156 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 213. 



case when a piece of hide one centimeter square 

 gave a distinct test by the bacteriological test, 

 while five times the quantity failed to respond 

 to Marsh's test. It would be interesting to com- 

 pare this test with that of Reinsch, which has 

 been found by me decidedly sharper and more 

 to be depended on than that of Marsh. 



J. L. H. 



ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 



Dr. Caklos Berg notes several occurrences of 

 the Antarctic seal, Lobodon carcinophaga, well to 

 the northward of its visual habitat, one example 

 having been taken in the La Plata, near Puerto 

 de Ensenada, and another to the northward of 

 Buenos Ayres in lat. 34° 28' S. This latter was 

 a male captured in June, 1898, and must, from 

 its size, 2.65 meters long, have been an adult 

 animal. 



The Zoological Record, Vol. 34, containing a 

 list of the zoological papers which appeared in 

 1897, has just been issued. Amid the rumors 

 of the many good things that the working zool- 

 ogist is soon to enjoy, it is a great satisfaction 

 to continue to receive this valuable publication 

 of the Zoological Society of London. Surely, 

 ' A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTSROPOLOGY. 



ANOTHER MEXICAN CODEX. 



From a personal letter I learn that Dr. Nico- 

 las Leon, well known for his many contribu- 

 tions to Mexican archajology and history, has 

 discovered a hitherto unknown Mexican Codex 

 in hieroglyphic characters, of which he will soon 

 publish a photo-lithographic reproduction. It 

 dates from the year 1545, and relates to the 

 tributes paid by the town of Tepeai. The proper 

 names of places are written in the usual rebus, 

 or ' ikonomatic ' method. They present com- 

 binations not found in any of the other known 

 documents of the kind, and some of them are 

 quite puzzling. This discovery will make a 

 welcome addition to the comparatively few 

 specimens of the Mexican graphic method at 

 that date. 



THE PROGRESSIVE WOMAN. 



A LITTLE book, ' Le Feminisme,' published 

 lately in Paris (Colin et Cie, 1898), has some in- 



terest to the student of sociology. Its author, 

 Mile. Kaethe Schirmacher, gives an accurate 

 sketch of the advance of womankind in social 

 position throughout the world of civilization, 

 beginning with the United States and passing to 

 France, Great Britain, Sweden and Russia. Of 

 our own country she says in her preface that 

 she speaks from personal knowledge. We are 

 gratified, therefore, to know that the character- 

 istics of American women are courage (hardi- 

 esse), the spirit of initiative and capacity for or- 

 ganization. In France ' feminism ' has been 

 principally cultivated by the men, not the 

 women ; in Sweden very few women are inter- 

 ested in it, though the King favors it ; in Eng- 

 land it is opposed by the learned institutions, 

 while in Russia they all favor it. On the 

 whole, the outlook for full and equal rights and 

 opportunities for her sex the author considers 

 cheering. 



THE SEAT OF THE SOUL. 



Understanding by ' soul ' the highest intel- 

 lectual faculties, it is worth considerable trouble 

 to find out where these functions are located. 

 Savages believe that it is in the liver or the 

 heart ; cynics suggest that it is in the stomach ; 

 phrenologists place them in the front part of 

 the brain ; but the most advanced physiologists 

 are now inclined to teach that the posterior 

 cerebral lobes have the highest intellectual 

 value. Dr. C. Clapham's arguments to this ef- 

 fect are quoted with approval in the Central- 

 Matt fur Anthropologie (1898, Heft 4). These 

 arguments are that man has the most highly 

 developed posterior lobes, and this is conspicu- 

 ous in men of marked ability and in the highest 

 races. In idiots the lobes are imperfectly de- 

 veloped, and in chronic dementia these portions 

 of the brain reveal frequent lesions. Numerous 

 authorities are quoted in support of these and 

 allied statements. 



D. G. Brinton. 



University of Pennsylania. 



COLLECTIONS OF TEE PROVINCIAL 3IITSEUM 

 OF VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBA. 

 A Preliminary Catalogue of the Collections 

 of Natural History and Ethnology in the Pro- 

 vincial Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, 196 



