834 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 101. 



man is surpassed only by the Proboscidia and 

 Cetacea ; with this exception the human brain 

 surpasses that of any other mammal. Second, 

 the relative brain weight of the average Euro- 

 pean is only surpassed by that of certain smaller 

 animals in which the relative weight is excep- 

 tionally high. Third, as to the relation of brain 

 weight to body weight in the comparison of the 

 smaller and larger mammals, it is evident that 

 the brain weight does not increase in proportion 

 to the body weight. Fourth, as a general rule, 

 within any natural order of mammals, the rela- 

 tive brain weight decreases with the increase of 

 the body weight ; in other words, within any 

 natural order the smaller mammals have rela- 

 tively larger brains. But this rule is not with- 

 out exceptions. In growing individuals the 

 relative brain weight falls off until the maxi- 

 mum of growth is reached. Since the growth 

 of the brain is reached earlier than the growth 

 of the body, this decline is not by any means 

 uniform in different cases. Among the animals 

 which surpass man in the ratio of brain weight 

 to body weight are the following : Among the 

 Rodentia, Sciurus and Mus, and among the Pri- 

 mates many Old and New World monkeys. 



GENERAL. 



Benjamin Apthorp Gould, the eminent 

 astronomer, died on the evening of November 

 26th, at his home in Cambridge. His death 

 was due to the effects of a fall that happened 

 two hours previously. He was born at Boston 

 on September 27, 1824. We hope to give an 

 adequate account of Gould's life and contribu- 

 tions to astronomy. 



Plans have been filed for the Botanical Mu- 

 seum to be erected for the New York Botanical 

 Garden in Bronx Park. The building will be 

 of brick and terra cotta, with a frontage of 

 308 feet. The cost of construction is estimated 

 at $250,000. 



At the recent meeting of the Deutsche Natur- 

 forscher und Aertze arrangements were made 

 for a society of pathological anatomy and physi- 

 ology. 



The Governors of St. George's Hospital, 

 London, of which Jenner was a pupil, propose 

 to inaugurate a national memorial to cele- 

 brate the discovery of vaccination. Sir Joseph 



Lister will preside at a meeting on December 

 7th, at which the best means of carrying out the 

 project will be discussed. 



A COMMITTEE has been formed in London 

 with a view to publicly recognizing the comple- 

 tion of Mr. Herbert Spencer's Synthetic Philoso- 

 phy. It has been proposed to place a statue in 

 the Museum of Natural History, South Ken- 

 sington, or a portrait in the national portrait 

 gallery, but it is understood that Mr. Spencer 

 himself does not approve of the plan. 



M. Berthelot has collected, under the title 

 Sciences et Morales, a number of his articles and 

 addresses treating of the relation of science to 

 society and education. Among these may be 

 mentioned the address before the French Sen- 

 ate on higher education biographical notices 

 of Pasteur, CI. Bernard and P. Bert, and sev- 

 eral articles on the history of the sciences, such 

 as the discovery of alcohol, the survival of an- 

 cient industries, the chemistry of the Arabs, 

 pearls, and Papin and the discovery of the 

 steam engine. 



We have already announced that the New 

 Research Laboratory of the Royal College of 

 Physicians, Edinburgh, was formally opened 

 on November 6th. Dr. Batty Tuke, in declar- 

 ing the laboratory open, stated that it was the 

 best equipped in Great Britain. It contains 

 well-equipped laboratories for chemistry, his- 

 tology and bacteriology, a large experimen- 

 tal room supplied with physiological appa- 

 ratus, and a photographic room. The labora- 

 tory is open to those who are competent to un- 

 dertake investigation in the medical sciences, 

 and chemicals, etc., are supplied free of charge. 



Prof. Windham Dunstan, the new director 

 of the scientific and technical department of 

 the Imperial Institute, London, gave a lecture 

 on November 9th, describing the arrangements 

 and work of the department. It occupies large 

 laboratories, which have been well equipped by 

 the Goldsmiths' Company. The Royal Com- 

 missioners of the 1851 Exhibition have pro- 

 vided funds for the payment of the staff, and a 

 research fellowship has been endowed by the 

 Salters' Company. The department proposes 

 especially to investigate the natural products 

 of India and the colonies and to assist in the 



