30 



SCIEJS'CE. 



[Vol. VIII. , No. 179 



the body, and establishing an interesting compar- 

 ison with the organization of other monkeys. 

 This gorilla embryo is the first that has been dis- 

 sected yet, and studied with real care. 



A new publication was started some time ago 

 in Paris. It is the 'Grande encyclopedic,' — a 

 cyclopaedia in which all facts at present known 

 concei'ning science, literature, arts, legislation, 

 etc. , are condensed ; it is a summary of present 

 knowledge. The first volume is now ready. The 

 whole publication will comprise some twenty or 

 twenty-five quarto volumes. It is written by a 

 number of contributors, and only by specialists, 

 under the direction of a committee comprising 

 MM. Berthelot, Halm, Levasseur, Laisant, Marion, 

 etc. It seems to be a very good idea ; and, 

 although the ' Grande encyclopedic ' does not 

 pretend to create the furor that Diderot and 

 d'Alembert's did, from a philosophical point of 

 view, it certainly will be of great use, if it contin- 

 ues as it has begun, being very complete and well 

 prepared. There are no such cyclopaedias in 

 France yet, written by competent persons ; and 

 thei-e is no doubt that this publication really 

 meets a general demand. It is jjrinted with great 

 care, and most of the articles are made ujd from 

 the latest and best documents. It is to be ex- 

 pected that the "public will look on it favorably, if 

 it continues as it has begun, and if the contrib- 

 utors are always well chosen by the directing 

 committee. It is time that France should have a 

 cyclopaedia able to stand a comparison with those 

 of England and of America. 



At a recent meeting of the Academy of sciences, 

 M. d'Arsonval presented a very well combmed 

 instrument devised for the investigation of the 

 duration of different psychical or physiological 

 phenomena. It is very useful, for instance, for 

 the study of reaction-time, of perception-periods, 

 and for the study of the dilemma-time in distin- 

 guishing two or more perceptions. The great 

 advantage of this instrument is, that it disposes of 

 the estimation of the experimenter himself, and 

 gives much more exact results in the very delicate 

 and difficult estimation of the duration of mental 

 phenomena. M. d'Arsonval is a very able man in 

 all that concerns mechanical contrivances ; and 

 his instrument, which I saw at the works of Ch. 

 Verdin (the constructor) some days ago, is a very 

 well contrived one. y 



Paris, June 15. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Congressman Viele of New York made a 



strong effort in the house last week to secure an 



appropriation of ten thousand dollars to continue 



the National board of health. Representative 



Randall declared that there was no need for a 

 national board of health, and the house seemed to 

 coincide with him, for the item proposed by Gen- 

 eral Viele was not adopted. 



— Dr. C. H. F. Peters, of the Litchfield observa- 

 tory of Hamilton college, discovered on the night 

 of the 28th of June a new asteroid of the eleventh 

 magnitude : its number will be 259. Number 258 

 has been named Tyche. 



— The organizing committee of Section A of 

 the British association has arranged that a special 

 discussion shall be held, jointly with Section D, on 

 the physical and physiological theories of color- 

 vision. The discussion will be opened by Lord 

 Rayleigb, and Dr. Michael Foster will also take 

 part in it. Persons who wish to contribute papers 

 bearing on the subject of discussion are requested 

 to send their names to the recorders of Sections 

 A or D, at 22 Albemarle Street, W., not later than 

 Aug. 1. 



— ' Consanguinity in marriage ' was the subject 

 of an address by Dr. McKee at a recent meeting 

 of the Ohio state medical society. The belief that 

 consanguineous marriages are followed by evil 

 effects upon the offspring is not accepted by the 

 author, and the object of his address was to show 

 its falsity. A very interesting and concise account 

 is given of the Mosaic law, and also of that of the 

 Greeks and Romans, in reference to the marriages 

 between relations ; and full quotations are made 

 from the statistics of modern writei's and ob- 

 servers. Among the eighteen conclusions drawn 

 as the result of the author's studies are the follow- 

 ing : 1. Like breeds like, good or bad, entirely 

 independent of consanguinity. 2. Intemperance, 

 luxury, dissipation, sloth, and shiftlessness, as well 

 as hygienic surroundings and innumerable other 

 causes, should bear much of the responsibility laid 

 at the door of consanguinity. 3. Data are of 

 doubtful reliability, full of flaws and false reason- 

 ing. The noted cases are the unfortunate ones. 

 The favorable are unknown or forgotten. It is 

 the ill news which travels fast and far. 4. Statis- 

 tics show about the same proportion of deaf-mutes, 

 idiots, and insane persons, descendant from 

 consanguineous marriages, to the whole number 

 of those unfortunates, as the number of consan- 

 guineous marriages is to the whole number of 

 marriages. 5. Consanguineous marriages which 

 bring together persons havmg a disease or morbid 

 tendency in common are dangerous to the off- 

 spring ; not, however, one whit more so than the 

 marriage of any other two persons not related, yet 

 having an equal amount of tendency to disease in 

 common. 6. The half a hundred abnormalities 

 ascribed to consangtiinity. including almost all 



