NATURE 
[January 28, 1897 
repeated, of the danger attending the consumption of milk in its 
raw unsterilised condition. 
THE origin and evolution of human marriage is a subject that 
appeals to many minds, and much has been written upon it by 
more or less competent students. In Zhe American Anthro- 
pologist for November 1896, W. J. McGee deals with some 
marriage observances of a few American aboriginal tribes. He 
traces an instructive sequence, beginning with the Seri Indians, 
who are probably the most primitive people in North America, 
and about whom very little has previously been published. 
Amongst these peoples the man is a suitor, not so much from 
personal inclination as from tribal incentive ; individual caprice 
is subordinated to the welfare of the community, and the matter 
is regulated by his female relatives and the maiden’s mother 
and maternal uncles. Theoretically they are monogamous ; 
marriage takes place only between members of different clans, 
but invariably within the tribe, infringement of the latter law 
being their greatest vice. The organisation of the Zui remains 
essentially maternal, the chief modification being the relaxation 
of the fierce tribal endogamy. The would-be bride is the chief 
suitor, as among the Tarahumari Indians of northern Mexico, 
where, according to Lumholtz, the maiden is a persistent wooer. 
Essentially the same stage is represented by the Seneca Indians, 
a more warlike tribe than the two last. The characteristic 
features of these and other American tribes organised on the 
basis of mother-descent, are monogamy, clan exogamy, tribal 
endogamy, the absence of bride purchase, and rudimentary 
personal inclination. Among the Indians of British Columbia, 
as described by Boas, mother-descent is merged with or passed 
into paternal organisation. A temporary exchange of property 
on the part of the groom, who is the suitor, occurs among the 
Kwakiutl, and the laws of monogamy, clan exogamy and tribal 
endogamy are materially relaxed. This tendency is increased 
among the Omaha and neighbouring Siouan Indians ; individual 
inclination becomes dominant, and wife-purchase obtains, with a 
concomitant degradation of woman; finally, the monogamic 
principle is almost wholly lost. In all the higher forms there 
are various vestiges of antecedent customs, so that every stage 
can be traced in observance and decadence. 
Ir is pointed out in the Bidleten of Miscellaneous Information 
of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, that the rainfall for 
that island is slowly but surely decreasing. The average rainfall 
for the decade 1862-71 was 66°715 inches; for the next decade 
(1872-81) it was 65°993, and for the third decade (1882-91) it 
was 65'037. The decrease indicated by the first and third 
values is 1°678 inches, or 251 per cent. during the thirty years 
from 1862 to 1891. Presuming that the same rate of decrease 
runs on for the next sixty years, Trinidad will then suffer from a 
rainfall diminished by about 8 inches. Mr. Hart points out that 
a rainfall decreasing at such a rate is alarming; and, if the 
inference is carried on, it follows that within a measurable 
distance of time Trinidad must become an arid desert as barren 
as the Great Sahara. The cause of the decrease is said to be 
the disappearance of the forests. 
WE have received from Mr. A. L. Rotch an interesting 
pamphlet, reprinted from <dffa/achia, vol. viii., and entitled 
‘* The Exploration of the Air,” containing a brief account of all 
the leading experiments, either in balloons, on mountains, or 
by means of kites, made for the purpose of solving such 
problems as decrease of temperature and humidity with 
elevation, the heights to which areas of high and low 
barometric pressure extend, and the circulation of the atmo- 
sphere at various heights; also containing good photographic 
views of some of the prominent observatories, and a diagram 
of comparative altitudes attained. The highest meteorological 
station in the world is that at El Misti, in Peru (19,200 feet), 
NO. 1422, VOL. 55] 
which was established by the Harvard College Observatory. It 
is impossible for observers to remain at this station, so it is 
provided with automatic instruments, which require only 
occasional attention. Among the other most notable mountain 
stations are Rocher des Bosses on the Alps (14,320 feet), and 
Sonnblick (10,170 feet). The only way in which the tempera- 
ture and humidity of the highest regions can be obtained is by 
means of unmanned balloons, which have reached altitudes of 
over ten miles. Recent experiments by these balloons have 
given temperatures of 90° below zero of the Fahrenheit scale. 
Recent improvements in kites have allowed observations to be 
recorded at a height of nearly 4000 feet, and have revealed 
many interesting facts. It seems not improbable that this 
simple method of ‘‘sounding” the atmosphere will in the 
future be used, in connection with observations made at the 
earth’s surface, in forming synoptic charts for forecasting 
weather. 
THE Ocvsterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift for November 
1896, gives some interesting particulars of Herr Sintenis’s 
botanical expedition in Greece. 
The second annual general report upon the mineral industry of 
the United Kingdom, for the year 1895, by Prof. C. Le Neve 
Foster, F.R.S., is published as a Blue Book. The report is a 
unique collection of statistics upon the minerals raised in Great 
Britain and Ireland, and the persons employed in mines. 
ArT the annual general meeting of the Geologists’ Association, 
to be held on Friday, February 5, at University College, the 
President, Mr. E. T. Newton, F.R.S., will deliver an address 
on ‘The Evidence for the presence of Man in the Tertiary 
Period.” 
A NUMBER of good reproductions of photographs of light- 
ning, and of effects produced by the discharge, accompany an 
article, by Mr. Jeremy Broome, in the February number of the 
Strand Magazine. In the English [illustrated Magazine, Mr. 
W. A.-Horn gives a good general account of the results of the 
scientific expedition to Central Australia, the cost of which was 
generously defrayed by him. Some of the illustrations from the 
report on the geology and botany of the region traversed (see 
NATURE, p. 185) accompany the article. 
Tue third part of Mr. Sydney Rowland’s ‘* Archives of 
Clinical Skiagraphy ” (the Rebman Publishing Company) has 
just appeared. It will be remembered that the publication con- 
sists of a series of collotype illustrations with descriptive text, 
representing applications of Rontgen photography to medicine 
and surgery. The new part contains Rontgen photographs o: 
fracture of the olecranon treated by suturing with wire, fracture 
of lower end of humerus, with separation of the external 
condyle, a case of hip-joint disease, supernumerary toes, a 
double human monstrosity, united fracture of both bones of the 
forearm before and after union by wiring, and the cardiac area. 
Mr. W. L. Disrant makes his bow in the January number 
of the Zoo/og7st, and delivers his prologue as editor of the series 
commenced under his guidance. He inaugurates the new era 
in the life of our contemporary by announcing that the official 
reports of Natural History Societies will be discontinued. Pre-, 
historic man, his past history, physical peculiarities, and con- 
nection with the old British fauna, is to be given his place in the 
pages ; and, to show that our remote ancestors really ought 
not to be disregarded by zoologists, Mr. E. W. Brabrook 
contributes to the present number an article on ‘‘Man in 
Zoology.” No longer is man to be considered as outside 
the domain of zoology. ‘‘ Evolution,” remarks Mr. Distant, 
‘‘is now the established corner-stone of the zoological edifice,” 
and upon it the new series is apparently to be built. Facts 
