Oct. 1, 1885 | 
NATORE 
543 
Moon (New on October 8) rises, th. tom.; souths, 8h. 31m. ; 
sets, 15h. 41m. ; decl. on meridian, 12° 2’ N. 
Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian 
h. m. Sire h. m. eet 
Mercury... 5 10 Ir 18 17 26 0 43 .N. 
Venus 955 14 17 18 39 19 4.9. 
Mars oO 15 8 0 15 45 18 47 N. 
Jupiter ASIC e-5-, RLOUSSIy=.2, e753 4 12N. 
Sati. h2TZ5" ce. SUAS) cs, SIBLSL 22 18N. 
* Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding day. 
Oct. h. j 
Got, 1 ND Jupiter in conjunction with and 1° 25’ north 
of the Moon. 
Jaweease 720) Mercury in conjunction with and 0° 20! north 
of the Moon. 
HEREDITY 
At the February meeting of the Swedish Anthropological So- 
ciety Prof. Wittrock read a paper on the hereditability of colour 
of the eyes. The speaker had been requested by Prof. Alphonse 
De Candolle, of Geneva, to make observations on this point, 
which, together with those made in Switzerland, North Germany, 
and Belgium, had formed the material for M. De Candolle’s 
paper, ‘* Hérédité de la couleur des yeux dans1l’espece humaine” 
(Archives des Sctences Physiques et Naturelles, 3° période, t. xii., 
Genéve, 1884). From the same the remarkable fact was 
derived that brown eyes were more common in men than women ; 
of the individuals examined 41°6 per cent. of men and 44°2 per 
cent. of women had brown eyes. Further, in families where 
the parents had the same colour of eyes 80 per cent. of the 
children of parents with brown eyes had brown eyes, whilst of 
children of parents with blue eyes 93°6 per cent. of them had 
eyes of that colour. The unconformity was no doubt due to 
atavisme or the hereditary influence of ancestors. Of the 
children of parents of whom the father had brown and the 
mother blue eyes 53°3 per cent. had brown, whilst where the 
reverse was the case 55°9 per cent. had blue eyes. As the per- 
centage of brown-eyed children of parents with bi-coloured eyes 
was highest, it seemed as if brown eyes were always on the 
increase to the detriment of blue ones. It appeared also from 
these researches that women with brown eyes have better pro- 
spects of marrying than those with blue. 52 per cent. of the 
married women had brown eyes, and only 48 per cent. of them 
blue—a circumstance which is the more remarkable as the number | 
of women with brown eyes in Italian Switzerland is only 44 per 
cent. Anotherremarkable discovery was that the average number 
of children of parents with eyes similar in colour was 2°7, whilst 
that of those with different colour was 3°18, which was an addi- 
tional proof of the fact that children of parents with similar 
organisation were as a rule of weak constitution. Comparing 
the colour of the eyes of the children where the parents were 
bi-coloured, with those of each of the latter, it was discovered 
that the eyes of the father were inherited by 48°8 per cent. of 
the children, and those of the mother by 51°2 per cent., which, 
divided between sons and daughters, showed that 47 per cent. 
of the former and 49°5 per cent. of the latter inherited the eyes 
of the father, whereas 53 per cent. of the sons and 50°5 per cent. 
of the daughters inherited those of the mother. Since Prof. 
Candolle had published his paper, he (the speaker) had con- 
tinued his researches in Sweden, and from the material he had 
collected he had discovered results differing from Prof. Can- 
dolle’s. Of the individuals reported to him 29°6 per cent. of 
the men and 30°7 per cent. of the women had brown eyes, so 
that even in that country the latter were more numerous than 
the former, but this was ro doubt due to the circumstance that 
he had been most anxious to obtain particulars from bi-coloured 
parents. In accordance with Candolle’s results, 75°6 per cent. 
of children of parents both with brown eyes inherited this colour, 
whilst of those with blue eyes 97 per cent. inherited that colour. 
It was but natural that this should b2 the case in Sweden, where 
blue eyes predominated. As regards the bi-coloured parents the 
case was different in Sweden too. If the father had brown and 
the mother blue, 59°9 per cent. of the children had brown eyes, 
whilst where the reverse was the case 53 per cent. of them had 
brown ones. These figures were the reverse of Candolle’s. 
But of a// bi-celoured parents 56 per cent. of the children had 
brown eyes, z.¢. that in Sweden too the latter are on the increase. 
He could not say what 7é/e the colour of the eyes played in the 
selection of a wife in Sweden, as he had no statistics of the dis- 
tribution of brown eyes in general, but there was a tendency 
similar to that stated above, as, of the parents embraced by these 
researches, the majority of wives had brown eyes. With refer- 
ence to the number of children in Sweden of con-coloured and 
bi-coloured parents, that of the former was 4°49 and that of the 
latter 4'03, whilst 52°6 per cent. of the children inherited the 
eyes of the father and 47°4 per cent. those of the mother; 
of the sons 51°8 per cent. inherited the eyes of the father, 
and 48°2 per cent. those of the mother, which figures 
as regards the daughters were respectively 53°5 and 46°5 
per cent. This shows that in Sweden the eyes are not pre- 
dominantly inherited from the mother alone, and that the off- 
spring of equally-constituted parents should not be weaker. The 
speaker stated in conclusion that he is continuing his researches. 
He excludes children under ten years of age from the same, and 
classifies blue-grey or grey eyes as blue. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE 
Pror. W. GryLus ADAMS, F.R.S., will deliver a Course of 
Lectures at King’s Colleze, London, on Heat and Light, during 
the Academical Year 1885-6. A Course of Practical Work in 
Electrical Testing and Measurement, with especial reference to 
Electrical Engineering, will be carried on under his direction in 
the Wheatstone Laboratory. There will also be a Course of 
Lectures on Mechanics and the Principles of Energy. The 
Wheatstone Laboratory is open daily from I to 4, except on 
Saturdays. For further particulars apply to Prof. Adams, 
King’s College, London. 
THE following appointments have recently been made at the 
Victoria University, Owens College, Manchester:—To the 
Professorship of Mathematics: Mr. Horace Lamb, M.A., 
F.R.S., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics in the University of Adelaide. To the 
Professorship of Anatomy: Mr. Alfred H. Young, M.B., 
BAR. C.S. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
PARIS 
Academy of Sciences, September 21.—M. Bouley, Pre- 
sident, in the chair.—On the development of cholera in India, 
by M. Gustave Le Bon. In support of Prof. Peter's view that 
European differs from Asiatic cholera only in the greater in- 
tensity of the causes producing it, the author argues that both 
forms might break out spontaneously in any country through the 
volatile germs arising from putrified organic matter. In his 
former researches he showed that, apart from these germs, there 
exists a series of volatile alkaloids which, when introduced by 
respiration, produce almost fulminating effects. These researches 
throw much light on the accidents attending the exhumation of 
bodies long buried and on the spread of typhoid or analogous 
fevers. The facts recently observed by M. Le Bon during a 
sudden outbreak of cholera at Kombakonum, in the south of 
India, tend to confirm this hypothesis. In India itself cholera 
rages almost exclusively amongst the native populations ; the 
English, who reside in large cantonments, where sanitary arrange- 
ments are scrupulously attended to, being seldom attacked. That 
cholera and intermittent fevers are propagated chiefly by bad 
water is apoint on which opinion is unanimous in that country, 
and the author’s personal experience places it beyond all reason- 
able doubt.—Elements of Brooks’s comet, by M. R. Radau. _ 
These elements, according to observations made at Cambridge 
and Paris, are found to be :— 
T = 1885, August 10°30457 ; mean Paris time. 
m™-8= 43 047 
Q = 204 33 77 Mean equinox of 1885'0. 
t= 59 22 30 
logg = 9°87694 
—Note on anew stellar spectroscope, by M. Ch. V. Zenger. This 
instrument is constructed on a new principle, and chiefly in- 
tended to measure simultaneously and accurately the angle of 
position and the distance of double stars situated very close 
together.—On the process of fertilisation in the Cephalopods, 
