152 
diate successot has had no time to make any show of 
his intentions. M. Batbie seems to feel inclined to ac- 
cept the inheritance of M. Jules Simon, as far as it relates 
to the Fucultés (the equivalent of the several English 
Universities). It is supposed on good grounds that all the 
schemes of M. Jules Simon for building a new Faculté of Sciences 
on the back part of the Luxembourg will not be interfered with 
by the sudden presidential change. It remains to be ascertained 
what will be the working of the new system on the courses of 
lectures delivered by unofficial men of science. 
M. LEVERRIER has entered on his new office of Director of 
the French National Observatory. The Observatory Board 
has decided on his formal proposition that they shall co-operate 
with the Bureau des Longitudes for taking a new measure of 
the French arc from Dunkerque to Oran vid Spain. Com- 
mander Perrier will be the chief geodesist for that most im- 
portant survey. 
M. Wo tr has taken a series of magnificent photographs with 
Leon Foucault’s siderostat during the last partial eclipse. He was 
then testing the photographic process which he intends using 
in Japan on the next Transitof Venus. The Japan Embassy 
was present at the operations and exhibited a great deal of 
truly scientific curiosity. 
M. THIERS is now busy studying geology for the purpose of 
writing an essay on the destiny of mankind. Hewill take an 
anti-Darwinian view of the question. M. Daubree is his teacher 
for geology. He was taught in astronomy ten years ago by M. 
Leverrier, and in Natural Philosophy by M. Mascart, lec- 
urer at the Collége de France. 
* M. BARTHELEMY SAINT-HILAIRE has already resumed his 
wo-k of translating Aristotle and commenting upon it. The 
volumes now in hand relate to scientific subjects. 
Messrs. MacMILLAN & Co, will shortly publish the 
‘«Elements of Embryology,” by Michael Foster, F.R.S., Pre- 
lector in Physiology at Trinity Coll. Cambridge, and F. M. Bal- 
four, Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge. 
THE French Academy has named a commission to prepare a 
list of candidates for the place of Foreign Associate, vacant by 
the death of Baron Liebig. The commission is composed of 
MM. de Quatrefages, Liouville, Morin, Becquerel, Dumas, 
Chevreul, and Milne-Edwards. 
TURIN possesses an Industrial Museum, which, though it has 
been established only a few years, is, according to Z’/nstitut, one 
of the most complete in Europe, second only to the Conserva- 
toire des Arts et Métiers de Paris. The va!ue of this establish- 
ment has just been increased by the publication of a monthly 
periodical entitled Annals of the Italian Industrial Museum, 
The Director of the Museum is M. Codazra, and the Con- 
servator, Mr. W. T. Jervis. 
M. PauL Broca contributes to the Revue Scientifique an 
account of some researches he made about twelve years ago for 
the purpose of ascertaining the influence of educationon the 
development of the brain. He took as his subject 20 atten- 
dants ani 18 pupils of the hospital of Bicétre, the average age 
of the former being 39% years, and the average height 1°643 
metre; the average age of the latter 26} years, and the average 
height 1°689 metre. Notwithstanding the great advantage 
of the former in the matter of age—for it has been ascertained 
that the mean weight of the brain increases up to 40 years—the 
measurements made by M. Broca were very considerably in 
favour of the pupils, who had undergone a long training before 
being admitted to the hospital, and some of whom have since 
had a distinguished career, We®can only here give the differences 
NATURE 
at ‘, oy rite rene ote - 
: oat —3>. 
5 . pes ~. 
| Kune 19, 1873 
between the various measurements of the two groups of heads, the 
+denoting the excess (in millimetres) in favour of the hospital 
pupils, Antero-posterior diameter—Maximum + 4’89, inial + 
5°87 ; transverse diameter+ 291 ; cephalic cephalometric index 
—*55; inio-frontal curve—total + 990, anterior part + 9°25, poste- 
rior part + 0°65 : horizontal curve—total + 16°06, anterior part 
+ 10°90, posterior part + 5°16; transverse curve—bi-auricular 
+ 13°90, supra-auricular 11°70. “M. Broca thinks that the 
results of the measurements prove, in the first place, that mental 
culture and intellectual work increase the volume of the brain, 
and in the second place that the increase takes place principally 
in the frontal lobes, which are the seat of the highest faculties of 
intelligence, Very important conclusions in favour of the spread 
of the higher education may be drawn from these statistics. 
WE are glad to see, from a pamphlet by Mr. Ellery 
(just elected F.R.S.), ‘‘ Notes on the Climate of Victoria,” 
that a beginning has been made to put into shape the multitude 
of statistics which have already been accumulated as to the 
climate of that country. With regard to the rainfall, we quote 
the following paragraph :—By selecting Melbourne as the 
locality in which the most extended series of observations have 
been obtained, we remark that in the years 1848, 1849, and in 
1863, the rainfall was far above the average; in 1864, 1865, 
1866, and 1870 it fell below the average, especially 1865, when 
it only reached 15°9 inches. In 1848 and 1849 extensive and 
destructive floods occurred, and again in 1863; in 1865 and 
1866 the country suffered from a severe drought ; and the year 
1851, following the heavy rains of 1849, was also a dry one, 
although the amount of rainfall, if ever observed, cannot yet be 
ascertained. An opinion has often been expressed that there is 
a periodicity in the excessive rainfalls and droughts in Australia 
generally ; but although the above results may give some slight 
grounds for this supposition, a far greater number of years’ 
observations will be necessary from which to deduce any law of 
this kind, 
THE United States Signal Corps has recently extended its 
series of observations in the form of a daily record of the surface 
and bottom temperature of the rivers and harbours upon which 
the several stations are situated. This, while of much interest 
in a meteorological point of view, is also of practical importance 
in connection with the subject of introducing useful food fishes 
into the rivers and lakes of the United States, as lately provided 
for by Congressional enactment. It is well knowa that the 
possibility of introducing salmon into any given stream will 
depend upon the relationship of its temperature during the 
summer and autumn to the particular species ; some kinds, as 
the true salmon of the North Atlantic (Sa/mo salar), requiring a 
summer minimum of at least sixty to sixty-five degrees, while 
others will bear a higher temperature. 
AN institution has been founded in Vienna by M. Anton M. 
Pallac, which he calls a Rudolfinum, or Students’ Home—a 
college of technical science for students of any nationality. It 
is now announced that this gentleman has arranged with the 
officers of the Rudolfinum to furnish free lodgings in that 
building to three hundred professors and teachers, of all nations 
and countries, who intend visiting the exhibition of 1873. The 
offer is made for the months of July, August, and September, 
and applies alike to the professors of royal academies and the 
teachers of any kind of public schools. Early application is to 
be made, giving in each instance the name, address, and teaching 
position of the applicant, locality of school or institution in 
which he is engaged, with the date and length of time of his 
desired occupancy of these free lodgings. The application is to 
be addressed to the administration of the Rudolfinum, 4, Moier- 
hofgrasse, Vienna. 
THE principal paper in the last number (Vol. ii. No. 4) of the — 
