612 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 514. 



cient they might be made, even in Guatemala, 

 is still unknown, for there the tree cottons 

 are perennial sources of infestation, and all 

 the climatic and cultural conditions favor the 

 weevils. In Texas where the winter season 

 will greatly assist in reducing the numbers of 

 the beetles the utility of the ants may be 

 correspondingly accentuated. 



Of course it was highly improbable from 

 a priori considerations that such an ant 

 should be found, colonized in Texas, and made 

 of practical use to the cotton industry. The 

 chances are still very much against it, no 

 doubt. It was obvious to Professor Wheeler 

 from the first that the case was hopeless, but 

 his warning has come too late, like the doctor 

 whose patient had recovered. Plenty of difii- 

 culties remain, but the post facto prognosis 

 is already in need of revision. The kelep is 

 not being studied for the sake of results of 

 ' negative, scientific value,' whatever that may 

 mean, but because it appeared to the authori- 

 ties of the Department of Agriculture that in 

 so serious a difficulty every clue should be 

 followed to some concrete conclusion. Unless 

 the insurmountable obstacles can be pointed 

 out more definitely it may be necessary to 

 continue to seek them on experimental lines. 



O. E. Cook. 



ViCTOEiA, Texas, 

 October 4, 1904. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES. 

 THE BEAIN OF A SWEDISH STATESMAN. 



Eetzius, in Vol. XL of his extensive 

 ' Biologische XJntersuchungen,' presents a 

 morphological study of the brain of a noted 

 Swedish statesman. This is the fourth of a 

 series of brains of eminent persons to be de- 

 scribed by this investigator, the other three 

 being those of the astronomer Gylden, the 

 mathematician Kovalevski, and the physicist 

 and pedagog Siljestrom. Eetzius, in view of 

 the rather negative results of older investi- 

 gators in the field of cerebral morphology, 

 and with the wish of satisfying himseK 

 whether the brains of persons of superior 

 intellectual capacity were or were not to be 

 distinguished from ordinary brains by special 

 anatomical characters proposed, some time 



ago in conjunction with the physiologist 

 Tigerstedt, that his colleagues in Stockholm 

 bequeath their brains for scientific purposes. 

 The forms of bequests received the signatures 

 of just two men; viz., Eetzius and Tigerstedt. 

 Better results had been obtained by the So- 

 ciete mutuelle d'Autopsie (founded 1881) 

 which now possesses ten brains or more, 

 among them those of Gambetta, Bertillon, 

 Veron and G. de Mortillet. The Cornell 

 Brain Association, founded by Professor 

 Wilder in 1889, has bequeathed to it seventy 

 brains of orderly educated persons, of which 

 thirteen are already preserved in the Neuro- 

 logical Laboratory at Cornell. The American 

 Anthropometric Society, formed in Philadel- 

 phia in 1890 possesses six brains of eminent 

 scholars, and a number of others are prom- 

 ised. But such promises sometimes fail to 

 be fulfilled, as happened in the case of Mrs. 

 Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Her brain-bequest 

 to Cornell, embodied in her will, was not read 

 until after the funeral — designedly, it is 

 stated, for her wishes on this head were well- 

 known — because of the objections of relatives. 

 It is indeed difficult, even under more favor-, 

 able circumstances, after the death of a per- 

 son eminent in human affairs to request — and 

 obtain — the permission of the aifiicted family 

 for the removal, preservation and study of the 

 brain. 



In view of such adverse circumstances. 

 Professor Eetzius considers himself fortunate 

 in having obtained, from time to time, the 

 brain of some known person of superior men- 

 tal power; and though the smallness of num- 

 ber of brains in this collection obviates the 

 formulation of positive conclusions, he still 

 deems it his duty to record descriptions of 

 all brains of notable persons that might be- 

 come available, before the problem of the in- 

 terrelation of cerebral surface morphology and 

 the mental aptitudes is entirely abandoned. 

 The value of investigations of this kind has 

 been repeatedly urged by Bischoff, Waldeyer, 

 Manouvrier, Wilder and the writer (' Study 

 of the Brain of the late Major J. W. Powell,' 

 American Anthropologist, N. S., Vol. V., No. 

 4, 1903). 



The identity of the Swedish statesman 



