466 



NA rURE 



fJUNF, 17, 1909 



(blood and Ivnipli) ; " fonctions dc I't^laboralion " (nutrf- 

 tioii) ; "fonctions dVliminution dc lu mati^re " (exCernal 

 secretions); "fonctions de calorification" (production, 

 transformation, and elimination of heat) ; " fonctions dc 

 r<5ception, d-laboration, et iliniination de I'lJnergic " ; 

 *' fonctions antix<5niques " (protection of the orpanism 

 against what is noxious in the environment) ; and, finally, 

 "" fonctions dc reproduction." The scheme is certainly 

 ingenious, and gives a good illustration of the methods 

 ■of logical analysis for which science in many of its depart- 

 ments is so largely indebted to the savants of I'rance. 



In Naturivisscnschaftlichc Wochenschrift for May 23 

 Dr. Ludwig Reinhardt gives an illustrated account of a 

 human skeleton discovered on April 10, 1908, in the well- 

 known cavern of I,e Moustior, in the Dordognc. in a 

 stratum lying some 30 feet below the one worked years 

 ago by Lartet and Christy. The latter stratum is assigned 

 to the Neanderthal period, but the new " find," from 

 the evidence of the associated implements, is identified 

 with the earlier Acheulcen (St. Achcul) epoch. An age of 

 some 400.000 years is assigned to the deposit in question, 

 which belongs to the penultimate inter-Glarial epoch ; the 

 Le Mousticr hunter, for whom the n?ime Homo ntotistcri- 

 ensis hauscri has been proposed by Prof. Klaatsch, re- 

 presenting the oldest human skeleton at present known. 

 The skull was greatly damaged when discovered, but 

 has been carefully pieced together, while the bones of the 

 skeleton have been freed from matrix and placed in their 

 proper positions. The remains indicate a young man of 

 between sixteen and eighteen years of age. The limb- 

 Ijones are relatively short and thick, the cranial portion of 

 the skull is markedly receding, while the jaws are very 

 protruding, after a fashion occasionally met with among 

 modern .\ustralians. Associated with the ape-like muzzle 

 is an extremely powerful dentition, the individual teeth 

 "having much stouter roots and more enamel-folds than in 

 any living race. Among other characters of the skull, it 

 must suflice to mention the large size and wide separation 

 of the orbits, and the broad and deeply sunk root of the 

 nasals, the latter feature indicating a wide and flattened 

 nose, with the nostrils directed mainly forwards. Whether 

 the shape of the skull has been altered by the restoration 

 has to be taken into consideration. 



In- the third Bulletin of the Archaeological Survey of 

 Nubia Dr. G. A. Reisner describes the excavations con- 

 ducted up to the close of 1908, and Drs. G. Elliot Smith 

 and Douglas E. Derry review the anatomical results. 

 The excavations supply further evidence in support of the 

 views advocated in the previous reports. In pre-dynastic 

 times, and up to the third Egyptian dynasty, this part of 

 Egvpt and Nubia formed a territory occupied by a homo- 

 geneous race which was Egyptian, and not Nubian, in 

 physical type and culture. This disposes of the theory 

 that the archaic Egyptians contained a strong negro 

 element. Since the rise of the third dynasty there has 

 been a continuous intermixture of Egyptian and negro 

 strains. Negroes seem to have moved north when the 

 seat of Egyptian government was moved from Upper to 

 Lower Egypt, and the hold of the Empire upon Nubia 

 was prob-iblv relaxed. After that time both r.ices were 

 reinforced by fresh emigrants, but the fusion w-as gr.-idual 

 and continuous. In the time of the New Empire, doubt- 

 less owing to Hyksos domination, refugees flocked south- 

 wards and formed connections with Nubian women, 

 individuals of both races of different sexes being found in 

 the same grave. The question of the existence of tubercu- 

 losis in ancient times is again raised by Dr. Derry. The 

 NO. 2068, VOL. 80] 



case reported in the first bulletin was discredited, but since 

 then the body of a priest of .'Xmen belonging to the 

 twenty-first dynasty, found at Thebes, shows angular 

 curvature of the spine and a psoas abscess, which arc 

 diagnosed as evidence of Pott's disease. If the disease 

 prevailed at Thebes in the New Empire, it is not improb- 

 able that the Nubian cases of the Middle Empire may be 

 of a similar character. 



The lioUctino delta Societa Sismologica, vol. xiii.. 

 No. 4, contains an important paper, by Prof. Grablovitz, 

 on the secondary oscillations recorded by the tide-gauge 

 at Ischia. The period of these is found to have varied 

 considerably during the last nineteen years, from a maxi- 

 mum of 14m. 19s. in 1892 to a minimum of iim. 55s. in 

 1908 i as a rule, the variation is slow, and the period 

 remains constant for a considerable time, but at times 

 it changes rapidly. During 1897, for instance, the period 

 fell from 13m. 45s. to 12m. 34s., and in 1902 it dropped 

 from 14- im. on January 8 to I3'2m. on March 30, rose again 

 to 14.1m. on .April 26, fell to i3-om. on May 14, and rose 

 again to i4-3m. by May 27. Accepting the explanation 

 that the period of these secondary undulations is the 

 natural period of oscillation of the water, and is, con- 

 sequently, a function of the dimensions of the basin, he 

 shows that, as there has been no known alteration of the 

 coast-line adequate to account for the observed variation in 

 period, this explanation necessitates the assumption of 

 variations in depth. Some facts arc quoted which show 

 that such changes may well have occurred, but it is also 

 pointed out that the variations in period may be directly 

 connected with the action of the exciting cause, and not 

 entirely determined by resonance. 



The report of the Southport Meteorological Observatory 

 for the year 1908 has been received. This station occupies 

 an important position in the Irish Sea, and is kept in 

 great instrumental eflRciency by the Corporation, the 

 practice being to employ continuously two self-recording 

 instruments for each of the principal elements. The 

 observatory also maintains two subsidiary stations — Marsh- 

 side, a mile to the N.N.E., for additional ancmometrical 

 observations, and an evaporation station at Barton Moss, 

 about sJ miles to the S.S.W. Regarded as a whole, the 

 year was decidedly warm and the rainfall normal 

 (32J inches) ; there was a predominance of south-easterly 

 winds quite unequalled in any other of the thirty-seven 

 years over which' the record extends. The report includes 

 a useful comparison of sunshine and other climatological 

 statistics at sixty-three health resorts and large towns, 

 all of which have been checked by either the Meteorological 

 Onicc or the Royal Meteorological Society. 



The Revue g^ni^rale des Sciences of May 15 contains 

 an important article, by Prof. B. Brunhes, on " The 

 Evolution of Barometric Depressions and M. Guilbert's 

 Rules for Weather Prediction," illustrated by weather 

 charts. The article is, in fact, the preface to a work 

 which is about to be published by M. Guilbert entitled 

 "New Method of Weather Forecasting." Eighteen years 

 ago M. Guilbert, who is now secretary of the meteor- 

 ological commission of the department of Calvados, com- 

 municated certain rules to the Meteorological Society of 

 France ; these h.ive since been developed, and have 

 attracted more general attention in consequence of his 

 success at the international competition in weather 

 forecasting in connection with the exhibition at Lifge 

 in 1905. The rules have since appeared in several 

 meteorological periodicals, including the U.S. Monthly 



