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SCmNGE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 280. 



tion that certainly damaged the ears to some 

 extent. To investigate their range of hear- 

 ing a Galton's whistle was used, and it was 

 found that they could hear very high notes. 



Their sense of smell was tested by means 

 of a series of tubes containing solutions, of 

 varying strength, of odorous substances like 

 valerian and camphor, and the results, while 

 not altogether satisfactory, tended to show 

 they had no marked superiority in this 

 respect over the members of the expedition. 



With regard to taste it was very difficult 

 to get information, as the natives, naturally 

 ■enough, did not like strange objects being 

 put into their mouths. One fact, however, 

 was noticed, which was interesting when it is 

 remembered that sweet and bitter are prob- 

 ably our most definite taste sensations, and 

 that was the complete absence of any word 

 for bitter. For the sense of temperature the 

 datavieve very scanty, but it was found that 

 the natives had points on their skin specially 

 sensitive to cold exactly as is the case with 

 Europeans. As to touch, when tested to see 

 how close the points of a pair of compasses 

 must be put on the skin before they ceased to 

 be felt as two, their sensitiveness was in gen- 

 eral better than that of the members of the 

 expedition. There is a consensus of opinion 

 that savages are less sensitive to pain than 

 Europeans, but there is always the doubt 

 whether they are really able to bear pain 

 with fortitude. However, the conclusion 

 that the Murray Islanders were distinctly 

 less sentitive than the European in the ex- 

 pedition was supported not onlj' by their 

 subjective statements, but also by objective 

 tests depending on the condition of the 

 skin pressure. 



In the discrimination of weight it was 

 curious that these natives wbo had no ab- 

 stract idea of weight, and no word to ex- 

 press it, and who, moreover, could have 

 had no practice, were more accurate than a 

 practiced European. 



Finally Dr. Rivers, while commenting 



on the defective knowledge of some of the 

 senses he had treated, and on the absence 

 of comparative data, concluded that, in gen- 

 eral, the sense organs of the savage were 

 not markedly superior to those of the nor- 

 mal or average European, and that the re- 

 corded instances of apparent extraordinary 

 acuteness were to be explained by his habits 

 of observation and specialized knowledge. 



OLIVER PAYSON HUBBARD.'^ 

 Oliver Payson Hubbard was born in 

 Pomfret, Conn., March 31, 1809, and died 

 in New York, March 9, 1900. After gradu- 

 ating at Yale College in 1828, he remained 

 in that institution as assistant to Professor 

 Silliman until he began his study of medi- 

 cine, which he completed in 1837, when he 

 received the degree of M.D. from the South 

 Carolina Medical College, at Charleston. 



Prior to his graduation in medicine, he 

 was made professor of chemistrj', pharmacy, 

 geology and mineralogy in Dartmouth Col- 

 lege. In 1871 the chair was restricted to 

 chemistry and pharmacy, and no longer re- 

 quired his full time, so that he was able 

 soon afterwards to make New York his 

 home during much of the year. In 1883 

 he felt that he had already passed the age 

 when one should retire from a professor- 

 ship, and resigned his position, becoming 

 professor emeritus. Thereafter he remained 

 in New York City. 



His youthful love of science led him to 

 Yale, that he might study under Professor 

 Silliman, then the prominent teacher of 

 science in our country. His first publica- 

 tion, entitled ' Geological and Mineral og- 

 ical Notices,' having reference to localities 

 in northern New York, appeared in the 

 American Journal of Science in 1887, and was 

 followed in 1838 by a somewhat more elab- 

 orate article, upon the White Mountains. 



* Read before the meeting of the Section of Geology 

 and Mineralogy of the New Yorlc Academy of Sci- 

 ences on April 16, 1900. 



