832 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 206. 



THE VAEIATIONS OF THE MUSCLES IN MAN. 



The racial variations in the soft parts of 

 the human frame is a much more difficult 

 study than that which limits itself to the 

 bony skeleton. For that reason anthro- 

 pologists will welcome the publication of 

 the results obtained by the late Dr. H. 

 Chudzinski, who for twenty years occupied 

 himself with such investigations. They 

 are in part contained in a volume of 226 

 pages, edited by the eminent anatomist, 

 Dr. L. Manouvrier, and published by the 

 Anthropological Society of Paris. The 

 comparisons are most complete between the 

 white and black races, as of those. Dr. 

 Chudzinski could, in Paris, secure good 

 specimens. As for the ' yellow race,' in 

 which he included a Carib, a Peruvian, a 

 black from Pondichery and two natives 

 of Farther India, evidently little value can 

 be assigned its peculiarities, as based on 

 such examples. ( Variations musculaires dans 

 les races humaines, Paris, Masson et Cie, 

 1898.) 



PASSAMAQUODDY LITERATURE. 



Previously in these notes (Science, May 

 13, 1898) I have referred to Professor J. 

 D. Prince's interesting studies in the 

 Passamaquoddy dialect. He has supple- 

 mented those by an article in the Annals 

 of the New York Academy of Sciences 

 (Vol. XI., No. 15), giving, from pure native 

 sources, an outline of Wabanaki history 

 previous to the establishment of the inter- 

 tribal modus Vivendi set forth in the ' Wam- 

 pum laws.' The account illustrates the 

 primitive condition of murderous warfare 

 which prevailed, and the efforts of the wiser 

 heads of the hordes to put a stop to such 

 destructive excesses. 



The paper ends with a Passamaquoddy 

 love song which is presented in the original, 

 with an English translation, and explana- 

 tory notes of the text. 



D. G. Brinton. 



University of Pennsylvania. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



We are now able to give some further details 

 in regard to the meeting of the American So- 

 ciety of Naturalists, and of the Societies holding 

 their meetings in New York City in conjunction 

 with it. The first meeting of the Society of 

 Naturalists will be in the American Museum of 

 Natural History on the evening of Wednesday, 

 December 28th. After a welcome by the Presi- 

 dent of the Museum, Mr. Morris K. Jesup, Pro- 

 fessor Henry F. Osborn will give a lecture on 

 ' Collections of Fossil Mammals and their Care,' 

 and will afterwards receive the members of the 

 Societies at his house. The chief meeting of 

 the Naturalists will be held on the afternoon of 

 December 29th at Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia 

 University. After the Societies have been 

 welcomed by President Low a series of short 

 papers will be read on ' Advances in Methods of 

 Teaching ' as follows : 



Zoology : Professor E. G. Conklin, University of 

 Pennsylvania. 



Anatomy : Professor George S. Huntington, Co- 

 lumbia University. 



Physiology : Professor W. T. Porter, Harvard 

 Medical School. 



Psychology : Professor Hugo Miinsterberg, Har- 

 vard University. 



Anthropology: Dr. Franz Boas, Columbia Uni- 

 versity. 



Botany : Professor W. F. Ganong, Smith College. 



The annual dinner will be held at the Hotel 

 Savoy, and after the dinner the President of the 

 Society, Professor Bowditch, will make an ad- 

 dress. Visits to the Botanical and Zoological 

 Parks have been arranged for December 30th. 



The other Societies holding scientific sessions 

 simultaneously with the Naturalists open their 

 meetings on Wednesday, except the Anthro- 

 pologists of the American Association, who 

 begin on Tuesday. Announcements of these 

 meetings have been or will be sent out by the 

 Secretaries to members, and further informa- 

 tion can be obtained from them. The addresses 

 of the several Secretaries are as follows : 



Dr. H. C. Bumpus, Brown University, Providence, 

 Secretary of the The American Society of Naturalists. 



Dr. G. H. Parker, 6 Avon Place, Cambridge, Mass., 

 Secretary of The American Morphological Society. 



Dr. D. S. Lamb, 800 Tenth Street, N. W., Wash- 



