834 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. in. No. 75. 



moi'e or less absorbed by two streams of 

 short-skulled tribes, one from the northeast 

 across the lower Ehiue, the other apparently 

 from Switzerland and beyond, down the 

 Rhone. Later than these, at about the 

 middle of the neolithic period, a long-skulled 

 stock entered from the northeast or east, 

 the shape of whose heads in other respects 

 differed materially from the original inhabi- 

 tants of Gaul. 



It would be tempting to undertake the 

 identification of these various peoples on 

 the one hand with the protohistoric tribes 

 whose names are mentioned by Caesar and 

 other early chroniclers, and on the other 

 "with types of the existing population. Some 

 ethnologists have attempted this, but M. 

 Salmon prefers to avoid such uncertain 

 though alluring fields. 



PAL^OLITHS FROM SOMALILAND. 



The ' palseolithio ' implements from 

 South Africa have long been known ; but 

 it is quite lately that specimens from East 

 Africa, from the territory of the Somalis in 

 the ' horn ' of Africa, have been exhibited. 

 Mr. Seton-Karr figures a number of them 

 in the journal of the Anthropological Insti- 

 tute for February. In size and form they 

 resemble the so-called palaeolithic tj^pes. 

 But we know that these types survived in 

 neolithic ages, in many localities. We turn, 

 therefore, to the evidence of their discovery 

 in ancient strata. This proves not very 

 satisfactory. They were found on or near 

 the surface, and the only evidences adduced 

 as to their alleged antiquity were their form 

 and their weathering (patine). " Different 

 ages and styles were found mixed together, 

 some not much weathered, others extraordi- 

 narily so." This is surely far from conclu- 

 sive as to their antiquity, and certainly 

 would not satisfy an intelligent American 

 collector. 



COMPARATIVE ETHNIC ANATOMY. 



The anatomical differences between the 



so-called races or varieties of the human 

 species have been examined with consider- 

 able attention but without satisfactory re- 

 sults. This has largely been owing to the 

 personal bias of observers. Either, like 

 N'ott and Gliddon, they were determined 

 polygenists, and were bound to elevate 

 racial into specific differences ; or they held 

 the opposite views, and worked with an aim 

 to efface apparent distinctions ; or, especi- 

 ally of late years (e. (j. Dr. Herve, of Paris), 

 they were so bent on seeing simian and 

 pithecoid analogies that they lost sight of 

 racial traits in atavistic reversions. 



The vague resultant of such biased stud- 

 ies is seen in a discussion before the An- 

 thropological Society of Washington, re- 

 ported in the American Antlwo]Jologist for 

 April. It was agreed that the term 

 ' atavism ' has been much abused by natu- 

 ralists. Dr. Baker pointed out that food 

 habits have a marked effect on osseous 

 structures ; he denied that the racial pecu- 

 liarities of the negro are remarkably simian; 

 many supposed racial criteria are merely 

 the result of conditions which would pro- 

 duce them in any race ; and he considered 

 that antliropometry as at present taught is 

 inadequate to define true morphological 

 characters. These opinions are unques- 

 tionably well-founded, and they illustrate 

 why so little is positively established in 

 comparative racial anatomy after so much 

 labor has been expended upon it. 



D. G. Beinton. 



NOTES UPON AGRICULTURE AND HORTI- 

 CULTURE. 

 the ameeican persimmon. 

 A station bulletin (No. 60, Indiana) has 

 been issued upon the persimmon, and with 

 several full-page plates of the tree and its 

 fruit the subject is given a most favorable 

 introduction. Prof. Troop shows that on 

 account of the astringent principle in the 

 unripe fruit, the tendency of the plant to 



