NATURE 



[June i8, 1896 



THE ANKLE-JOINT IN MAN AND THE IN- 

 HERITANCE OF AC(2UIRED CHARACTERS. 



pROF. RETZIUS has lately published an account of 

 certain observations cm the foetus of Swedes, which, in con- 

 nection with similar observations recorded by Surgeon Havelock 

 Charles on the I'unjabite, lie believes to support the Lamarckian 

 view that acquired characters are inherited. He endeavours to 

 show that the evidence in su|iport of the theory is to be found 

 in our own skeletons. 



Some years ago. Prof. Arthur Thomson pointed out that in 

 certain races of men who liabitually adopt a "squatting posi- 

 tion," the tibia and astragalus present additional articular 

 facets, allowing greater flexure of these bones upon one another, 

 than is possible (or at any rate normal) in Europeans and other 

 civilised races who have given up squatting, and in which the.se 

 facets are absent. Accompanying these facets there is a retro- 

 version of the head of the tibia. Both these characters are 

 present in apes and in certain prehistoric races, and Surgeon 

 Havelock Charles described, a year or two back, a series of 

 instances of their presence not only in the adult Punjabite, but 

 in the fcetus. At the meeting of the British Association at 

 Oxford, Prof. A. Macalister exhibited these .specimens, as well 

 as similar specimens taken from British infants, and a discussion 

 followed on the meaning of these jjeculiarities. Now Retzius 

 (" Ueber die Vererbung erworbencr Eitjenschaften," Biol. 

 Uiitersiic/i, n.f. vii.) records these same characters in foetal 

 Swedes, from an early age, even up to eight months ; and 

 reviewing the facts, he comes tothe conclusion — in which I think 

 most of us would agree — that the presence of these characters, viz. 

 the retroversion of the head of the tibia and "Thomson's 

 facets" is a more primitive condition than their absence in 

 normal Europeans of the present day ; that they have been in- 

 herited from early times ; and in those peoples w'hich habitually 

 adopt the "squatting" position they have become gradually 

 further developed. This last conclusion is perhaps open to ques- 

 tion : it is quite possible that even in these races they are less 

 developed than in ancestral forms. But Retzius proceeds to con- 

 tend that Europeans have undergone gradual change in their 

 skeletons from generation to generation ; they no longer sit on 

 their haunches, and have gradually lost the power to do so, and 

 as a consequence " Thomson's facets " have disappeared ; and he 

 concludes that "it is, therefore, we Europeans who, on account 

 of changed habits, have undergone changes, and it is in us that 

 these changes have gradually been inherited." 



But here, it seems to me, that Darwinians would join issue 

 with Retzius. His own and other observations show that the 

 changes are not inherited ; for the characters of the bones are 

 inherited from the ancestral ape-like forms, and it is, surely, only 

 on account of individual habit that the peculiarities are not 

 present in the adult. 



It is by no means clear what is the " acquired " character on 

 which Retzius hangs his views. Is it the osteological peculiarity, 

 or the habit of using chairs to sit upon, instead of employing the 

 squatting posture ? His own researches show that the osteological 

 characters are not acquired, whilst the habit of walking upright 

 and sitting on chairs is distinctly acquired, and it is in relation 

 to this acquirement that the osteological peculiarities cease to be 

 evident. Young children, as we know, can and do sit upon their 

 haunches, and can move their legs and ankles in a way that an 

 adult, unless he is fairly athletic, finds it impossible to do ; and it 

 appears probable that the disappearance of the facets in the adult 

 is closely connected with the ossification of the bone, which will 

 obliterate the facets now no longer brought into use. It would 

 be interesting to examine in this connection the leg-bones of 

 " contortionists " and others who make a free use of their legs 

 and ankles, for a very little practice enables even civili.sed men 

 to employ exaggerated movements of their limbs. 



Another point to which attention might be directed (which 

 indeed may have been looked into) is the character of the articula- 

 tion of the bones of the great toe in those races which make use 

 of this digit. A casual observation on the skeleton of an Anda- 

 man shows that the articular surface of the first metatarsal with 

 the entocuneiform is distinctly more rounded than in a European ; 

 a feature in which there is an approach to the condition in the 

 apes. It might have been presumed that some difference, similar 

 to that in Europeans and Punjabites, would be found in digiti- 

 grade and plantigrade mammals ; but the result of a brief examina- 

 tion of skeletons of such forms is sufficiently surprising to be re- 

 ferred to ; for instance, in the lion there is a facet of the same 



kind as, but not really homologous with Thomson's facet, at the 

 lower end of the tibia. This is aksent in the bear and the dog ; 

 it is also absent in the sea-otter. It is present, however, in the 

 beaver and other rodents ; it exists in some ruminants, as well 

 as in the horse, but is only slightly developed in the tapir, and 

 is absent in the Suidte. 



THE PARIS OBSERVATORY. 

 lyr TISSERAND'S report on the work .iccomplished in the 

 • Paris Observatory during 1895 has come to hand. The 

 principal points referred to are indicated in the subjoined 

 summary. 



The revision of the right ascensions of the fundamental stars 

 of the Paris Catalogue is completed, and the revision of the polar 

 distances was commenced in May of last year. 



During the year, MM. Henry obtained 319 plates for the 

 photographic star catalogue, which number brings the total up 

 to 1 155. Eighty-eight plates, containing 35,814 stars, were 

 measured under the direction of Mile. Klumpke, and the measures 

 of I3!663 stars upon forty-three plates previously obtained were 

 reduced for the catalogue of the photographic chart. 



The great Coude equatorial has been used whenever possible 

 in lunar photography, in order to complete the series of photo- 

 graphs of the moon required to make a large-scale map of our 

 satellite. The photographs already obtained have been enlarged 

 and reproduced Ijy heliogravure by MM. Fillon and Heuse. 

 The first fasciculus of the photographic chart of the moon, which 

 MM. Lcewy and I'uiseux have in hand, containing six sheets, 

 five of which will represent parts of the moon on a scale of 2 '60 

 metres to the lunar diameter, will shortly be issued. The pre- 

 sent report contains a heliogravure representing an unenlarged 

 photograph of the moon obtained in February 1S94. The 

 picture is a most striking one, reproducing faithfully and beauti- 

 fully the chief features of the lunar surface. 



M. Deslandres has continued his photography of the solar 

 chromosphere. He has also investigated the subject of the dis- 

 placement in the lines of the spectrum of Jupiter, produced by 

 the planet's rotation. A note upon this subject appeared in 

 Nature in March 1S95 (™1. li. p. 443). In the first measures 

 made by M. Deslandres, the equator of the planet was allowed 

 to lie along the slit of the spectroscope, and the inclination of the 

 lines produced by approach and recession of opposite ends of the 

 equatorial diameter were determined. The method now followed 

 consists in measuring the inclination of the lines in the planet's 

 spectrum with reference to neighbouring lines of terrestrial 

 origin. The mean of the measures thus made gives 48+1 

 kilometres as the difference of velocity of two opposite points 

 on Jupiter's equator. From the known time of rotation of the 

 planet, and the length of the equatorial diameter, the velocity 

 deduced is 49-6 kilometres. The same method has been applied 

 by M. Deslandres to Saturn's disc and rings. 



Reference is made to the spectroscopic photographs of the 

 velocity of Altair in the line of sight. The photographs give 

 evidence of differences in the radial velocity, even when the 

 mean error of observation is considered. These variations have 

 a period of about forty-three days, and a secondary period of 

 about five days. The conclusion arrived at from an examination 

 of the spectra is that Altair is in orbital motion under the 

 influence of one or more unknown bodies. The star B Ursa; 

 Minoris also shows variations of velocity in the line of sight 

 which cannot be accounted for by errors of observation. 



In addition to the matters referred to in the foregoing, the 

 usual meridian work, and observations of comets and minor 

 planets, as well as meteorological observations, were carried on 

 during 1895, and the chief results obtained are stated in the 

 report. 



CABLE LA YING ON THE AMAZON RIVER} 



T\^HEN it had been decided to connect Belem, the capital of 

 the State of Para, by means of a subfluvial cable with 

 Manaos, the capital of the .State of Amazonas, a ]3reliminary 

 journey became necessary, during which landing-places at the 

 various intermediate stations had to be selected, some reaches of 

 the river explored, as no trustworthy charts exist, and various 



NO. 1390, VOL. 54] 



