Dec. 8, 1881]: 
NATURE 
135 
women”; the process is continued from four to five 
months. 
Besides this direct information there is an artificially 
deformed skull ofan “‘Alifuru,” from Celebes in the Hildes- 
heim Museum; and of a Bugis from South Celebes, in the 
Vrolik Collection of Amsterdam, the descriptive catalogue 
saying : “ Plus que tout autre ce crane fait l’effet d’avoir 
été comprimé A son jeune 4ge par une grande force 
agissant d’arriére en avant.” Dr. Barnard Davis remarks 
on a skull from Makassar, in South Celebes : “ Has an 
extensive parieto-occipital flattening; the result is a 
brachycephalism which scarcely seems compatible with 
undesignedness.” No doubt this is proof enough to justify 
the opinion that the custom is spread over the whole 
- island of Celebes. 
As to Sumatra Marsden has often been quoted, “that 
the women have the custom of compressing the heads of 
children newly born, whilst the skull is cartilaginous, 
which increases their natural tendency to that shape.” 
From Java it has been made known by Professors van 
der Hoeven, Swaving, Halbertsma, and Zuckerkandl, that 
a considerable proportion of the skulls from that island are 
asymmetrical, viz. 60 per cent., and that of three awry 
skulls two are flattened on the left side. Prof. Halbertsma 
supposes that this asymmetry comes from the child’s posi- 
tion on its left side while sleeping ; Prof. Zuckerkand]l is 
of opinion that it comes from pressure during birth ; 
whereas Prof. Rolleston, whose premature death we deeply 
deplore, expressed the following view :—“ The wish to 
keep the right arm free causes the left arm to be usually 
employed for carrying a child; the pressure of a sling 
used in aid of the left arm would come to bear mainly on 
the left side of the child’s head, and the observed flatten- 
ing would thus be accounted for.’ However this may 
be, the asymmetry does not appear to occur as a result of 
designed deformation ; but Dr. Swaving concedes that 
the midwives try to change the form of the head in the 
newly-born child by pressure; Dr. Gosse saw a Javanese 
skull with occipito-nasal deformation, and perhaps this 
question must be more thoroughly studied on the spot to 
get a better insight. 
Dr. Davis says of a skull from the island of Bali :— 
“ Approaches closely to the American crania deformed 
by occipito-frontal pressure ;*it is so great as to render it 
very difficult to look upon the distortion as uninten- 
tional,” 
The Dresden Museum possesses a skull from the 
island of Ceram, and another one from Boano, near 
Ceram, which appear to be artificially deformed ; further, 
two skulls of the same kind from the island of Flores 
among ten specimens. Ofa skull fromthe island of Timor, 
Dr. Davis says: ‘Of extraordinary form and propor- 
tions, being extremely brachycephalic, and exhibiting a 
large parieto-occipital flattening.” Finally, the Dresden 
Museum recently got from the Timorlaut Island group 
two skulls which undoubtedly are artificially deformed. 
I will not proceed further on to New Guinea, because this 
would lead me into the Papuan or Melanesian region, 
where, as well as on many islands of the South Sea, the 
custom prevails; but I only proposed to show its being 
far spread through the Malay Archipelago. I do not 
doubt that more information will come from this region, 
if only the attention of residents and explorers in future 
is directed to the question, and if more skulls are for- 
warded to scientific men and institutions. 
: A. B. MEYER 
NOTES 
EVERYTHING in connection with the Crystal Palace Electrical 
Exhibition appears to be progressing most satisfactorily. All 
the available space has been allotted to exhibitors, and 
many applications for room have had to be refused. The 
_ best positions have been given to the first applicants, and 
from appearances there is little doubt but that this exhibition 
will be a success, As an Electric Light Exhibition it will 
surpass that in Paris, because the peculiarities of the building 
permit direct comparisons being made, and allow of each 
different system having a portion of the building allotted to 
itself, Thus the whole of the nave will be divided off, each 
part to a different system, while all the different courts, the 
Alhambra Court, the Pompeian Court, and others, will have a 
separate and distinct system applied to its illumination, There 
does not appear to be in the world a building more suited for 
the display of the electric light than the Crystal Palace with the- 
far-famed courts referred to. There is little hope of any show 
being made before the commencement of the ensuing year, but 
there is strong reason to believe that some portion of the build- 
ing will be illuminated by the electric light at Christmas time. 
Not only has the Postmaster-General consented to make an 
extensive show, but the War Department have now agreed to 
exhibit, and there is every probability that this display will be 
most interesting. Had our War Department made an exhibition 
in Paris it would have undoubtedly outshone the displays of 
other governments in this section. A great feature of the exhi- 
bition will be the external exhibits. A tramway is about to be 
constructed along the whole terrace, on which a coach will 
run by the aid of Faure batteries. An electric railway, which 
was such an attraction at Paris, will continue to whirl passengers 
about by the energy produced by Siemens’ currents. Although 
the exhibition will contain a great display of apparatus relating 
to all the applications of electricity, it will be an Electric Ligh 
Exhibition, and the numerous lamps and machines for the pro- 
duction of the light will be the great attraction to the public. 
Mr. LivincsToneE, Master of the Public Schools, Fort 
William, having kindly offered to the Scottish Meteorological 
Society to climb Ben Nevis once a month, whenever practi- 
cable, to read the thermometers left on the top of the Ben, made 
his first ascent on Saturday last. He left Fort William at 8.15. 
a.m., and returned at 4.5 p.m. ‘The ascent to 2200 feet was 
easily accomplished, the real difficulties being encountered above 
this height, owing to the snow which covered the higher parts of 
the Ben. A shower of rain fell at the lake on the way up. At 
this point, as had been done by Mr. Wragge, observations were 
taken, and the temperature of the air found to be 37°'0, and 
that of the water 38°°3. On reaching the spring, which is 3363 
feet high, the temperature of the air was 30°0, and that of the 
spring 35°°6, or a degree higher than in the middle of June. 
The summit was reached at 1 p.m., the wind being north-west 
the temperature of the air 26°°5, and the plateau covered with 
snow to a depth of 2 feet. The protecting cage for the thermo- 
meters and other instruments was found all,right. The maxi- 
mum thermometer read 44°°o, and the minimum 14°'1—these 
being the extremes of temperature since Mr. Wragge made his 
last observation in the end of October. 
In a few days the Russian expedition to the mouth of the Lena 
to establish a magnetical and meteorological observatory on 
Weyprecht’s p’an is to start from St. Petersburg. The route is 
by rail to Nishni-Novgorod, thence by sleigh to Perm, by rail to 
Yekaterineburg, by sleigh to Irkutsk, where they are expected 
to arrive in January, and stay till May to complete their outfit, 
secure the services of five soldiers, and train them to meteoro- 
logical observation. Meanwhile a barge is to be built or bought 
at Katschug, on the Lena, where the navigation of this river 
begins. The party, on descending the river, will stop for some 
time at Irkutsk, to make further preparations. The length of 
the route, and especially the difficulty of transportation by land 
without railways, make the Russian expedition the most difficult 
of the Arctic expeditions on Weyprecht’s plan. Petroleum is 
wanted to give a good, clear light, and 21 tons of it will 
. 
