766 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 49. 



dependently,* and given to experts who 

 could affirm for example that the chances 

 are 19 to 1 that the homicide was commit- 

 ted by the defendant, and 4 to 1 that it 

 was premeditated. 



A proper application of measurement and 

 the theory of probabilities to the affairs of 

 daily life would add greatly to intellectual 

 detachment and clearness of view. It would 

 be salutary to have in mind the probable 

 error of the newspaper one is reading. The 

 historian could assign the probable accu- 

 racy of each event which he narrates, in 

 the same manner as the physicist assigns 

 a probable error to his measurements. We 

 should know what reliance we can place on 

 the stories we hear, and on our o'wti memory 

 of past events. When the relative proba- 

 bilities of the various conflicting claims of 

 business, politics and religion are expressed 

 in simple numerical formulas, a great part 

 of the wasted energy of life may be direct- 

 ed to useful ends. It is a long way to 

 travel, but we should advance when and 

 how we can. J. McKeen Cattell. 



Columbia College. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY {XIV.). 

 LATEST WORDS IN CEANIOLOGY. 



In the ' Monitore Zoologico Italiano,' for 

 May last. Dr. L. Moschen presents an able 

 sketch of the recent conflicts of opinion in 

 craniology, and declares in favor of what 

 he calls ' the natural method.' This is that 

 of Prof. Sergi, already explained in this 

 journal. Moschen shows that the method 

 of Kollmann leads to erroneous results, and 

 that at present no unanimity prevails as to 

 the ethnic significance of skull forms. In 

 this he is unfortunately most correct. 



* The independently formed verdict of three jurors, 

 if concordent, would probably have more validity than 

 the unanimous verdict of twelve jurors in consulta- 

 tion. Questions of such great practical importance 

 as this could be definitely settled by the proper psy- 

 chological experiments. 



Prof. Dr. Busch, of Berlin, has a care- 

 fully prepared article in the ' Verhand- 

 lungen der Deutschen Odontologischen 

 Gesellschaft ' (Bd. VII., Heft. 1), on the 

 cranial forms in different races of men. 

 The paper is marked by close observation 

 and sound judgment. His conclusion is 

 that " the cranial differences of races do not 

 lie in particular measures, nor in the rela- 

 tion of the indices, but in the coincidence 

 of certain peculiarities of the head and 

 face which can scarcely be expressed numer- 

 ically, but can be shown by accurate pic- 

 torial presentations of the dilferent aspects 

 of the skull." This is not far from ' the 

 natural method.' 



YTJCATECAN STUDIES. 



The almost simultaneous appearance of 

 four works, all of exceptional merit, on the 

 archseology of Yucatan cannot fail to excite 

 a wide interest in that country. 



First may be named the fifth part of Mr. 

 A. P. Maudslay's contributions to the 

 ' Biologia Centrali-Americana ') London, 

 July, 1895). It is devoted to Chichen Itza, 

 and contains 24 pages of text and an atlas 

 of 25 plates. The first of these is a very 

 carefully prepared map of Yucatan and 

 Tabasco. Then follow views of the monu- 

 ments of the site, analyses of the architec- 

 tural details, and faithful copies of the in- 

 scriptions. The singular round tower, 

 called El Caracol, is the subject of especial 

 attention. 



Next comes Mr. H. C. Mercer's ' Hill 

 Caves of Yucatan' (Phila., Lippincott & 

 Co.). This gives the results of very pains- 

 taking excavations in the caverns of the 

 Sierra de Yucatan. Striking illustrations 

 and an attractive literary style add to the 

 high scientific value of the volume. The 

 author's conclusions may be briefly summed 

 up by the statement that nowhere did he 

 discover traces of an occupation of the soil 

 anterior to the Mayas, or of a civilization 



