204 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 163. 



tematic changes in the form of the land 

 with the passage of time has come to be 

 generally accepted as a means of geograph- 

 ical description, but not with entire agree- 

 ment by all writers. One of the first illus- 

 trations of this good fashion was in an ac- 

 count of the driftless region of Wisconsin, 

 in which ' topographic old age ' was applied 

 to the beautifully dissected hills of the 

 driftless area, where an abundant and 

 varied relief still survives. This would 

 seem to exclude such a term as ' mature,' 

 and to leave no appropriate term for a 

 plain of complete denudation. In another 

 paper the Alps are cited as ' young ' moun- 

 tains, denudation having there progressed 

 ' only far enough to sculpture into very 

 rugged relief the strata of varying hard- 

 ness.' This would seem to underestimate 

 the enormous amount of destructive work 

 done in the Alps, and to imply that their 

 deformation began not very long ago. In- 

 deed, if ' young ' is to be applied geograph- 

 ically to mountain ranges like the Alps, 

 thoroughly dissected by adjusted valleys, 

 some other term than ' young ' would be 

 needed for the moderately denuded Jura, 

 or for the still less denuded lava blocks of 

 southern Oregon. It is hardly advisable to 

 increase the series of age terms very far, 

 although infantile, young, youthful, adoles- 

 cent, mature, decadent, senile and old have 

 all been more or less used. Young, ma- 

 ture and old, with qualifying adverbs, 

 should at any rate suffice for elementary 

 descriptions ; and in such a series both the 

 dissected uplands of the driftless area of 

 "Wisconsin and the vigorous peaks and val- 

 leys of the Alps should be called ' mature.' 

 W. M. Davis. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTBROPOLOGY. 

 RACIAL SOCIOLOGY OF EUROPE. 



An interesting review of the researches of 

 Lapouge and Ammon on the above subject 

 is presented by Carlos C. Closson in the 



American Journal of Sociology for November 

 last. The principal racial criterion, the sole 

 one, indeed, is assumed to be the shape of 

 the skull, and particularly of the cranial in- 

 dex. Dividing the area of France into the 

 most dolichocephalic and the most brachy- 

 cephalic departments, the sociological com- 

 parison shows that the dolichocephalic ele- 

 ments excel, not simply in the ownership 

 of wealth, but still more in wealth-produc- 

 ing capacity, and most of all in commercial 

 and financial activity. The dolichocephalic 

 departments pay the m.ost taxes, are more 

 densely populated, richer and generally 

 flourishing. They owe more money and 

 own more bicycles. They also travel more 

 to the Celtics in larger numbers. 



Both Lapouge and Closson accept these 

 results as in some way the consequences of 

 dolichooephaly ; but another view, not dis- 

 cussed by either, is that this form of skull is 

 less a cause than a consequence. The 

 studies of the late Dr. Harrison Allen on 

 Hawaiian skulls, now in process of publica- 

 tion, will show that improved conditions of 

 life profoundly modify the cranial form 

 within the limits of the race. 



THE DOOM OF THE AMERICANS. 



An able and profound study of the birth 

 rate in Massachusetts is given by Arsene 

 Dumont in the Journal de la Societe de 

 Statistique de Paris, ISTovember, 1897. He 

 shows by incontrovertible data that the 

 marriages among the ' American born ' in 

 that State and in surrounding parts of New 

 England reveal a steady diminution in the 

 birth rate. This is not new. It has been 

 emphasized by several of our own statisti- 

 cians. But what is new is M. Dumont's 

 study of its causes. 



He finds its chief cause in the principle 

 of democracy. This develops individualism, 

 the overpowering desire of each to live his 

 own life to the best personal advantage, to 

 get all the good there is going, be it in the 



