April io, 1902] 



NA TUBE 



54: 



The new volume of the "Statesman's Year Book," edited 

 by Dr. I. Scott Keltie, with the assistance of Mr. I. 1'. A. 

 Renwick.has been pubUshed by Messrs. Macmillanand Co., Ltd. 

 This annual is now in its thirty-ninth year of publication, and 

 every year brings political and other changes which necessitate 

 the revision of much of the information contained in its pages. 

 So far as it is possible for a volume to reflect the condition of 

 the States of the world, the "Statesman's Year Book " performs 

 that function most creditably. Nothing of importance in 

 political geography is overlooked ; and the shifting scenes, 

 figures and activities are faithfully recorded. The volume for 

 1902 contains much revised material relating to the accession of 

 King Edward YIL, the census of Great Britain and of India, 

 the development of our educational system, and colonial changes. 

 The maps and diagrams show the results of recent censuses 

 at home and abroad, existing and projected railways in East 

 Central Africa, the new Indian province, and the projected 

 Central America canals. The contents now occupy 1332 pages, 

 and the volume should not be permitted to exceed this number 

 very largely, or it will lose its 

 handy character. How the 

 editor will prevent the ultimate 

 expansion of matter beyond the 

 present limits of space is a pro- 

 blem to which he will need to 

 give careful consideration. 



Three new volumes of Ost 

 wald's series of " Klassiker der 

 e.xakten Wissenschaften " have 

 been received from Mr. \Y. 

 Englemann, of Leipzig. (Lon- 

 don : Williams and Norgate. 

 The volume No. 119 (price 

 2s. 6d, net) contains two papers 

 on hygrometry, by H. B. dc 

 Saussure (1783), edited by Dr. 

 A. J. von Oettingen. The 

 papers deal with the theory of 

 evaporation and the application 

 of the theory to some meteor- 

 ological phenomena. No. 120 

 (price 3^. net) contains a Ger- 

 man translation, with notes by 

 Dr. M. Mobius, of two papers 

 by Malpighi (1675 *nd >679) on 

 the anatomy of plants. Fifty 



figures illustrate the text, and Tlie Felix Meieorii 



the editorial notes will be of 



service to German students. Two papers on plant hybrids, 

 by Gregor Mendel (1865 and 1869), edited by Dr. E. 

 Tschermak, form No. 121 of the series. The price of this 

 volume is is. net. 



A NEW edition (the tenth) of Mr. W. T. Lynn's booklet on 

 " Remarkable Comets;" has been published by Messrs. Sampson 

 Low, Marston and Co. The only comet expected to return this 

 year is Swift's comet, having a period of 5! years. This is due 

 towards the end of the year. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Black Apes (Cynopitbecns iiiger) from 

 the Celebes, presented by Miss A. T. M. Elliot ; a Malayan 

 Bear (Ursus malayattus) from Malacca, presented by the 

 Marquis of Downshire ; a Suricate (Siiricala tclrailadyla) from 

 South Africa, presented by Mrs. Philips ; a Golden-naped 

 Amazon {Chrysalis aiiripa/liala) from Central America, a 

 Yellow-billed Amazon (Chrysolis panamctisis) from Panama, 

 seven Elegant Terrapins (Chrysemys scrip'a ckgaiis) from 

 NO. 1693, VOL. 65] 



North America, two Wrinkled Terrapins (Chrysemys scripla 

 riioosa) from the West Indies, deposited ; six Ruffs (Machetes 

 pi4gitax), four Snow Buntings [Plectrophenax nivalis) European, 

 eight Undulated Grass Parrakeets [Melofsittacus undulafns) 

 from Australia, purchased ; an Eland (Orias canna) born in the 

 Gardens. 



OUJ< ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 The Felix Meteorite. — In a recent number of the Pro- 

 ceedings of the United States National Museum, Mr. G. P. 

 Merrill gives an account of the fall of a meteoric stone at 11.30 

 a.m. on May 15, 1900, near Felix, Alabama. A luminous 

 meteor was seen and three loud reports as of explosion were 

 heard. The main mass weighed about 7 lbs. and was found 

 buried six inches deep in soft ground. In aspect of fractured 

 surface the material is like that of the stones of Warrenton and 

 Lance, but the chondritic character is more pronounced than in 

 the latter and the colour is darker than in the former, owing to 

 the presence of graphitic carbon in appreciable quantity. The 

 essential minerals are, olivine (73 per cent.), augite and enstatite 

 (18 per cent.), with troilite (5 per cent.), nickel-iron (3 per 



cent.) and graphitic carbon (0.4 per cent.) : the micro structure 

 is tuff-like. 



ON THE RELATION BETWEEN INTELLI- 

 GENCE AND THE SIZE AND SHAPE OF 

 THE HEAD. 

 T"HERE is a popular belief that men of great ability have 

 ^ larger heads than the average population ; this belief, 

 however, is not based on trustworthy statistics handled in a 

 satisfactory manner. 



In a paper read before the Royal Society, January 23, 

 Prof. Pearson gives the results of statistical investigations under- 

 taken with a view to determine whether any head measurements, 

 and if so, which, are correlated with intellectual capacity. 



He points out that although the professional classes are more 

 intellectual and have a larger mean head capacity than the hand- 

 working classes, this does not lend any support to the current 

 notion : for the former are better developed physically, and the 

 difference is probably only due to difference of nurture. It is 

 necessary to take a homogeneous class in order to investigate 

 the matter. 



