302 



NA TURE 



[Jan. 28, 1886 



writings of Prof. Joseph Henry, which will consist altogether of 

 1050 printed pages, and which are due now ; also a work by 

 Prof. Cope, of Philadelphia, on the reptiles and batrachians of 

 North America. A compact manual on this subject was want- 

 ing, although numerous monographs on reptiles have been 

 published, and when this has been completed, the entire (leld of 

 the vertebrates of North America will have been covered by 

 convenient and effective text-books prepared under the direction 

 of the Institution. The various departments of the museum are 

 treated, as usual, in successive paragraphs describing their work 

 for the year. Under the head of "Explorations" we notice 

 that Mr. Thomas Wilson, United States Consul at Nantes, and 

 afterwards at Nice, has presented a very large collection of the 

 remains of prehistoric man around these two places. It is 

 believed that this collection, filling a large number of boxes, 

 will prove to be one of the richest and most complete ever sent 

 to the United States. 



The idea of an International Exhibition at Geneva has been 

 abandoned, and it is now intended to hold only a national Swiss 

 Exhibition. 



A South Amekican Exhibition will be held at Berlin by the 

 Central Verein fiir Handelsgeographie during May, June, and 

 July, in which Brazilian products will be specially represented. 



In Germany an unusual number of white varieties of animals 

 are noticed this winter. A white chamois was shot in the 

 Totengebirge, a white fish otter was caught near Luxemburg, 

 white partridges were shot near Brunswick, and a white fox was 

 killed in Hessen. 



The recently-formed Central-Swiss Geographico-Commercial 

 Society at Aarau is collecting funds for the erection of an ethno- 

 logical museum. 



In the new number (No. 15) of the journal of the Straits 

 Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Mr. Wheatley, in a paper 

 on the rainfall of Singapore, urges that-ithe Straits Settlements 

 are almost the wealthiest of the British colonies, and that it is 

 not too soon to provide for an Observatory under an astronomer 

 and meteorologist. The equatorial position of Singapore, he 

 adds, would give to the astronomer a more interesting field for 

 observation than can be obtained at higher or lower latitudes. 

 Meanwhile, private observers are doing their best to study the 

 meteorological features of the Straits, and Mr. Wheatley pub- 

 lishes tables of mean annual rainfall and number of rainy days 

 from 1869 to 1884. Mr. Dodd, whose name is given to a con- 

 spicuous mountain-range in Northern Formosa, and who has 

 already written on the "aborigines" of that island, describes 

 the hill-tribes in the north, occupying the savage forest-clad 

 mountains to the south-east and south of the town of Banka. 

 These appear to have no negro features whatever ; the hair is 

 lank, not curly or frizzled, their lips are not so thick even as 

 those of Malays, and the high noses possessed by many approach 

 often the European type. The complexion, too, of the younger 

 men who had not undergone much hardship or exposure is as 

 light and fair as that of the Japanese. The paper is not finished 

 in this number. The other papers are mainly geographical. 



In a recent paper to the Arehiv fiir Anthropologie on the 

 capacity and chief diameters of the skull in different nations, 

 Herr Welcker considers that nine-tenths of all the figures of 

 capacity given in literature are incorrect, most of them being 

 excessive. After discussing different modes of measurement, he 

 gives the following results of his own observations : — In the 

 Germanic peoples the average internal capacity varies between 

 1400 and 1550 c.cm. In Celts, Romans, and Greeks we find 

 1400 to 1500 ; in the Slavs the width of variation is about the 

 same as in the Germans (but less exactly determined). Quite 

 out of tile sei'ies are the peoples of Hindostan ; the narrow lange 



of 1260 to 1370 includes all the members of this group. Indi- 

 vidual examples of the Semitic and Hamitic peoples (of which 

 the author had but few to examine) diflfer widely ; but the Jews 

 and Arabians here take a good position — 1450 to 1470 c.cm. 

 The Mongolians range from about 1320 (but mostly 1400) to 

 1500 ; 1350 to 1450 seems the proper range of the capacity of 

 the Malays, and only veiy isolated stocks exceed these limits on 

 both sides. The Papuans and Australians show the averages 

 1370 and 1320 respectively. The negroes vary between 1300 

 and 1400. A much lower figure appears for the Bushmen (1244). 

 The Americans, finally, have a wide range ; while they are 

 normally between 1300 and 1400, they reach in some of their 

 artificially deformed members a mean value of 1200 and even 

 less. Sexual dimorphism (female skull smaller and flatter) is 

 most pronounced in all civilised peoples. 



From a study of 650 thunderstorms that occurred in Italy in 

 1 88 1, Signor Ferrari concludes tliat every thunderstorm is con- 

 nected with a barometric, hygrometric, and thermic depression ; 

 it is behind the two former, and in front of the last. All three 

 depressions, but especially the two latter, are associated with 

 maxima, which are situated behind the barometric and hygro- 

 metric depressions, but before the thermic one. Most of those 

 storms arose in the wide plain of the Po. Coming from west- 

 north-west with a velocity of 30-375 km. per hour, they passed 

 (in case of their greatest range) with slackening speed over the 

 Apennines in Upper and Middle Italy. For a given moment 

 the thunderstorm has the form of a long narrow band, advancing, 

 with numerous bends outwards and inwards, parallel to itself, 

 and having its various characteristic phenomena most intense 

 along the middle line. The isohyetes, or curves of equal rainfall, 

 often take the form of ellipses, whose longer axes coincide with 

 the direction of the storm. The dominant wind-direction is 

 generally parallel to that of propagation of the storm. 



The Penny Science Lectures at the Royal Victoria Hall are 

 about to recommence after the Christmas interval. Lectures 

 hove been promised as follows ; — Tuesday, February 2, Mr. W. 

 P. Bloxam, "Fire, Fuel, and Illumination"; February 9, Mr. 

 J. M. Thomson, "Dirty Water and how to Cleanse it"; 

 February l6. Prof. George Forbes, " Shooting-Stars and 

 Comets " ; February 23, Mr. Wm. Lant Carpenter ; March 2, 

 Mr. T. Cunningham Porter, " English Cathedrals" ; March 9, 

 Dr. J. A. Fleming, " Niagara." 



Dr. Alfred Daniell's "Text-book of the Principles of 

 Physics " has been adopted, in Polish translation, by the Uni- 

 versity of Cracow. 



A fourth edition of Prof Tyndall's " Six Lectures on Light, 

 delivered in the United States in 1872-73," has been issued by 

 Messrs. Longmans and Co. 



The Council of the City and Guilds of London Institute have 

 received an application from the Board of Technical Education 

 of New South Wales requesting them to forward examination 

 papers in technology to the colony, and award certificates and 

 prizes on the results. This application has been referred to the 

 special committee of the Institute on technological examinations. 



At the forthcoming Indian and Colonial Exhibition the 

 Canadian Government intend to demonstrate the manner in 

 which fish culture is prosecuted in the Dominion, and the various 

 methods adopted in regard thereto will be practically illustrated 

 to the public, and shown together with live specimens of Sal- 

 monidce indigenous to native waters. Canada now possesses 

 about twenty hatcheries, most of which have been constructed 

 since 1873, and worked with the greatest success, whitefish being 

 the chief source of reproduction. Preparations are already 

 being made for the reception of the Canadian exhibits, which 

 will be very numerous, and replete with interest. 



