486 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 2:;'2. 



Mr. F. W. Hodge is secretary and maiiagiug 

 editor, and the editorial board consists of Frank 

 Baker, Smithsonian Institution, Washington ; 

 Franz Boas, American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, New York ; Daniel G. Brinton, Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; George M. 

 Dawson, Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa; 

 George A. Dorsey, Field Columbian Museum, 

 Chicago ; Alice C. Fletcher, Harvard Univer- 

 sity, Cambridge; W. H. Holmes, U. S. National 

 Museum, Washington; J. W. Powell, Bureau 

 of American Ethnology, Washington ; F. W. 

 Putnam, Peabody Museum, Cambridge. The 

 journal, published quarterly, at a cost of four 

 dollars a year, deserves the support of all in- 

 terested in anthropology, as it will accomplish 

 much for the science, which is now making such 

 great advances. 



The first article in the American Naturalist 

 for March is by Professor J. P. McMurrich, on 

 'The Present Status of Anatomy ;' various ad- 

 vances in the study of anatomy are described, 

 and a strong plea made for the study of com- 

 parative anatomy as an aid to the understand- 

 ing of human anatomy. Dr. Erwin F. Smith 

 records ' The Second Annual Meeting of the 

 Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology,' 

 and submits abstracts of the papers presented. 

 Professor J. S. Kingsley and W. H. Euddick 

 discuss ' The Ossicula Anditus and Mammalian 

 Ancestry,' deciding, as the result of their ob- 

 servations, that the incus has been correctly re- 

 garded as the quadrate. The probability of an 

 amphibian origin for the Mammals is favorably 

 considered. Professor Harris H. Wilder treats at 

 some length of Desmognathiis fusca (Ratinesque) 

 and Spelerpes bUineatus (Green), two species 

 often confused with each other, particularly in 

 their larval state. The habitat and develop- 

 ment of each is described. ' The Poisons Given 

 Off by Parasitic Worms in Man and Animals ' 

 are briefly noted by Dr. G. H. F. Nuttall, who 

 considers that this is a fruitful field for research. 

 Dr. Leonhard Stejneger describes 'A Curious 

 Malformation of the Shields of a Snake's 

 Head, ' whereby the scutellation was completely 

 changed. Among the editorials one protests 

 against too strict an adherence to the laws of 

 priority. The many readers of the Naturalist 



will note with pleasure that the table of con- 

 tents is provided with page references. 



The leading article of the April Monisl is on 

 'The Primitive Inhabitants of Europe,' by Pro- 

 fessor G. Sergi, of Rome, and sets forth the 

 criteria which this anthropologist has estab- 

 lished for distinguishing race-types. The monu- 

 mental work of Mr. Shadworth H. Hodgson, 

 'The Metaphysic of Experience,' is discussed 

 at length by Dr. Edmund Montgomery. Mr. 

 William Romaine Paterson contributes an ar- 

 ticle on ' The Irony of Jesus,' in which the 

 intellectual and critical side of the great Teacher 

 is emphasized. Dr. Paul Carus has a study in 

 comparative religion, called ' Yahveh and 

 Manitou,' in which he draws a parallelism be- 

 tween Yahveh, the Israelitish God of the desert, 

 and the great deity of the North American In- 

 dians. Professor L. Levy-Bruhl, of Paris, 

 offers a study of ' The Contemporaneous Phi- 

 losophy of France,' and Lucien Arreat his usual 

 critical review of current French philosophical 

 and scientific literature. The book reviews of 

 the number deal mainly with works on the 

 philosophy of science, mathematics, physics, 

 and so forth. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, 303D 



REGULAR MEETING, SATUEDAY, FEB- 



RUABY 2.5. 



Mr. H. J. Webber spoke of some recent re- 

 searches iu the development of Cobsea sca^idens 

 which exhibited a hitherto unknown method of 

 spindle formation. 



The remainder of the evening was devoted to 

 a discussion of the features of the Great Dismal 

 Swamp. Dr. W. H. Seaman described the pe- 

 culiar method of getting out lumber by digging 

 a small ditch, just large enough to accommo- 

 date a single log. He also stated that a sample 

 of the clay underlying the lake showed no 

 diatoms. 



Mr. F. D. Gardner presented some further 

 remarks on the soils, saying that the reclaimed 

 land was extremely good for raising corn, as 

 the amount of rainfall during the critical mouth 

 of August is about twice that of the Western 

 corn belt. 



Mr. F. V. Coville noted the importance of 



