750 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 99. 



subject, but anyone who is alive to its im- 

 portance, and who reads with his eyes open, 

 will not fail to find abundant material. 



KITE METEOROLOGY. 



The literature of kite meteorology is in- 

 creasing at a rapid rate, and even now any- 

 one who wishes to be well informed in re- 

 gard to this interesting subject will find 

 that there is a good deal of reading to be 

 done. As has already been stated in these 

 notes. Prof. C. F. Marvin, of the Weather 

 Bureau, has been giving a large share of 

 his time to the development of scientific 

 kite-fiying, and the United States at present 

 enjoys the distinction of being the only 

 country whose weather service has offi- 

 cially undertaken such a piece of work. 

 That Prof. Marvin's investigations have 

 been very thoroughly carried on is shown 

 in a series of articles he has written for the 

 Monthly Weather Review for April, May, June 

 and July, 1896, in which the results al- 

 ready attained are set forth. These articles 

 taken together make the most complete 

 and most elaborate publication yet issued 

 on the subject of scientific kite-flying. The 

 details of kite construction, the best ma- 

 terials for kites and cord, the analysis of 

 the forces acting on the kites, the calcula- 

 tion of the heights attained, and other mat- 

 ters, are considered, and many illustrations 

 accompany the text. 



K. Dec. Ward. 



Haevaed Univeesity. 



CUERENl NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 THE GERMAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



This Association held its twenty- seventh 

 annual session in August, at Speier. Prof. 

 Virchow delivered the opening address, 

 largely concerned with the craniology of 

 German prehistoric graves. Most of the 

 papers were local in character, on the Arch ge- 

 ology and Ethnography of Central Europe. 



Exceptions to this were, one by Dr. Hagen^ 

 on the Papuas of ISTew Guinea; by Dr. 

 Eanke, on Fossil Men ; by Baron von An- 

 drian, on Word-Superstitions, and by Prof, 

 Virchow on Criminal Anthropology. 



In the last mentioned the distinguished' 

 German professor pointed out the errors in 

 Lombroso's theory, which he compared with 

 phrenology in its arbitrary and unscientific 

 character. Dr. Kanke sketched the physi- 

 cal traits of the earliest men. They had 

 one type. They were ' eurycephalic ' (the 

 brain- skull large in reference to the face,, 

 the face-skull small) ; their color was yel- 

 lowish ; the hair coarse ; the base of the 

 skull oblique ; the third molar rudimentary. 

 He believed they originated in Asia. Dr. 

 Waldeyer discussed men with tails. He 

 had microscopically examined one instance 

 and found the tail just like that of a hog,, 

 that is, not bony, but cartilaginous, with 

 nerves, arteries, etc. He thought the won- 

 der is, not that men occasionally have tails^ 

 but that they are ever without them ! 



The next meeting of the Society will be 

 held at Lubeck. 



EARLY MEDITERRANEAN CULTURE. 



The address of Mr. Arthur J. Evans^ 

 President of the Anthropological Section of 

 the British Association this year is pecu- 

 liarly rich in new facts and suggestions. 



He returned but a few months since from 

 his third archseological exploration of the 

 island of Crete and brings back with him 

 ample evidence of the intimate contact of 

 the natives of that island with the culture 

 of Egypt probably as early as 2500 B. C. 



No doubt the rays of this primitive in- 

 sular civilization shone athwart the middle 

 sea to the isles of Greece and the northern 

 shores. But not on them alone did the wise 

 of the race depend. Mr. Evans points out 

 that the Mycenean culture of pre-Homeric 

 days probably sprang from roots which we 

 must seek in the soil of Anatolia, in that 



