554 



NA TURE 



[Al'RIL 17, 1902 



than on the part of men. Nor would such inconstancy 

 be sufficient to produce a pathological condition unfavour- 

 able to reproduction, as urged by Maine and Westcr- 

 marck. As humanity advanced, the organisation of 

 society would compel limitations of licence, which would 

 not necessarily take everywhere the same form. They 

 might very well result in such practices as those of the 

 South Australian tribes (which, despite Mr. Crawley's 

 pleading, bear marks of a transitional character), of many 

 Bantu tribes, of the Eskimo, and of the Seri, perhaps 

 the lowest of all extant peoples. It may be said that 

 this is speculation, since we have no positive proof of a 

 breeding-season, or of the primitive habits of mankind. 

 No doubt it is. But we have to account as best we may 

 for practices not consonant with monogamy. And the 

 fact remains that Mr. Crawley has omitted to study the 

 various forms of the marriage-relation, personal choice 

 among savages, the rights of the husband's kin in the 

 wife and of the wife's kin in the husband, and other sub- 

 jects the due consideration of which is essential to a 

 correct solution of the problem. 



I cannot, therefore, regard " The Mystic Rose " as a 

 complete or satisfactory account of "primitive marriage." 

 I must not, however, be understood to think that it is 

 anything but a valuable contribution to the discussion of 

 the evolution of sexual relations in man. If the author's 

 attention has been absorbed by taboo, it must be remem- 

 bered that the influence of taboo is an aspect of the 

 theme hitherto greatly neglected. His researches have, 

 consequently, thrown unexpected I'ght on a number of 

 questions which arise out of the strange and what seem to 

 us the preposterous customs of s;nnges. Science has 

 not yet attained the point at which it is possible to 

 identify and unravel all the strands of the tangled web 

 of the history of human marriage. To single out one 

 of the strands for careful and concentrated study helps 

 us appreciably forward. A few more such works, and 

 we may hope to be brought within measurable distance 

 of the goal. E. Sidney Hartland. 



CLIMATOLOGICAL ATLAS OF THE RUSSIAN 

 EMPIRE. 



Atlas climatologique de tEmpire de Riissie. Public 

 par rObservatoire physique central Nicolas, h I'Occa- 

 sion du cinquantiC'me Anniversaire de ses Fondation, 

 1849-1899. (St. Petersbourg, igoo.) 



THIS magnificent atlas has been prepared by 

 Director Rykatchew and published in commemora- 

 tion of the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation, by the 

 Emperor Nicholas I. on April i, 1849, of the Central 

 Physical Observatory. The atlas comprises eighty- 

 nine large meteorological maps, together with fifteen 

 graphical tables, which give the'best presentation hitherto 

 published of the main features of the climates of the 

 great Eurasian Empire of Russia. Previous to 1849, 

 the meteorology of Russia was prosecuted chiefly by 

 the establishment of first-class meteorological observa- 

 tories in different parts of the empire, at which eye 

 observations were made hourly by night and by day. 

 It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the importance of 

 these hourly and other results in furthering the develop- 

 ment of the science. Indeed, it may be safely pre- 

 NO. 1694, VOL. 65] 



dieted that in future developments of meteorology the 

 knowledge thus obtained of the hourly variations from 

 year to year of pressure and temperature, the two prime 

 elements of climate, will always hold a prominent place, 

 more particularly in investigating the relations of 

 meteorology to the secular solar changes. 



About the same time Kupfer added considerably to 

 the number of second-order stations, and from this com- 

 bined system of observation, fuller and more satisfactory 

 climatic data began to be available for different parts 

 of the empire ; and when isobaric charts were first 

 published in 1868, no country in the world outri vailed 

 Russia for the importance of the data contributed to the 

 undertaking. Immediately thereafter a phenomenal in- 

 crease of meteorological stations took place in almost all 

 countries ; and here again, with the appointment of 

 Wild as the Director of the Meteorological Department 

 of Russia, the empire took a first position, whether 

 regard be had to the number and quality of the stations 

 or to the wide extent and diversified character of the 

 climates over which they spread. 



By the beginning of 1871 this great change may be 

 regarded as having been substantially made. It is with 

 the observations during the thirty years from 1871 to 

 1900 that the " Climatological Atlas" mainly deals. 

 Quite a large number of stations have been established 

 since 1871, the observations from which have been in- 

 corporated and utilised in the preparation of the atlas 

 and the accompanying text by Rykatchew and the col- 

 laborators who have written the different sections of this 

 great work. 



The atlas gives, for the months and for the year, 

 thirteen charts for each of the departments of pressure, 

 temperature, vapour tension and relative humidity ; and 

 similarly five charts for the seasons and the year showing 

 the rainfall, the days of precipitation, and the cloudiness. 

 Additional charts are added representing the annual 

 range of the mean temperature, the absolutely highest 

 and the absolutely lowest observed temperatures, and 

 the absolute range of temperature for each station 

 for the whole time under review. Here it is interesting 

 to note that the lowest temperature anywhere observed 

 on the globe hitherto is - 9o°o Fahr. at Werkojansk, 

 at a height of 460 feet, lat. 67° 34' N., long. 133^ 51' E., 

 in the valley of the Yana. On the other hand, the 

 highest temperature was no '8, in the arid region of the 

 Trans-Caucasian province. Two charts show the months 

 of greatest and of least precipitation, two the greatest 

 and the least number of rainy days, and two the seasons 

 of greatest and of least cloudiness of the sky. Three 

 charts show the opening and the closing of rivers with 

 ice, one chart the number of days snow lies on the 

 ground, and another the number of days of thunder- 

 storms. Finally, five charts exhibit the paths of cyclones 

 and the types of weather in Russia. The charts, which 

 measure i6 to 27 inches, are printed in colours, showing 

 at once and effectively the geographical distribution of 

 the different elements of climate intended to be repre- 

 sented. 



The data showing the inean results of pressure, tem- 

 perature and other elements of climate, represented on 

 the coloured charts, are given on twenty-seven graphical 

 plates. The usual method is to publish in numerical 



