lOO 



NATURE 



\juiie 3, 1880 



above 75 "o, or belonging to the mesaticephalic class, and 

 II below 75'o, or dolichocephalic. The average alti- 

 tudinal index is below that of the latitudinal, viz., 73'r. 

 The average cranial capacity of the males is 1,454 cubic 

 centimetres. They are almost as orthognathous as Euro- 

 peans, and have teeth of the same comparatively small 

 size, the dental index being in 7 male skulls 4o'8, and in 

 S females 41 '2. The nasal inde.x of Si measured by 

 Broca was 47 '83, and this was found to be tolerably con- 

 stant in mummies of different historical periods. The 

 average nasal index of 25 in the College collection is 

 rather higher, viz., 4S7. The orbital index of the same 

 crania is 86' 2. Of modern Copts unfortunately but few 

 crania have been hitherto available for examination ; but 

 Broca gives the latitudinal index of 12 at 76'39, and the 

 nasal index at 47'IS. 



The cranial and other characters of the Egyptians 

 correspond in the main with those of the Berbers and 

 other inhabitants of North Africa, and they must be 

 placed in the same general category in any classification 

 of the human race founded on anatomical characters. 

 They have no affinities with the negroes, e.xcept such as 

 may easily be accounted for by the occasional admixture 

 of negro blood. Indeed it is almost remarkable that 

 there are not more signs of this having taken place. 

 Some authors have supposed a Turanian origin for the 

 Egyptians, but if this term is to be taken in any sense as 

 equivalent to Mongolians, there is absolutely no support 

 for it in theirosteological characters; all the characteristics 

 of the Mongolian races are entirely absent in the Egyptian 

 skull. Still less can any resemblance be seen to the 

 Australian, whose skull, compared with that of an 

 Egyptian, presents almost as great a contrast as can be 

 found within the limits of variation of the human cranium. 

 The angular form, limited capacity, wide zygomata, pro- 

 jecting supraorbital ridges, short flattened nasals, wide 

 nasal aperture with rounded inferior border, great 

 alveolar prognathism, retreating chin, and immense teeth, 

 characteristic of the Australian, are all wanting in the 

 Egyptian. In fact the Egyptian belongs by all his 

 anatomical characters to the type called by Blumenbach 

 Caucasian. The much vexed questions, Who were the 

 Egyptians 1 and Where did they come from ? receive no 

 answer from anatomical investigations, beyond the very 

 simple one that they are one of several modifications of 

 the great group of races which inhabit all the lands 

 surrounding the Mediterranean Sea ; that they here lived 

 in their own land far beyond all periods of time measured 

 by historical events, and that in all probability it was 

 there that they gradually developed that marvellous civi- 

 lisation which has exercised such a powerful influence 

 over the arts, the sciences, and the religion of the whole 

 of the Western world. 



THE UNITED STATES WEATHER MAPS, 

 SEPTEMBER, 1877 



T N Canada and the United States during September, 

 -'■ 1S77, atmospheric pressure was everywhere above 

 the normal except over a small triangular patch bounded 

 by the Gulf of Fundy, Chesapeake Bay, and the entrance 

 to Lake Superior. The deficiency was greatest in the 

 North- Western States from Leavenworth to Lake Winni- 

 peg, v.here it amounted to nearly the tenth of an inch, 

 and on the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico, the deficiency 

 at Mobile being 0^074 inch. Pressure was also under the 

 normal over Greenland, the Atlantic, the Spanish Penin- 

 sula, Italy, nearly all Austria and Prussia, the whole of 

 Russia and Siberia, except a patch stretching inaN.N.E. 

 and S.S.W. direction about Lake Baikal. The centres 

 of greatest depression were in the Atlantic between 

 Greenland and the Azores, over a rather broad region 



extending eastwards from Moscow to the Obi, and from 

 Pekin northwards to Nertschinsk, the greatest depressions 

 below the normals of these regions for September being 

 respectively o'ii2 inch, o'i30 inch, and o'o5i inch. 



Pressures were above the normal over the whole of 

 North-AVestern Europe, including Iceland, Sweden, Nor- 

 way, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, and Germany 

 as far as Pressburg, the greatest excess, o'303 inch, 

 occurring in the extreme north-west of the British Islands. 

 But the most extensive region of unusually high pressure 

 embraced the whole of Southern Asia, including Japan, 

 China, except the extreme north, India, Syria, and also 

 Egypt ; and the whole of Australia, Tasmania, and New 

 Zealand was also above the normal, and very considerably 

 so, the excess at Deviliquin, on the Murray River, 

 reaching o'265 inch. 



The most remarkable disturbance in the temperature 

 arising out of this abnormal distribution of pressure and 

 the winds necessarily resulting therefrom, occurred over 

 the whole of Europe, except Italy and the Spanish 

 Peninsula. If the W'eather Pvlap be examined, it will be 

 seen that from the west of the British Islands pressures 

 steadily diminished on proceeding eastward over Europe, 

 and along with this diminution of pressure pretty strong 

 northerly winds prevailed, except in the two peninsulas 

 already referred to, where winds were southerly and the 

 temperatures consequently above the normal. Under the 

 influence of these northerly winds the temperature of 

 Europe from the North Cape southwards fell greatly 

 below the average, a deficiency of 5°'o or upwards being 

 experienced at the North Cape, Christiania, Meniel, 

 Gulynki, Warsaw, and Prague. In Siberia, to the east of 

 this cold region, southerly winds prevailed and high tem- 

 peratures consequently ruled, the excess above the normal 

 temperature being 6°'3 at Taschkent, 4°-o at Semipala- 

 tinsk, and 2'''5 at Jenisscisk and Irkutsk. Southerly 

 winds also prevailed over Iceland and Greenland, raising 

 the temperature above the normal, the excess on the 

 west of Greenland being about 4°'o, and in the north- 

 west of Iceland 5°'o. The Weather Map shows strong 

 southerly winds also over Canada and the northern half 

 of the United States, where consequently the temperature 

 was high for the season, the excess being from 2°'o to 

 3°-o, rising even at some places to nearly 4°'o. Further 

 south the excess was much less ; and in some cases there 

 was even a deficiency, as about Cape Hatteras, where 

 northerly winds will be seen from the Map to have swept 

 over that coast, and the temperature fell a degree and a 

 half below the average ; and along the upper reaches of 

 the Arkansas and Red rivers, or to westward of the region 

 of lowest pressure, where, winds being north-westerly, the 

 temperature fell nearly a degree below the normal. 



In India, pressure was unusually and continuously high 

 from the beginning of the year, except in .August , when 

 it fell below the average over the region of the Lower 

 Ganges and Assam. In September, however, pressure 

 again became unusually high over all India, the excess 

 being greatest along the northern coasts of the Bay of 

 Bengal and the central districts from Visagapatam to 

 Ajmere. In Assam the e.xcess was considerable and the 

 rainfall exceeded the average, whereas in Orissa, Western 

 Bengal, and Berhar the rainfall was scanty. The excess 

 above the normal pressure was also considerably less over 

 Southern India and Ceylon than it was to northward ; 

 and with this distribution of the pressure occurred the 

 memorable feature of the meteorology of India for the 

 month, viz., an unusual strength of the south-west 

 monsoon over the west of India from Goa southward, 

 accompanied with an abnormally heavy rainfciU on that 

 coast, which extended eastward over the Ueccan and the 

 greater part of the Madras Presidency, and thus termi- 

 nated the disastrous famine which had wasted Mysore 

 and a large portion of the Madras Presidency during the 

 previous two years. 



