208 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., J^o. 28. 



early stages of liumanity. The discussion is kept up 

 by the French society, and most elaborate measure- 

 ments are reported. M. Dally is not quite satisfied 

 with the methods, however, and makes the following 

 remarks. It is very wrung to confound things differ- 

 ent inter se under one abstract terra, and to study 

 thein as a natural group. Assassins, murderers, 

 criminals, and even the assassinated, constitute 

 juridical categories; but surely they are not philo- 

 sophic. Highwaymen, ravishers, the jealous, mono- 

 maniacs, avengers, nihilists, etc., may be assassins; 

 yet they have nothing in common, except that their 

 actions lead to the same result. The organic con- 

 ditions which lead to' murder are quite different in 

 each case. Again: every one knows that nothing is 

 more rare than a perfectly symmetrical skull. Before 

 establishing the proportions of anomalous _crania 

 among criminals, it is necessary to fix the standard 

 among the virtuous. In fact, all men who have 

 heavy lower jaws are not necessarily assassins; nor 

 can we assume that all crime is evidence of atavism, 

 and argue, hence, that in the anatomy of murderers 



we liave the portraits of our prehistoric ancestors. — 

 (null. soc. anthrop. Paris, v. 778.) j. w. p. [212 

 Easter Island. — Commander Bouverie F. Clark, 

 in June last, visited the Easter Island, landing at the 

 village of Malaveri, where the vessel was boarded by 

 Mr. Alexander Salmon, agent of the Maison Brander 

 of Tahiti, who purchased the properly of the mis- 

 sionaries four yeai's ago. The latter then left for the 

 Ganibier Archipelago, taking three hundred natives 

 with them. The natives now number a Imndred 

 and fifty, and are decreasing. About live hundred 

 were shipped to Tahiti eight years ago, to work on 

 the plantations of the Maison Brander. Among the 

 remaining people are no traces of the missionary 

 work. They are divided into several small clans; 

 and their chief quarrels are about the first eggs of 

 the ' wide-awake ' every year from Xeedle rock. 

 The myth or tradition of their arrival is given by 

 Commander Clark, who also speaks hopefully of 

 the fertility of the island, as well as its value as a 

 provision station. — (Proc. roy. geo'jr. soc, v. 40.) 

 J. w. p. [213 



INTELLiaENCE FROM AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC STATIONS. 



PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS. 

 University of Miohigani 

 , Central laboratory for microscopy and general 

 hisloloi/y- — Instruction is given in this laboratory 

 in the following subjects. 1. Microscopical technics, 

 or the science and art of microscopy, comprising, 

 (a) the theory and construction of the instrument and 

 its various accessories; (b) the methods of determin- 

 ing magnifications; (c) the methods of microscopic 

 drawing, microscopic photography, and microscopic 

 projections; (d) the preparation of objects of various 

 classes. 2. Human histology. 3. Comparative liis- 

 tology. 4. Vegetable histology. 5. Dental histol- 

 ogy. 6. Pathological anatomy. 7. Completion of 

 microscopic study in such other subjects as may be 

 desired by professors in charge. 



The following is the plan pursued in the principal 

 divisions: — 



Normal human liistology. — Tliis course con- 

 sists of thirty lectures in the amphitheatre on the 

 use of the microscope and on histology. In laboratory 

 work the stuilent is taught the manipulation of tlie 

 instrument, use of accessories, etc. Then follows 

 the study of such sulijects as blood, epithelium, bone, 

 toolh, cartilage, elastic tissue, nuiscle, kidney, 

 stomach, liver, intestine, brain, spinal cord, and 

 various miscellaneous subjects, as tlie oesophagus, 

 tou'^ue, skin, etc. The students are given instruc- 

 tion in mounting, so that each specimen is preserved 

 as it is studied. The average number of mounts per 

 student is about twenty. Each student is required 

 to liave at least twelve mounts, and some ambitious 

 ones mount as high as fifty or sixty. Over six 

 tiiousand mounts are carried away eacir year by 

 students in this department. The object of the 



course is, first, to make the student better acquainted 

 with the structure of tissues, and, second, that he 

 may become familiar enough with the microscope 

 and its manipulations to work to advantage without 

 the aid of an instructor. ; 



Vegetable histology. — The first course con- 

 sists of work in structural botany for a term of twenty 

 weeks. Special attention is given to the correct re- 

 presentation of microscopic objects on paper. Sixty 

 accurate drawings of the various structures examined 

 during the course are required of each student, the 

 specimens being prepared by the students themselves. 

 Vegetable protoplasm is studied with the special 

 view of ascertaining the effects of the various re- 

 agents employed in general laboratory work. Then 

 follow lessons on the vegetable cells, diatoms, and 

 other miscellaneous subjects. 



Course two in vegetable histology consists of work 

 in pharmaceutical botany, three forenoons of lahoi'ar 

 tory work each week for twenty weeks. At the 

 close of the course each student chooses a particular 

 drug, studies it thoroughly, and presents tlie results 

 of his labors in the form of a thesis. 



Advanced normal and pathological histology. 

 — Any student who has completed the primary course 

 in the histological laboratory, or who has performed 

 an equivalent amount of work in some other institu- 

 tion, can enter the class for advanced work. The 

 first work here is in testing objectives with test- 

 plates and diatoms, and in becoming more familiar 

 with a few useful accessories. The art of injecting 

 is then taken up, and tlie frog and cat are experi- 

 mented upon, as well as individual organs from 

 larger animals. Each student then chooses some 

 particular organ or tissue, and prepares it in as 

 many ways as possible for study. He thus becomes 



