618 
WA TURE, 
[April 27, 1882 
machine with inductor-solenoid and continuous current, by M. 
Pliicker.—Reports, &c. 
No. 2.—Determinism and liberty ; liberty demonstrated by me- 
chanics, by M. Delbceuf.—On the origin of the Devonian Jime- 
stones of Belgium, by M. Dewalque.—On the zircon of the quarries 
of Nil St. Vincent, by M. Renard.—On monochlorised chloride of 
acetyl, by M. Krutwig.—Influence of respiration on the circula- 
tion (fourth paper), by M. Fredericq.—Funeral discourses on 
M. Schwann and Col, Aden.—Reports, &e. 
Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, March.—Influ- 
ence of physico-chemical media on living beings ; influence of 
different kinds of food on the development of the frog, by I. 
Yung.—Disinfections with sulphurous anhydride ; siphonoid 
apparatus with special transvaseur ; description of apparatus and 
management, by V. Fatio.—Swiss geologicil review for 1881 
(continued), by E. Favre. 
Révue d’ Anthropologie, tome v., fasc. 1, 1882.—M. Paul 
‘Topinard’s paper, on the weight of the brain, gives a compre- 
hensive summary of all that had been done by Broca in this 
branch of craniology since the foundation of the mother-society 
at Paris, in 1861. Broca’s tables, including upwards of 1000 of 
his own observations, were being revised by himself at the time 
of his death, and these, the further revision of which has been 
intrusted to M. Topinard, are given at length, together with 
his own emendations, from which he has been led to con- 
elude that excessive weight of the brain cannot, prima facie, 
be accepted as an evidence of great intellectuality, but may 
fairly be assumed to depend upon some cerebral abnormality. 
Thus he is of opinion, that even in the case of Cuvier’s brain, 
whose exceptionally large weight (1829 grammes) has long 
made it rank among cerebral marvels, the well-attested presence 
of hydrocephalus during the infancy of the great naturalist was 
not without influence on the subsequent cranial enlargement. 
Finally, he believes that we are justified in assuming that a well 
organised brain will not very /argely exceed the mean, having 
due reference to age, sex, and stature. From broca’s tables we 
obtain a cerebral mean of 1325 for men generally, and of 1142 
for women generally; the greatest weight among the former 
being attained between the ages of thirty and thirty-five, and 
among the latter, somewhat earlier. After the age of fifty-five, 
the diminution is rapid, and at the age of eighty it has reached 
the mean of 100 grammes, although the loss sometimes amounts 
to 250 grammes. ‘he means for the prime of life are 1421 for 
men, and 1269 for women. In considering the data generally, 
it is essential to bear in mind that the individuals under obser- 
vation were of necessity derived from the less favourable class 
supplied by asylums and hospital, and, therefore, presenting 
generally traces of disease, more especially of the brain, La 
Salpetriére and Bicétre having yielded the greater number of the 
lrains, commented on by Broca. The great desideratum of 
modern cerebral inquiry is the careful determination of the 
difference of the weight of the brain among mentally sound indi- 
viduals belonging to the two distinct classes of those who are 
engaged in intellectual pursuits, and those whose vocations 
dewand great muscular activity. Brcca considered that form 
Was more important than weight in estimating intellec!ual capa- 
city, which possibly depends upon qualitative, and perhaps 
chemically inappreciable, rather than mere quantitative, relations. 
-—M. Topinard, in a paper on the cephalic index, as determined 
according to Broca’s method on the living subject, and after 
death explains the grounds on which he, in harmony with Prof. 
Vogt, has been led to consider as unnecessary and even erroneous, 
the reduction which it has hitherto been thought imperative to 
make, in order to bring the cephalometric estimate into complete 
accord with the craniometric determinations. He believes we 
ought to compare the two without making any reduction.—The 
capacity of the Black African races for becoming acclimatised, 
which ts treated at great length by Dr. A. Corre, forms the 
subject of the only other orizinal article in the Aévze. 
author, whose views are based upon observations made dur ng 
“uany years residence in Senegal and other African inter-tropical 
regions, regards the African blacks as de:tined from the inherent 
inferi rity of the race to give place in cour-e of time to European 
immigrants. Beyond the possession of immunity against yellow 
fever and certain forms of marsh fever, he considers them to be 
1 ferior to whites in their powers of resistance against disease 
and general climatic conditions, and consequently inapt for mili- 
tury service, or for the purposes of colonisation, while finally he 
vclicves that the inaptitude of the negro for every high form of 
s ciological development is such th: t there is only one of two 
The | 
| authcr pointed out that there is evidence of a physical break, .. 
things to be anticipated in regard to the lands occupied by the 
black races, viz. that where the latter are the masters, barbarism 
will prevail, and that where they fall into subjection to civilised 
peoples, their numbcrs will gradually, but surely diminish, in 
Se ce the more favourable conditions in which they will be 
placed. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LONDON 
Geological Society, Aj ril 5.—J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., pre- 
sident, in the chair.—W. J. H. Mylne was elected a Fellow, and 
M. Alphonse Milne-Fdwards, of Paris, a Foreign Correspon- 
dent of the Society.—Geological age of the Taconic system, by 
Prof, J. D. Dana, F.M.G.S. The author takes exception to 
some remarks made before the Geological Society by Dr. T. 
Sterry Hunt on November 16 iast. Dr. Sterry Hant has 
thrown doubt on the results arrived at by the geologists who 
have studied the relations of the so-called Taconic strata, not 
in consequence of any observations of his own, but on the 
general ground that ‘‘where newer strata are in unconfor- 
mable contact with older ones, the effect of lateral move- 
ments of compression, involving the two series, is generally 
to cause the newer aid more yielding strata to dip towards, 
and even beneath the edge of the older rock—a result due 
to fold-, often with inversion, sometimes passing into faults.” 
It was pointed out in opposition to these views, that the 
observations of Emmons, H. D. and W. B. Rogers, Mather, 
Sir W. Logan, James Ha!l, E. Hitchcock, C. H. Hitchcock, 
Hager, and Wing, prove that the Taconic schists and limestones 
are in conformable succession and of Si'urian age. The strati- 
graphical structure of the Taconic ranze is, indeed, so simple 
that all observers who have studied it have described the schists 
and limestones as conformable; and numerous characteristic 
Silurian fossils have been found in both. ‘This view had been 
maintained by Dr. Sterry Hunt him<elf till 1878, when he first 
propounded his new interpretation of the strata in question ; 
but the Jatter was not based on any fresh facts or observations. 
The author’s own observations on the subject, carried on during 
many years, were detailed and :llustrat.d by a map of the 
whole of the Taconic range. In conclusion, he pointed out that, 
even if Dr. Sterry Hunt’s general principle were conceded, and 
he was not by any means himself prepared to make such a con- 
cession, it would have no bearing on the point at issue; for the 
supposed younger strata do not dip against the Taconic schists. 
In opposition to the view that the geological age of strata can be 
inferred from their mineral characters, he poinied out what 
remarkably different rocks have been produced by the 
metamorphism, in difierent degrees, of tke strata of the 
Taconic range.—On some Nodular Felsires in the Bala 
Group of North Wales, by Prof. T. G. Bonney, ¥.R.S.— 
On the Cambrian (Sedgw.) and Silurian rocks of Scandinavia, 
by J. E. Marr, B.A., F.G.S. The author has examined the 
following areas of Cambrian and Silurian rocks in Scandinavia :— 
(1) Dalecarlia, (2) Ostrogothia and Westrogothia, (3) Christiania, 
(4) Scania, (5) Baltic Isles. A sketch of the stratigraphy of 
each of these regions was given, and the author gave the 
following conclusions :— 
= { Mudstones of Ramsdsa and Bjersjolagard = =Ludlow. 
.S | Cardiola beds: Cyrtograplus and Retiolites 
Beh SVTNSS coal coo Sede on once cn SWEDES. 
tm | Lobiferus Shales: Upper part of Brachio- 
bog pod ibeds watercress mere mete mre = May Hill 
Ss ( Lower part of Brachiopod beds... = Upper Bala. 
& ) Trinucleus Shales: Beyrichit Lime:tone ... = Middle Bala. 
& ) Kargarde Shales : Cystidean Limestone ..._ =Lower Bala. 
5 ( &e. = &e. 
A correlation with the beds of Bohemia was also given. The 
varying in amount, as well as of a palzeontological one between , 
the Cambrian and Silurian of Scandinavia, Several of the beds 
of Scandinavia admit of a very exact parallel with strata in the 
English Lake district. The author considered that the fauna of 
these Scandinavian depesits affords evidence of migrations. This 
can be shown by ob erving that the same forms occur in two 
beds of different age, but are absent from an intermediate one ; 
or by tracing beds laterally, and showing that the forms occur 
in an earlier deposit in one locality than in another. The author 
consider: d the black shales deep-water deposits, and accountect 
