236 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No. 481 



previous to 1850 in the Bulletins de VAcademie Royale de Belgique. 

 These must have been known to Dr. Latham, though he nowhere 

 acknowledges indebtedness to them. 



The work of Broca, in which he states that the Celts were a 

 mixed type, is his ' ' Nouvelles Recherches sur I'Anthropologie de 

 la France." His words are, " C'est dans cette race mixte que se 

 constitua plus de quinze siecles avant J. C. la nationalite des 

 Celts." 



In designating the ancient, blond, dolichocephalic people as 

 Kymric, I follow the best French authorities, such as Dr. CoUig- 

 non. The ancient Britons, Queen Boadicea and her subjects, 

 were of this type. I cannot understand how Professor Haynes 

 can say " all Celtic people now have black hair," in view of the 

 type of the Scotch Highlanders and the Irish east of the Shannon. 

 In reference to the invaders of Rome, I simply claimed that they 

 spoke a Celtic dialect ; I now go further and aver that, in the case 

 of free tribes, speaking a dialect does prove blood relationship in 

 all cases I know of. D. G. Beinton. 



Philadelphia, April 19. 



The Question of the Artificial Production of Variations in 

 Type. 



Attempts have been made to modify the forms of animals, or 

 produce new species, by deforming the parent, e.g., in the case of 

 the attempt to produce a breed of short-tailed mice by mutilating 

 the tails of the parents. Is this not beginning at the wrong end ? 

 Are not all transmitted variations transmitted by parents which 

 were modified before birth? All successful attempts to produce 

 and transmit modifications in the breed being the result of breed- 

 ing from animals that have been congenitally modified, would it 

 not seem the proper and only method to study the laws governing 

 the modifications of the embryo and having discovered these, the 

 production of modifications in species would be a matter of slight 

 diflBculty. Congenital variations are the result of law and not of 

 chance. Gerald M. West. 



Clark University, Worcester, Mass., April 17. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 

 Messrs. Macmillan & Co. have issued a second edition of 

 Mr. A. R. Wallace's well-known " Island Life, or the Phenomena 

 and Causes of Insular Faunas and Floras." The work has been 

 carefully revised throughout, and, owing to the great increase in 

 our knowledge of natural history of some of the islands during 

 the last twelve years, considerable additions and alterations have 

 been required. 



— We have received a copy of the " Graphic Atlas and Gazetteer 

 of the World," edited by J. G. Bartholomew, F.R.G.S., F.R.S.E., 

 and published by Thomas Nelson & Sons. It is an entirely new 

 atlas, with over 220 maps, charts, plans of cities, etc., all revised 

 to the present date. A most valuable feature is the Gazetteer of 

 of the World, with nearly 55,000 places, specially complete in 

 American names, and results of new census. In the United States 

 section a separate map is given of each of the States and Terri- 

 tories, specially compiled from the latest Government Survey 

 Maps. In proportion to its contents this volume is quite unique 

 among atlases for compactness and portability. It is of quarto 

 size, bound in half-morocco, gilt top, and sold at the very moderate 

 price of $7.50. 



— Both admirers and critics of Spencer will be interested in the 

 paper on " Herbert Spencer and the Synthetic Philosophy," in the 

 May Popular Science Monthly. The writer, Mr. William H. Hud- 

 son, was formerly private secretary of Mr. Spencer, and gives an 

 insight into the process by which his philosophic thought unfolded. 

 The paper contains also a statement of the relation between the 

 work of Darwin and that of Spencer. Professor Frederick Starr 

 will contribute some "Notes upon Anthiopological Work in 

 Europe," telling what museums and other facilities for the study 

 of anthropology exist abroad. The article is illustrated with 

 twelve portraits of leading European anthropologists. "Cave- 

 Dwellings of Men" is the subject of a copiously illustrated article 

 by Mr. W. H. Larrabee. It relates not only to the ancient cave- 

 dwellings of America and the Old World, but describes also the 



way in which modern troglodytes are living in several parts of 

 Europe to-day. In an article on " Evolution in Folk-Lore," Mr. 

 David Dwight Wells gives two versions of a negro legend nearly a 

 century apart in time, which show the alterations produced in the 

 tale by the change from free life in Africa to slave life in America. 

 An Index to Volumes I. to XL. of TJie Popular Science Monthly 

 is well advanced in preparation, and will be published in the 

 course of the coming summer. The entire contents of the forty 

 volumes will be entered both by author and by subject in one 

 alphabetical list, and the Index will have all the most approved 

 features of the latest magazine indexes, besides some novel ones. 

 The compiler is Mr. Frederik A. Fernald of the editorial staff of 

 the Monthly. 



— Nature notices the appearance of a very useful work, in 

 Russian, by Professor SamokvasofE, on Russian prehistoric antiq- 

 uities, under the title of " Foundations of a Chronological Classi- 

 fication of Antiquities, and Catalogue." As seen from the title, 

 the work consists of two parts: a catalogue of the very rich col- 

 lection of the Russian professor, partly illustrated, and a general 

 description of the various epochs which may be distinguished in 

 the relics of the past on the territory of Russia. He has no dif- 

 ficulty in showing that the Slavonians of the first centuries of our 

 era were by no means mere savages. The burial places of that 

 period, usually situated close to the earthern forts, some of which 

 must have required the work of a considerable population, con- 

 tain hundreds and thousands of graves, so that it is certain that 

 the Slavonians of that period were living in large societies, and 

 had their fortified towns. The same burial customs prevailed 

 over large areas, but the treasures now unearthed from various 

 graves show that differences of wealth and social position existed 

 at that time as well. Considerable amounts of Greek, Roman, 

 and Arabian gold and silver coins were found in the graves, the 

 metal alone of the coins found in some graves attaining, at its 

 present prices, the value of several hundred pounds; while num- 

 bers of objects of art, of Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Arabian 

 origin, are proofs of the brisk foreign trade which took place at 

 that time. The graves of the pagan Slavonians contain flax, 

 woollen, silk, and gold-embroidered tissues; ornaments in gold, 

 silver, bronze, and bone; iron weapons and parts of armament; 

 gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay vessels, and so on; -while the 

 sickles and the grains of wheat, oats, and barley which were found 

 in the graves of South Russia, together with small idols and other 

 objects devoted to pagan worship, are proofs of agriculture hav- 

 ing been carried on during the pagan epoch. 



INDUSTRIAL NOTES. 

 Scientific Improvements. 

 It has been the good fortune of an American firm, J. W. Queen 

 & Co. , of Philadelphia, to furnish an epoch-making contrivance 

 fer those who have to use the lantern at varying distances from 

 the screen. The New Multifocal Attachment, which they 

 have wisely protected by patent, is the most valuable accessory 

 that has ever been offered to the exhibitor and lecturer. It con- 

 sists of an achromatic combination of lenses which is placed just 

 behind the ordinary projection objective. This new accessory, 

 having been prepared after a special formula, is so delicately 

 adapted to its work that its curves help to correct and improve 

 the definition of the objective, but the principal purpose of this 

 new accessory, as expressed by its name, multifocal, is to provide 

 many points of image production in the range of the objective, 

 each image point giving a different size of picture for the screen, 

 according to the desired distance. In common experience the 

 lecturer is obliged to set the instrument at one invariable dis- 

 tance from the screen, or else carry several screens of different 

 sizes. Every one can appreciate the relief offered by the Multi- 

 focal Attachment, which allows complete liberty of choice for 

 the station of the lantern with only one screen. The exhibitor 

 can now literally "cut his coat according to his cloth," and 

 diminish or increase the size of his picture so as neatly to cover 

 the screen at any distance. It is simply impossible to express 

 the satisfaction and freedom from care which the possession of 



