 in a way that precludes all bias. 



The in\-estig:itor nnist. for the lime. cnlireK" dis- 

 sociate Ills mind from the cinracter of hi.-. uKiterial, 

 and. lifting his specimens from the spirit to the 

 laborntory table for e.xaminaiion, regard them solely 

 as the synlematist does other forms submitted to 

 him tor an opinion. Thus, as a group, men .".re 

 qui'.e distinct from other mnmm.nlian types of exist- 

 ing (irdcrs, being structurnlly most nearly relited to 

 the higher anthropoid forms. This being the case, 

 how would we proceed under similar circumstances 

 were a full suite of specimens of any other group of 

 mammals to be thus placed before us, — take, for 

 instance, the Chiropiera or bats.' Our general 

 knowledge of mammalogy soon convinces us that 

 we are asked to deal with at least a new order of 

 animals, and this being decided we next define its 

 sub-orders, — if such be demanded. — its families, 

 sub-families, genera and sub-genera, species, and, 

 finally, — thanks to trinomialism, — its sub-species. 



Selecting a few of the most distinct types of men 

 from the worldis anthropofauna, — as, for instance, 

 a full-blooded Congo negro, an Australian, and an 

 Aino, — it would surely seem that at least family 

 lines can be safely drawn among them. Strong 

 characters, chosen from the skeleton (especially the 

 skull), from the color of the skin, from the hair, and 

 from the general features and form, would have 

 their weight. To my mind, if the ornithologist can 

 without violence place a starling {SUn-nus) in one 

 family, as he does, and a blackbird {ScoUeophaijiis) 

 in another, why most assuredly we should not hesi 

 tate long what disposition to make of a Chinaman 

 and a negro. But then at once comes up the ques 

 tion that all forms of men are fertile inter se, which, 

 it is held, militates against any such kind of classi- 

 fication, and points to the fact that they but repre- 

 sent, perhaps, as a group, only one species, with its 

 varigties. Now is this matter of fertility to be held 

 as such a barrier to the taxonomy of men .? It is by- 

 no means as yet a fully established fact that all 

 races are fertile inte}- se, nor do we positively know 

 whether a cross between a Hottentot and a chim- 

 panzee would prove to b» infertile every time. 

 Some extraordinary cases of hybridism are upon 

 record, and we must believe there would be a great 

 many more of them if the crossing of certain 

 animals could be brought about. Of all animals, 

 man is by far most prone to heterogeneous se.\ual 

 intercourse, and so heterogeny is very likely to 

 follow. Cases could be cited where mammals of 

 different genera have proved fertile upon crossing, 

 and further, their progeny were not characterized 

 by sterility; andean it be positively said that this 

 can never occur in the case of any two families.' 

 In short, then, it may be stated that the fertility 

 existing inter se among the various forms of men 

 inhabiting the earth, is abundantly proven by the 

 vast number of cases upon which proof rests, and 

 that the almost entire absence of cases of crossin'' 

 among other divers groups of closely related forms, 

 has been the chief source to account for the rarity 

 of hybrids among them. 



We must not classify men as an ornithologist 

 would classify the innumerable varieties of fancy 

 pigeons, for the gaps among the various forms of 

 men are much greater and wider. Nor much less, 

 from the complexity and difllculty of the problem, 

 must we let either go unclassified, simply remaining 



satisfied with their vulgar names, as we are in the 

 cases of other domestic animals. That is extremely 

 unscientific. Granting, for the moment, an order, 

 primates, to contain the man-like apes and man, it 

 would hardly seem that any great violence would be 

 done were we to create within this order a sub-order 

 to contain man alone. Then such groups as we 

 find in Huxley's Negroid, Australoid, Xanthochroic, 

 Mongoloid, and Molanochroic types could be rele- 

 gated to families, and even perhaps a few more of 

 them be created. Mestizos, Mulattoes, Zambos, 

 with a host of others, might be generically defined 

 with some degree of accuracy; then, after that, the 

 canons controlling the definition of species and sub- 

 species would have to deal with this, the most infi- 

 nitely formidable of all the problems zoologic that 

 the world offers us for solution, in the best manner 

 they could. Be it remembered, however, tliat 

 "zoological nomenclatin-e is a means, not an end, of 

 zoological science," and that the best of our classifi- 

 cations only intend to present to our minds, in 

 orderly arrangement, the forms classified, and as 

 far as possible indicate their probable affinities. 



+»♦ 



URANIUM. 

 Ex.\CTLY a century ago — namely, in 17S9 — Klap- 

 roth succeeded in isolating from a dark-colored 

 mineral known as pitchblende, a yellow oxide, 

 which, after carefully testing, he pronounced to be 

 the oxide of a new metal. To this metallic sub- 

 stance he gave the name of uranium, so calling it 

 after the planet Uranus, then recently discovered by 

 Herschel, and it was at once classed among the rare 

 metals, and still remains so. Its rarity is indicated 

 by its market price, which is about $12,000 per ton. 

 There are several oxides of this metal, but the best 

 known and most important is the sesquioxide, which 

 forms a number of beautiful yellow salts. This 

 oxide is largely einployed for imparting delicate 

 golden and greenish yellow tints to glass, while 

 the protoxide is much used in producing the costly 

 black porcelain. Uranium is also found to be useful 

 in certain photographic processes as a substitute for 

 the chloride of gold; but its rarity and consequent 

 high price have hitherto caused its application to be 

 very limited, although there are uses other than 

 those already named to which it could be put if it 

 were less scarce and less costly. It is found in 

 Cornwall, Saxony, and Bohemia, but up to the 

 present time it has only been met with in isolated 

 pockets and patches. The centenary of its discovery 

 ■ by Klaproth has, however, been marked bv the 

 finding of a continuous lode at the Union mine, 

 Grampound Road, Cornwall, which is believed to 

 be the only known lode in the world. This discov- 

 ery is regarded as unique in the history of the metal, 

 for the lode is what is known as a true fissure vein, 

 and the ore is found to contain an average of 12 per 

 cent, of the pure metal, the assays going up as high 

 as 30 per cent, in some parts of the lode. Several 

 tons of the ore have already been raised and sold, 

 fetching high prices. The lode traverses the mine 

 from north to south, and the uranium occurs in it 

 chiefly as a sesquioxide. It is anticipated that the 

 present discovery will enable two important appli- 

 cations of the metal to be followed up. The first is 

 as a substitute for gold in electroplated ware, inas- 

 much as with platinum and copper it forms two 

 beautiful alloys, each having the appearance of 

 gold, and the former also resisting the action of 

 acids. The second application is in connection 

 with electric installations, where its usefulness con- 

 sists in its high electrical resistance. The mineral 

 deposits generally at the Union mine are of an 

 exceptional character, comprising, in addition to 

 uranium, magnetic iron, silver lead, tin, copper, 

 ochre, and umber. — liondon Times. 



SCIENTIFIC BREVITIES. 



Electric Fishi.ng. — The very latest application 

 of the electric motor is to salmon fishing. A small 

 motor, worked with a pocket battery, is to be used 

 to run the reel of a salmon fishing-rod, and play the 

 unruly inhabitant of the water by motor force 

 instead of by hand. 



Natural Spheres. — At a recent meeting ot the 

 Genevan Society of Physics and Natural History, 

 says Nature, M. Mallet exhibited two balls of almost 

 perfect sphericity, about four inches in diameter, 

 one black, and of vegetable origin, the other white, 

 and of mineral origin, but both produced by a me- 

 chanical movement. The black ball had been found 

 with another in a piece of oak which had long 

 served as the shaft of a mill-wheel. A cavity having 

 formed in the wood, through disease or the work of 

 some insect, the dust of the wood, with acquired 

 moisture, had been rolled into this spherical form, 

 growing in size, like a snowball (a slow process of 

 many years, probably, as the wheel was very old.) 

 The white ball, a calcareous pebble, was found with 

 many others in a grotto traversed by a torrent which 

 flowed into the Rhone. 



Sun Dials. — Charles Lamb was possibly not far 

 wrong, says The llorological Journal, when he con- 

 jectured that Adam had a sun dial in Paradise. 

 Dials are probably older even than alchemy. The 

 Babylonians had them; though the Egyptians, that 

 wondrous people who knew most of the things the 

 moderns have rediscovered, seem not to have used 

 them. The Babylonians gave them to the Greeks; 

 the Greeks, to the Romans ; and the Emperor Tra- 

 jan is credited with an epigram upon the art of 

 dialing. Naturally dials are most frequent in lands 

 where the sun shines, as a matter of course, and not 

 as a rare complacence. French and Italian gardens 

 are full of them. To the walls of sunny chateaux 

 thev are fixed in hundreds. In the old days, when 

 there was time for sentiment, and room for it, sun 

 dials were favorite gifts from- great personages to 

 one another, — from people to princes, and from 

 princes to people. Cosmo de' Medici, whose fitful 

 humors so angered Benvenuto Cellini, gave one to 

 the Florentine students of astronomy; and on the 

 wall of Santa Maria Novella it still marks the time 

 of day. 



ANTiquE Marble. — Marble is divided into an- 

 tique and modern. Antique marble is that which 

 came from quarries which are now either exhausted 

 or unknown. Modern marbles are those which are 

 still being quarried. The antique marble quarries 

 which were in Greece, and from which were made 

 the most beautiful statues still existing in Italy, are 

 unknown now. We use in its place Carrara marble. 

 The finest of these antique marbles is the lapis. It 

 is of a deep blue color, stained with a clearer sky 

 blue and intermixed with veins of golden hue. 

 This marble, because of its rarity, was only used for 

 inlaying. There are several specimens of it still to 

 be seen in mosaic. "Porphyry" ranks next to the 

 lapis in value, and is the hardest of the antique mar- 

 bles. It was brought from quarries in Numidia in 

 Africa, and was called the Numidian lapis. It 

 varied in color, being either red, gray, or green. 

 The red variety is susceptible of the highest polish, 

 and is of a deep red color with white spots in it. 

 The green porphyry was very rare, and is only 

 known through a very few vases and slabs. Ser- 

 pentine was formerly obtained from the Egyptian 

 quarries. The stone used by the ancients in the 

 largest quantities was granite. Most of the build- 

 ings of Rome, even to the dwellings of private citi- 

 zens, were decorated with it, and it is evident that 

 this stone was abundant from the amount that was 

 used. 



