556 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 401. 



able extent to the great development of 

 the glabella and supra-orbital arches. 

 Now these processes are well known to pre- 

 sent very striking variations in existing 

 human races. They are usually supposed 

 to be developed as buttresses for the pur- 

 pose of affording support to the large upper 

 jaw and enable it to resist the pressure of: 

 the lower jaw due to the contraction of 

 the powerful muscles of mastication. These 

 processes, however, are usually feebly 

 marked in the microcephalic, prognathous 

 and macrodont negro skull, and may be 

 well developed in the maerocephalie and 

 orthognathous skulls of some of the higher 

 races. Indeed, their variations are too great 

 and their significance too obscure for them 

 to form a basis for the creation of a new 

 species of man. Both Huxley and Turner 

 have shown that the low vault of the Ne- 

 anderthal ealvaria can be closely paral- 

 leled by specimens of existing races. 



If the characters of the Neanderthal 

 ealvaria are so distinctive as to justify the 

 recognition of a new species, a new genus 

 oiight to be made for the Trinil skull-cap. 

 In nearly every respect it is distinctly lower 

 in type than the Neanderthal, and yet 

 many of the anatomists who have expressed 

 their opinion on the subject maintain that 

 the Trinil specimen is distinctly human. 



Important and interesting as are the 

 facts which may be ascertained from a 

 study of a series of skulls regarding the 

 size and form of the brain, it is evident 

 that there are distinct limits to the knowl- 

 edge to be obtained from this source. 

 Much additional information as to racial 

 characters would undoubtedly be gained 

 had we collections of brains at all corre- 

 sponding in number and variety with the 

 skulls in our museums. We know that as 

 a rule the brains of the less civilized races 

 are smaller, and the convolutions and fis- 

 sures simpler, than those of the more cul- 



tured nations; beyond this but little more 

 is definitely det^-mined. 



As the results of investigations in hu- 

 man and comparative anatomy, physiology 

 and pathology, we Imow that definite areas 

 of the cerebral cortex are connected with 

 the action of definite groups of muscles, 

 and that the nervoiis impulses starting from 

 the organs of smell, sight, hearing and 

 common sensibility reach defined cortical 

 fields. All these, however, do not cover 

 more than a third of the convoluted surface 

 of the brain, and the remaining two thirds 

 are still to a large extent a terra incognita 

 so far as their precise function is con- 

 cerned. Is there a definite localization of 

 special mental qualities or moral tenden- 

 cies, and if so, where are they situated? 

 These are problems of extreme diificulty, 

 but their interest and importance are difS- 

 cult to exaggerate. In the solution of this 

 problem anthropologists are bound to take 

 an active and important part. When they 

 have collected information as to the rela- 

 tive development of the varioi;s parts of the 

 higher brain in all classes of mankind with 

 the same thoroughness with which they 

 have investigated the racial pecialiarities of 

 the skull, the question will be within a 

 measurable distance of solution. 



Johnson Symington. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 The Alchemist. By Ben Jonson, edited with 

 introduction, notes and glossary by Charles 

 Montgomery Hathaway, Jr. New York, 

 Henry Holt & Co. 1903. Pp. vi + 373. 8vo. 

 This comedy was first produced in 1610, 

 and proved a most severe satire on alchemy 

 and an effective exposure of many of the 

 swindles associated with it; in this satisfac- 

 tory edition Dr. Hathaway has given his 

 readers a text based on the folio of 1616, to- 

 gether with variants of several other early 

 and rare editions. 



Prefixed to the text are sections on the his- 

 tory and on the theory of alchemy; these 



