June 24, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



861 



observations, as well as on account of the com- 

 plexity of the curve, such an analysis must 

 always be based on certain biological assump- 

 tions. Karl Pearson has shown how difficult 

 an analysis of such curves is. If we assume 

 that the composite curve results from measure- 

 ments of two coexisting species we make one 

 of many possible assumptions. Natural selec- 

 tion and mixture are two causes which may 

 have eflfects of a similar character. When, for 

 instance, two distinct types interbreed, and 

 the offspring show a tendency to revert to either 

 parental type, curves will result with two 

 maxima, each representing one of the parental 

 types ; but this curve does not originate by ad- 

 dition of the two composing curves ; it is much 

 rather an unknown function of these curves. A 

 case of this character was described by me when 

 treating of the anthropometric characteristics of 

 the descendants of Indian mothers and white 

 fathers. On the other hand, when natural 

 selection acts in such a way that a certain 

 group of individuals is least favored, and if 

 these individuals are not far removed from the 

 average type, curves with two maxima may de- 

 velop. It will, therefore, be seen that the mere 

 existence of curves with two maxima does not 

 by any means signify the existence of two dis- 

 tinct species. 



The question of correlation, which has been 

 well set forth by Professor Blankinship, seems 

 a most interesting one, and has received very 

 able treatment at the hands of Karl Pearson, 

 who clearly set forth the theory of this subject. 

 It does not seem likely that this method can be 

 utilized for distinguishing between specific and 

 individual characters. In the same species cer- 

 tain organs prove to be strongly correlated, 

 while others are only slightly correlated ; and 

 according to this degree of correlation the pro- 

 portions will change among various types, and 

 it is probable that the degree of correlation will 

 remain the same among all closely related 

 types. 



Since the application of statistical methods to 

 zoology is still in its infancy, it is to be hoped 

 that the study may be taken up according 

 to strict methods, in order to avoid erroneous 

 conclusions. 



Feanz Boas. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 J. BoLYAI, Soientia Spatii AbsoluteJ^era. With- 

 a Magyar translation by SutIk J. , and a bi- 

 ography by Fr. Schmidt. Budapest, Schmidt 

 Ferencz. 1897. 8vo. Pp. xxviii + 143. 

 W. BOLTAI DE BoLYA, Tentamen juventutem 

 studiosam in elementa matheseos purse elemen- 

 taris ac sublimioris methods inttdtiva eviden- 

 tiaque huic propria introducendi, cum appendice 

 triplici. Budapestini, Sumptibus Academies 

 Scientiarum Hungaricse. 1897. Editio Se- 

 cunda. Tomus I. 4to. Pp. xii + 679.. 

 Price, 50 francs. 



Sixty-five years after its issue from the little 

 provincial press of the ' Collegii Reformatorum ' 

 in Maros V&s4rhely, why does the proud Hun- 

 garian Academy of Science reissue, in sump- 

 tuous quarto form, a magnificent edition de luxe, 

 this strange Tentamen ? 



Bolyai Farkas (Wolfgang Bolyai) has two un- 

 impeachable certificates of immortality. He 

 was the father of Bolyai Jfi,nos, and he first 

 publicly appreciated Lobach6vski. The second 

 of these two titles, though destined to bulk 

 large in the final history of human thought, 

 has never before been explicitly mentioned by 

 any one, so far as I know. I here call atten- 

 tion to it for the first time. If any praise or 

 appreciation of Lobach^vski was ever published 

 or printed before 1851, I have never heard of 

 it. In Russia he found only such rude and 

 offensive ironies as fill a criticism in one of the 

 St. Petersburg journals, ' Son of the Father- 

 land,' 1834, or else complete indifference. The 

 academician V. Bunyakovski in his work, ' Par- 

 allel Lines,' printed in 1853, does not even 

 mention the investigations of Lobachevski. 

 Among his own pupils not one worked at his 

 ideas or appeared as their convinced defender. 

 Vasiliev, Engel and Staeckel give 1866 as the 

 date of the beginning of the movement to 

 recognize the non-Euclidean geometry. Vasi- 

 liev attributes the start to the Frenchman 

 Hoiiel, ' whom we must remember to-day with 

 gratitude.' Engel in a note to this sentence of 

 Vasiliev's Address traces back the initiative to 

 Baltzer : ' ' Hier haette Baltzer erwaehnt wer- 

 den sollen, durch den Hoiiel erst auf Lobats- 

 chefskij und Bolyai aufmerksam gemacht wor- 

 den war." This was stated by Hoiiel himself 



