112 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 420. 



tion, but the intricacies of the subject pre- 

 vented the lecturer from entering into a dis- 

 cussion of them. 



In reference to the applicability of evolu- 

 tion to man's origin, the evidences in favor 

 of an affirmative answer have been grovping. 

 The discovery, in 1894, of remains of an in- 

 termediate type between the higher apes and 

 man — Pithecanthropus erecius — ^bears upon 

 the question. The intermediate character of 

 that form was well brought out by the opin- 

 ions expressed by competent anatomists, some 

 declaring the remains to be of an ape-like 

 form and others of primeval man. 



But more suggestive evidences are found 

 in the comparative study of animal intelli- 

 gence and of the structure and physiology 

 of the brain. There is a gradual increase 

 in intelligence with increase in complexity of 

 the brain, and the discovery of localized areas 

 presiding over definite coordinated acts brings 

 evidence of the close relation between brain 

 structure- and mentality. Clinical studies and 

 criminal anthropology show that disorders of 

 the will and mental derangements are de- 

 pendent upon disorders of the nervous system. 

 Man can not be separated in his development 

 from other animals; he differs from them in 

 the degree of his development, and his no- 

 bility depends, not on his origin, but on how 

 far he is advanced beyond it. 



The text of the lecture is followed by six 

 appendices, made up largely of apt quota- 

 tions which help to show the state of opinion 

 and to illuminate some points of the lecture. 

 "William A. Locy. 



Oeuvres Completes de J.-C. Galissard de 

 Marignac: Hors-serie des Memoires de la 

 Societe de Physique et d'Histoire Naiurelle 

 de Geneve. Geneva, Eggimann et Cie. ; 

 Paris, Masson et Cie, et al. Vol. I. 4to. 

 Pp. Iv -f 701. 



The collected publication of the scattered 

 writings of a great scientific man forms one 

 of the most adequate and fitting memorials 

 of him, because it enables many otherwise 

 ignorant to perceive the way in which he 

 attained greatness. The present volume, 

 which covers twenty years of the life of the 



eminent Swiss chemist, is no exception to 

 this rule. It contains, in the first place, an 

 interesting biography by E. Ador, filling the 

 first fifty-five pages, and after this Marignac's 

 papers on atomic weights, crystallography and 

 other chemical and physicochemical subjects, 

 arranged in chronological order, as far as 

 1860. 



These papers form a notable record of un- 

 usual ability, enthusiasm and perseverance, 

 of which any nation may well be proud. 

 Only one lack is to be noticed in the present 

 publication, in common with many other 

 French books, namely, the lack of an index. 

 This deficiency may well be supplied in the 

 second installment; for it is to be hoped that 

 this handsome volume will soon be followed 

 by another, completing the record. 



Theodore William Eichaeds. 



SOCIETIES AWD ACADEMIES. 

 ameeican mathematical society. 



During the Christmas holidays the Amer- 

 ican Mathematical Society held a series of 

 three meetings, at New York, Chicago and 

 San Francisco. The ninth annual meeting 

 of the entire society was held at Columbia 

 University, on Monday and Tuesday, Decem- 

 ber 29-30. The San Francisco Section held 

 its second regular meeting at the University 

 of California, December 23. The Chicago 

 Section met at the University of Chicago, 

 January 2-3. The meetings were well at- 

 tended. The several programs included some 

 fifty papers, being about one third of 

 the society's annual production. Ten years 

 ago the United States hardly produced one 

 sixth of this amount of mathematical ma- 

 terial. The comparison fairly represents the 

 recent great advances in mathematical inter- 

 est in this country. 



Reports of the sectional meetings will ap- 

 pear separately in Science. The annual 

 meeting, at New York, was attended by sixty 

 members of the society. Twenty-six papers 

 were read at the four sessions. The council 

 announced the election of the following per- 

 sons to membership in the society: Dr. A. 

 B. Coble, University of Missouri; Mr. W. R. 

 Cornish, State Normal School, Cortland, N. 



