768 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 73. 



in the March number of the quarterly pub- 

 lications of the American Statistical Asso- 

 ciation. It is upon ethnic influences in vital 

 statistics, illustrated by a comparison of the 

 Walloon and Flemish inhabitants of Bel- 

 gium. The facts presented are interesting 

 and from the best obtainable sources ; but 

 the complexity of the problem is enormous, 

 and after one has excluded all other possi- 

 ble or probable explanations for the diver- 

 sity discovered, very little is left which can 

 be strictly called ethnic. For instance, the 

 birth rates, the excess of male infants and 

 the infant mortality may have quite other 

 explanations than those connected with eth- 

 nic contrasts. 



BTJDDHA-LIKE FIGURES IN AMERICA AND 

 ELSEWHERE. 



In Egypt, in Greece and abundantly in 

 France, representations of deities seated 

 cross-legged have been found, and fre- 

 quently by archaeologists have been referred 

 to as Buddhistic or Buddha-like figures. 

 In the museum of the Trocadero, Paris, 

 there are a number of such in terra cotta 

 from Chiapas ; and at Palenque the cross- 

 legged divinity has been pictured by 

 Stephens (Travels, vol. II, p. 318) and 

 others. Of course, these have been utilized 

 as evidence of Buddhistic influence in North 

 America and Europe. 



A severe blow at such illusions is dealt 

 by M. H. Galiment in the Kevue de I'Ecole 

 d'Anthropologie (Feb. 15), in an article on 

 ' the oriental attitude of divinities.' Bj' 

 this he means merely the ordinarj' oriental 

 method of sitting which is common also to 

 our tailors and to many non-oriental na- 

 tions. This lie sharply distinguishes from 

 the religious attitude assigned to the Bud- 

 dhas. In the latter the legs are crossed, and 

 each foot rests on the thigh of the opposite 

 leg, with the sole turned upward and in full 

 view. This is quite difterent from the atti- 

 tude in any of the Amei-ican specimens 



known to me, either by observation or by 

 copies. They are seated with the legs 

 crossed beneath the thighs, in the ordinary 

 sartorial position. Thus does another prop 

 fall from the weak structure of the builders 

 of American aboriginal culture on Asiatic 

 foundations. 



CURRENT NOTES ON 3IETE0R0L0GY. 

 HUREICANES IN JAMAICA. 



A CHRONOLOGICAL list of hurricancs, 

 earthquakes, and other physical occur- 

 rences noted in Jamaica between 1504 and 

 1880, is given by Maxwell Hall in Vol. II. 

 of the Jamaica Meteorological Observations 

 (1896). The first great hurricane experi- 

 enced by the English in Jamaica was on 

 August 28, 1712, and on August 28, 1722, 

 another very violent one occurred, which 

 resulted in the loss of about 400 lives and 

 the wrecking of forty-four vessels in the 

 harbor of Port Royal. In order that these 

 two visitations might be remembered by the 

 inhabitants, August 28th was appointed to 

 be kept as a perpetual fast by the Act 9 Geo. 

 I., ch. I., passed in 1722. On June 3, 1770, 

 there was a smart shock of earthquake, 

 which was immediately preceded at Cape 

 Frangois by a fall of 2.5 in. in the water 

 barometer, corresponding to a fall of 0.2 in. 

 in the mercurial barometer. Small oscilla- 

 tions of this character have since been 

 noticed at Kingston as accompanying 

 earthquake shocks. 



Previous to the hurricane of October 3, 

 1770, a noise resembling the roar of distant 

 thunder was heard to issue from the bot- 

 tom of all the weUs in the neighborhood of 

 Kingston, twenty hours before the com- 

 mencement of the storm. A ship captain 

 who noted this fact, and who was informed 

 that it was a prognostic of an approaching 

 hurricane, managed to get his ship into the 

 inner harbor in time to save her from de- 

 struction. 



