450 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 64. 



and Berbers, etc. Whether true or not, these 

 are certainly not new views to one acquainted 

 with the current literature of the science. 



The relationship of the members of the 

 various races is shown by ' family trees, ' an 

 ancient and necessarily misleading device. 

 Thus, his tree of the ' homo Caucasicus ' puts 

 the Greeks, Celts and Etruscans on one of its 

 primary branches, along with Circassians and 

 Dravidas, while the Teutons and Slavs are on a 

 different branch ! That on this tree are placed 

 the Samoans, Hawaians, Battaks and Khmer 

 is to be explained by the author's theory of the 

 Malayan race above referred to, which he 

 claims and which we may allow is at present, 

 and is likely to be, his own peculiar property. 



The tree of the ' homo Americanus ' becomes 

 amass of inconsistencies so soon as he leaves the 

 protection of Major Powell's linguistic map. 

 Even within its area the Kolosch and Selish 

 are depicted as proceeding from the Eskimo! 

 The chapter on the American race is replete 

 with positive assertions, nearly always unsup- 

 ported, for instance, the imaginary distribution 

 of two types of skull (p. 362), the alleged im- 

 passiveness of the native character (p. 353), the 

 ' undoubted ' approximation of the American 

 to the Mongol type, etc. It is obvious that the 

 author has not consulted the best and most re- 

 cent studies in American aboriginal ethnog- 

 raphy; yet his chapter might have been much 

 more uninstructive than it is. 



The proof-reading is generally satisfactory, 

 though probably a highly respected American 

 writer will not think so when he sees himself 

 referred to as ' Mr. Thomas Cyrus ' (p. 370). 



Of ethnology proper, in the sense in which it 

 is now adopted by the leading German, French 

 and American writers, the volume scarcely 

 treats at all, and we may look in the Index in 

 vain for the names of Bastian, Post, Steinmetz, 

 Achelis, or the other distinguished representa- 

 tives of that comparatively new and grand de- 

 partment of learning ; and while Mr. Keane's 

 book can be recommended as an industrious 

 compilation, useful to public libraries and well 

 put together, the warning should be distinctly 

 uttered that its title is an error and that it 

 bears scarcely at all on the science of ethnology. 

 D. G. Brinton. 



Las roeas eruptivas del suroeste de la cuenca de 

 Mexico. EzEQTJiEL Ordonez. Boletin del 

 Instituto Geol6gico de M6xico. No. 2. 

 Mexico, 1895. Pp. 46. 



The contents of the first bulletin of this series 

 were briefly noted in Science, Vol. II., pp. 739- 

 740. In this issue, Seiior Ordonez presents a 

 very clear description of the important volcanic 

 district of the valley of Mexico, and particularly 

 of the volcanic group of Santa Catarina and of 

 the volcanic rocks of the Sierra de las Cruces. 

 Fourteen opening pages are devoted to giving 

 an 'Idea general de la cuenca de Mexico.' 

 The remainder of the paper, largely petro- 

 graphic, gives a detailed account of the cones, 

 lava flows, breccias and ashbeds of the south- 

 western part of this region of andesites, trachjrtes 

 and intermediate petrographic types. 



J. B. WOODWORTH. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 

 THE ASTKOPHYSICAL JOURNAL, FEBRUARY. 



The leading article is by Prof. L. E. Jewell, 

 upon the coincidence of solar and metallic lines 

 and upon the appearance of lines in the spectra 

 of the electric arc and the sun. When com- 

 pared with corresponding solar lines, the me- 

 tallic lines of the arc spectra have been found 

 to be almost invariably displaced toward the 

 violet. There is, moreover, a difierence in the 

 amount of displacement of lines belonging to 

 the same element ; the greatest shift being ob- 

 served in the strongest lines. 



An explanation for this was sought in the 

 difference between the condition of matter in 

 the arc and in the solar atmosphere. This dif- 

 ference is probably that of pressure or density 

 of material and temperature, or both. 



The lines least displaced were those not easily 

 reversed and visible only at a high temperature 

 or when a large amount of material was used. 

 As the solar lines agree most nearly with the 

 lines produced in the center of the arc, where 

 the temperature and density are high, we have 

 the means of determining the pressure or the 

 temperature of the solar atmosphere, where the 

 Fraunhofer lines are produced, if we can sepa- 

 rate the effects of temperature and pressure. 



Several lines of investigation lead to the con- 



