524 



NA TURE 



[September 20. 1906 



liveries of black and scarlet and greenish-yellow, and also 

 the cock bird in process of reverting for the winter to the 

 comparatively dull plumage of his mate. 



In an article entitled "The Negro Brain," published in 

 the September issue of the Century Illustrated Monthly 

 Magazine, Dr. R. B. Bean rejects the doctrine that the 

 negro is the brother of the white man. After demon- 

 strating that the male Caucasian brain is not only larger 

 than that of the negro, but also differs in shape and by 

 the smaller proportionate amount of grey matter and of 

 connecting fibres, the author sums up as follows ; — " The 

 white and the black races are antipodal in cardinal points. 

 The one has a large frontal region of the brain, the other 

 a larger region behind ; the one is a great reasoner, the 

 other preeminently emotional ; the one domineering, but 

 having great self-control, the other meek and submissive, 

 but violent and lacking self-control when the passions are 

 aroused ; the one a very advanced race, the other a very 

 backward one. The Caucasian and the negro are funda- 

 mentally opposite extremes in evolution." These premises 

 being admitted, it is clear (despite the fact that a negro 

 may occasionally display exceptional mental powers) that 

 to attempt to educate the two races on the same lines is 

 neither more nor less than folly. Incidentally, the author 

 shows that the American negro, in place of being entirely 

 of the Guinea type, includes representatives of the Bush- 

 man and of the Bantu (Kafir) types. 



In Canary and Cage-bird Life for August 31 Dr. A. R. 

 Galloway records a case of cross-breeding in poultry which 

 well exemplifies the Mendelian law. The two breeds crossed 

 were the silkie bantam and the Pekin bantam, the former 

 characterised by the pure white hair-like plumage, bluish- 

 black skin, and small rose comb and crest, while the latter 

 has the plumage cinnamon-buff, the skin pinkish, and the 

 comb simple. Four years ago, when a silkie cock was 

 mated with a Pekin hen, the hybrid chicks — between twenty 

 and thirty in number — were all buff, although with a 

 tendency to small' dark markings. Nevertheless, the buff 

 may be regarded as the dominant colour in the cross, but 

 in the hens, at any rate, the black skin and small rose 

 comb and crest of the silkie were apparent. During the 

 present summer a first-cross buff cock paired with a buff 

 hen of the same cross, and, of the eight chicks thus pro- 

 duced, one was a pure white silkie, two were pure buff 

 Pekins, and five showed intermediate characters with re- 

 gard to type, colour of skin, and colour and character of 

 feather. This is a close approximation, considering the 

 limited nature of the trial, to Mendel's law, which should 

 give two pure silkies, four intermediates, and two buff 

 Pekins. The five intermediates were as follows : — one a 

 buff Pekin with blackish face and silkie-type of feather; 

 one buff Pekin with blackish face and two or three quills 

 white in each wing ; one variegated buff Pekin showing 

 about one-third of plumage white, with Pekin-type of face 

 and silkie-feathers ; two dark speckled grey, with blackish 

 faces and a good deal of black markings on the feathers. 



Some curious results of the Californian earthquake are 

 recorded by Prof. Campbell, director of the Lick Observ- 

 atory, in No. 108 of the Publications of the Astronomical 

 Society of the Pacific. Fortunately, as recorded in these 

 columns on May 10, the observatory itself was not injured. 

 Subsequent work has shown that the meridian circle and 

 the polar axis of the 36-inch refractor show no sign of 

 having shifted. The period of the earth vibrations was so 

 long that the buildings and the instrument foundations 

 had time to follow the movement without undue strain. 

 There is some fear, however, that the financial affairs of 

 NO. 1925, VOL. 74] 



the university and the observatory may be somewhat 

 crippled by the huge losses incurred in property, &c. It 

 is evident from the report that the neighbourhood suffered 

 severely. The motion was chiefly of the horizontal shear- 

 ing type, and we read of a public road which crossed the 

 fault-line at right angles having its contiguous ends per- 

 manently displaced some 17 feet. A large tree standing 

 on the edge of the fissure is 24 feet from the small roots 

 it left behind it. A barn which stood exactly over the 

 fissure, with some four-fifths of the structure on the west 

 side, was badly wrecked, but the part of the foundations 

 and superstructure situated on the west side remain, whilst 

 the foundation lying east of the fissure has moved south- 

 ward, under the barn, through 18 feet. Many similar 

 instances of movement are recorded. About twenty miles 

 westward of Mount Hamilton, on the fault-line, the maxi- 

 mum shift is about 85 feet. As all the displacements re- 

 ferred to are in thick, loamy soil, which would tend to 

 lag, it is probable that the shear in the underlying rock 

 stratum is still greater. Some interesting questions as to 

 farm boundaries, latitudes, and azimuths may be expected 

 to arise. A commission, including Profs. Campbell and 

 Leuschner, has been appointed by the Governor to study 

 the scientific aspects of the phenomenon. 



In a letter from Glasgow, Mr. A. Mclance suggests 

 that lead should be found in radio-active minerals con- 

 taining radium. In a paper by Mr. Boltwood in the Philo- 

 sophical Magazine for April, 1905 (p. 613), evidence is 

 given of the existence of lead in all radio-active minerals. 

 Mr. Mclance points out that if the atomic weight of radium 

 is taken as 258, as found from spectroscopic observations 

 by Runge and Precht, and the combined atomic weights of 

 the five helium atoms into which the radium atom is 

 believed to dissociate are subtracted from it, the atomic 

 weight of uranium is obtained. 



A SUMPTUOUS catalogue of telescopes and accessories has 

 been published by the firm of Carl Zeiss, of Jena, under 

 the specific designation ".Astro: 8." Especially compiled 

 for scientific amateur astronomers, the catalogue only deals 

 with telescopes of less aperture than 8 inches. Several 

 new constructions are now catalogued and illustrated for 

 the first time. In addition to the numerous azimuthal 

 and equatorial telescopes, the catalogue contains illustra- 

 tions and prices of a large variety of eye-pieces, sun 

 oculars, prominence and other spectroscopes, position 

 micrometers, the stereo-comparator, &c., and should be 

 consulted by all astronomers in need of telescopes or 

 accessories. 



In No. 72 of the Chemiker Zeitung Dr. P. N. Raikow, 

 of the University of Sophia, describes a simple method of 

 boring any number of small holes through glass tubing, 

 both thin and thick, watch glasses, flasks, &c. The part 

 which it is desired to pierce is carefully warmed up in a 

 Bunsen flame, and then a red-hot needle worked bradawl- 

 wise against the particular spot, which naturally must not 

 be so hot that any slight pressure causes the walls of the 

 vessel or tube to be forced out of shape. The broken stem 

 of a thermometer is said to provide an especially good 

 handle for the eye end of the needle to be inserted into. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Jupiter's Sixth Satellite. — A telegram from Prof. 

 Campbell, published in No. 41 19 of the Astronomische 

 Nachrichten, states that Jupiter's sixth satellite was re- 

 observed by its discoverer, Prof. Perrine, on August 26-9656 

 (G.M.T.). Its position angle at that time was 209°-92, and 

 its distance from Jupiter 1734". 



