EDITORIAL NOTES. 



583 



THE MISSING LINK. 



A reporter of the Fhiladelphia Times has been intervievvmg Professor E. D. 

 Cope upon the descent of man from animals of the monkey tribe, and gives the 

 following account of the statements of the Professor. Exhibiting a part of a di- 

 minutive skull not larger than the skull of a small ground squirrel, he said : 



" It came from the valley of the Big Horn River, in Wyoming Territory, 

 and is the upper part of the skull of a species of the marmoset monkey. It was 

 found in the lowest eocene layer of the tertiary formation, and as for its age, I 

 can hardly say. The years, however, run back so far that people who think this 

 a new country would be considerably surprised if they knew the figures. 



"This skull is remarkably similar, in miniature, of course, to the human 

 skull. The brain space is remarkably large, and is, in fact, several times larger 

 than the brain space of any of the skeletons of animals of the same period of time. 

 The characteristics of the formation of the human skull are clearly defined, so 

 clearly as to be remarkable. The teeth are almost the same as human teeth, 

 while the jaw has many strong points of similarity. I consider this skull as the 

 earhest indication of the existence of man. It is a new species of a familiar class, 

 and has hitherto been unknown to scientists. The connection between man and 

 this animal, it seems to me, must have been very close, although, of course, nine 

 men out of every ten would raise a dispute. No animal at that time, except this 

 peculiar species, had a head like that of a human being, and. the brain space, 

 contrasted with the brain space of other animals, or even of the monkeys of to- 

 day, shows a vast superiority of intelligence. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The lecture of Dr. Edwin R. Heath before 

 the Kansas City Academy of Sciences, in 

 November, was well attended and gave great 

 pleasure as well as instruction to his hearers. 

 His own personal part in the discoveries 

 made along the Beni River having been 

 modestly suppressed, it was almost unani- 

 mously demanded by those present and will 

 be given some time this winter. Dr. Heath 

 has also consented to give three lectures be- 

 fore the Scientific Club, in Topeka, very- 

 soon. At the December meeting, held on 

 the 27th ult.. Professor J. M. Greenwood, of 

 this city, read a paper in reply to the criti- 

 cisms of Charles Francis Adams, George A. 



Walton, Richard Grant White and Bishop 

 McQuaid on the public school system. It 

 was an exhaustive review of the whole sub- 

 ject, showing careful study and ample reflec- 

 tion. 



The snow-plow invented by Mr. Osborne, 

 of this city, bids fair to prove a success. In 

 brief, the improvement consists in introducing 

 a system of steam pipes between the mold- 

 board and sheet-iron cover and keeping 

 them hot from the engine boiler. When the 

 plow enters the drift the snow is melted 

 rapidly and such as does not melt is compact- 

 ed together firmly at the sides of the track. 



