OCTOBEE 2, 189I.] 



SCIENCE. 



189 



nevei'theless, that there is a small volvula which lies, as in 

 Lepidosteus, in the posterior part of the optic ventricle. 



One curious result of the development of a volvula is the 

 peculiar course hy which the fourth cranial nerve reaches 

 its centre. Entering at the usual place in the valve, it has 

 fo traverse a large part of the volvula before making its exit 

 from the brain. 



In the drum {Haplodonotus) the brain as a whole is ex- 

 ceedingly short. This shortening has the effect to tilt the 

 optic lobes and cerebellum at a considerable angle with the 

 axis of the brain, and to roll the volvula into a spherical 

 mass with three folds, which are packed closely into the 

 cavity of the ventricle. The main lobe of the cerebellum 

 also has a short cephalad spur. 



In the cat-fisli family the cerebellum, instead of projecting 

 backward, is thrust cephalad, affording a very good and 

 constant differential character. The few illustrations here 

 cited are derived from a memoir about to appear in the 

 Journal of Comparative Neurology, where a wider range 

 of comparison and full illustration may be possible. 



It will be noticed that in the above cases the gray or 

 granular material is ental. It has been shown by Professor 

 His that the nervous elements in the spinal cord and me- 

 dulla arise from the ventricular epithelium. This the writer 

 has show is also the case in the cerebellum, at least in rep- 

 tiles and fishes. In the massive cerebellum of mammals we 

 are struck by the difficulty which stands in the way of the 

 carrying out of the same fundamental plan of structure. 

 The active cells are separated from the epithelium by imper- 

 vious masses of fibres. How, then, do these cells reach their 

 destination? This important question we at first sought to 

 solve by discovering in some embryonic stage an eversion 

 similar to that described in reptiles. This proved to be a 

 valuable clew, but not actually correct, though a tendency to 

 revolve from behind forward is very pronounced in the cer- 

 ebellum of birds, and is exhibited in the direction of the 

 lobules of the cerebellum in marsupials. But, while there 

 is not an actual eversion of the cerebellum in mammals, 

 there is a time when a pouch from the lateral posterior walls 

 of the fourth ventricle is formed. This divertacle envelops 

 the cerebellum and meets its fellovr of the opposite side. In 

 a short time this sac flattens out, and both layers fuse with 

 the ectal surface of the cerebellum, and constitute a tempo- 

 rary proliferating organ from which the cells are derived. 

 These cells migrate to a point beneath the layer of Purkiuje's 

 cells, the origin of which seems to be also from the ventricu- 

 lar epithelium. Although this process has been observed 

 only in rodentia there can be no doubt that it prevails in 

 other groups of mammals. Although somewhat unexpected, 

 this method is not unlike that which Professor His has de- 

 scribed for the origin of the olives and related structures of 

 the medulla. By this provision the increase of ectal surface 

 through the convolutions of the cerebellum provides for the 

 largest possible enlargement of the active centres with the 

 most economical distribution of fibres. 



This discovery may serve to enforce the value of a com- 

 pai-ative method in approaching a complicated problem like 

 the present one. C L. Herrick. 



John Gilmer Speed follows up his article in the September 

 Lippincott's with a paper entitled " The Common Roads of Eu- 

 rope." He shows how far ahead of us the great nations of Europe 

 are in the matter of roads and their administration and mainte- 

 nance. Among other articles in the October number may be men- 

 tioned a paper by William Agnew Paton upon "The Lost ' Land- 

 fall' of Columbus." 



ANTHROPO LOG Y» PAST AND PRESENT." 

 [Continued from p. 172.] 



It has been the custom to speak of the early Aryan. Semitic, 

 and Turanian races as large swarms — as millions pouring from 

 one counti'y into another. It has been calculated that these early 

 nomads would have required immense tracts of meadow land to 

 keep their flocks, and that it was the search for new pastures 

 that drove them, by an irresistible force, over the whole inhabita- 

 ble earth. 



This may have been so, but it may also have not been so. Any- 

 how, we have a right to suppose that, before there were millions 

 of human beings, there were at first a few only. We have been 

 told of late that there never was a first man; but we may be al- 

 lowed to suppose, at all events, that there were at one lime a few 

 first men and a fevv first women. If, then, the mixture of blood 

 by marriage and the mixture of language in peace or war took 

 place at an early time, when the world was peopled by some indi- 

 viduals, or by some hundreds, or by some thousands only, think 

 what the necessary result would have been. It has been calculated 

 that it would only require six hundred years to populate the whole 

 earth with the descendants of one couple, the first father being 

 dolichocephalic and the first mother brachy cephalic. They might, 

 after a time, all choose to speak the Aryan language, but they 

 could not choose their skulls, but would have to accept them from 

 nature, vcbether dolichocephalic or brachycephalic. 



Who, then, would dare at present to lift up a skull and say this 

 skull must have spoken an Aryan language, or lift up a language 

 and say this language must have been spoken by a dolichocephalic 

 skull ? Yet, though no serious student would any longer listen to 

 such arguments, it takes a long time before theories that were 

 maintained for a time by serious students, and were then surren- 

 dered by them, can be completely eradicated. I shall not touch 

 to-day on the hackneyed question of the " home of the Aryans" 

 except as a warning. There are two quite distinct questions con- 

 cerning the home of the Aryans. 



When students of philology speak of Aryans, they mean by Aryas 

 nothing but people speaking an Aryan language. They acHrm 

 nothing about skulls, skins, hair, and all the rest. Arya with them 

 means speakers of an Aryan language. Whde. on the contrary, 

 students of physiology speak of dolichocephalic, orthognathic, 

 euthycomic people, they speak of their physiological characteristics 

 only, and affirm nothing whatever about language. 



It is clear, therefore, that the home of the Aryas, in the proper 

 sense of that word, can be determined by linguistic evidence only, 

 while the home of a blue-ej'ed, blond-haired, long-skulled, fair- 

 skinned people can be determined by physiological evidence only. 

 Any kind of concession or compromise on either side is simply 

 fatal, and has led to nothing but a promiscuous slaughter of inno- 

 cents. Separate the two armies, and the whole physiological evi- 

 dence collected by D'Omalius, D'Halloy, Latham, and their follow- 

 ers will not fill more than an octavo page; while the linguistic 

 evidence collected by Benfey and his followers will not amount to 

 more than a few words. Everything else is mere rhetoric. 



The physiologist is grateful, no doubt, for any additional skull 

 whose historical antecedents can be firmly established; the philolo- 

 gist is grateful for any additional word that can help to indicate 

 the historical or geographical whereabouts of the unknown speakers 

 of Ai-yan speech. On these points it is possible to argue. They 

 alone have a really scientific value in the eyes of a scholar, because, 

 if there is any difference of opinion on them, it is possible to come 

 to an agreement. As soon, however, as we go beyond these mere 

 matters of fact, which have been collected bj' real students, every- 

 thing becomes at once mere vanity and vexation of spirit. I know 

 the appeals that have been made for concessions and some kind of 

 compromise between physiology and philology; but honest stu- 

 dents know that on scientific subjects no compromise is admissible. 

 With regard to the home of the Aryas, no honest philologist will 

 allow himself to be driven one step beyond the statement that the 

 unknown people who spoke Aryan languages were, at one time, 



^ Address befora tbe section of Anlhropology of t)ie British .\s30clatlon 'or 

 the Advancement of Science, at Cardiff. August, 1891, by Professor F. Max 

 Muller, president of the section (Nature, Sept. 3). 



