August 10, 1883.) 



SCIEN^CE. 



179 



improbable. The manner in which fat is absorbeil 

 has been much discusseil of late years, but the ex- 

 planation given by Prof. Zawarykin appears to us 

 the first satisfactory one which has been offered.) — 

 {Pfliiyer's arch. pAj/.sio/., .\xxi. 231.) C. s. M. (192 



ANTHBOPOLOOY, 



Brain-weight of boys and girls. — In the final 

 result of the comparison of the two sexes in tlie hu- 

 man race, anatomical researches will form an impor- 

 tant factor. Many anatomists have recognized this 

 fact, and have instituted comparisons between the 

 sexes from various points of view. M. Gustave le 

 Bon reviews the work of >I. Manouvrier and that of 

 M. Bndin, both of whom aver that " sex has no influ- 

 ence on brain-weight. With them the influence of 

 sex is nothing more than the influence of height; and 

 If the females as a whole exceed the males in brain- 

 weight, it is simply because the weight of the body in 

 the females is much below that of the males." M. 

 le Bon puts the theory of his adversaries to the test 

 in a very ingenious manner by comparing the brains 

 of males and females having about the same weight. 

 By this investigation it is shown that in the great 

 majority of cases the male children surpass the 

 females of the same weight in their cranial circum- 

 ference. At the same age, height, and weight of 

 body, the female brain is notably smaller than that 

 of the male. — [Bull. soc. anthrop. Paris, v. 524-.0.31.) 

 J. w. p. [193 



The Gcilibis. — The tribe of Galibis lives on the 

 bonlers of the Sinamari, and not far from Cayenne, 

 in French Guiana, and it consists of only a few 

 families. A group of fifteen of them were sent to 

 Paris in 1S82; and several gentlemen, among them 

 Mr. Manouvrier, have undertaken to study their 

 physique, customs, language, etc. The Galibis were 

 domiciled in their native fashion in the jardin d'ac- 

 cliiiiatiilion, and passed their time in their ordinary 

 pursuits. The skin is reddish brown, but differs 

 with individuals, owing partly to mixed blood: the 

 Inie color is also disguised by the use of paint. The 

 hair and eyes are jet black. The other physical 

 characters, as well as their language and occupations, 

 are given with the greatest minuteness. A single 

 observation will show the extreme caution with 

 which fine theories should be spun. M. Capitan 

 studied carefully the processes of making pottery 

 among the Galibis. Hamy took occasion to remark 

 upon this as upon the greater rudeness of ornament.a- 

 tion in other respects, and concluded that the Galibis 

 had much degenerated since they were first studied. 

 But Mortillet recalled the discussion to a sober view 

 by remarking that the specimens in our museums are 

 choice objects, selected by travellers for their great 

 beauty, while those made by the Galibis in the jar- 

 din were by rude workmen for daily use. They show 

 us the cabin of the poor, while the voyagers had 

 despoiled the homes of the rich. Theories of degen- 

 eration based upon Hainy's facts were therefore un- 

 substantial. — {J{uU. soc. anlhrop. Paris, v. 602.) 

 J. w. p. [194 



African psycliology. — Max Uuchner, writing to 



Aiisland, speaks rather encouragingly of tlie Bantu 

 negro character. "The negro in his native condi- 

 tion is not apparently of a lower grade of natural 

 intelligence than the European of the common class, 

 lie i>robably excels the European in a kind of selfish 

 cunning, while the restraints of moral scruples and 

 of the finer feelings operate loss strongly upon him. 

 Yet he is not destitute of a sort of moral instinct, a 

 kind of taboo conscience, that causes him to hesitate 

 to do wrong. For this reason the negro is never an 

 open tliief." Mr. Jefferson used to say that his 

 slaves were all honest, but they could beat the world 

 finding things. The negro, says Buchner, is above 

 every thing positivlst, practical, materialist, and is 

 inaccessible to intangible considerations. The ques- 

 tion ' Has the negro a religion?' cannot be answered 

 at once, either affirmatively or negatively. It must 

 first be made clear what is to be understood by reli- 

 gion. He has a confused mixture of vague wants 

 and superstitious impulses. A system of computing 

 time can hardly be predicated of such a people; but 

 they have a kind of superficial calendar of the months, 

 which they make to help regulate their agricultural 

 operations. The negro undoubteilly possesses all the 

 capacities for education and civilization to at least as 

 great an extent as our primitive ancestors. The 

 fact that the psychical and intellectual, as well as 

 the physical, differences between particular races of 

 men are really insignificant, is destined to be made 

 plainer, the more the subject is impartially studied; 

 and the efforts of certain men, learned in distinctions 

 of types, to set up fixed marks of sep.aralion between 

 them, will not succeed. — {Pop. so- monthly, July.) 

 J. w. p. [195 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The unexampled recent increase in the mem- 

 bership of the American association for the advance- 

 ment of science, from a little over one thousand just 

 before the Boston meeting of 18S0, to nearly two 

 thousand now. implies a considerable increase in its 

 funds, and should imply direct participation by the 

 association in the endowment of research, which its 

 means have not hitherto permitted. No other way 

 is now open for the association to advance science 

 so securely. 



We desire, therefore, to call the attention of the 

 executive board of the association to the direct advan- 

 tage which wouhl certainly result in following the 

 example of the British association by making an an- 

 nual grant to the Naples zoological station, whose 

 claims and advantages have already been so well 

 stated in our columns by Miss Nunn and Dr. Whit- 

 man. Tlie board would find no lack of applicants 

 for the table thus secured, the cost of which would 

 be four hundred dollars annually. 



— Mr. George M. West of Escanaba, Mich., sends 

 us a photograph of a hoe-shaped implement which is 

 stated to have been m.aile of native copper by ham- 

 mering. The blade h.as a thin edge, and is said to be 

 nearly nine inches long, about three inches wide, .and 

 oiu-half inch tliick at the back where it joins the 



