162 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 134. 



Nov. 13, 1833, had aroused the imagination 

 and the determination of these keen observers, 

 and they were constant!}' engaged in meteoric 

 discussions. The enormous Texan aerolite, 

 preserved in the college cabinet, was an im- 

 perishable wonder. The Weston meteor had 

 been described, long before, by Silliman and 

 Kingsle}^ Even in the previous century, 

 Thomas Clap, the rector of the college, had 

 published a tract upon meteors, interesting 

 now as an embodiment of what was then 

 known and thought. These were precursors 

 of the investigations in which Newton was des- 

 tined to become a leader. The story of this 

 period ma}' easily be gathered from an article 

 (which appeared in the JSfeiu Englander for 

 1868) by a writer qualified in all respects to 

 prepare the narrative, Prof. C. S. Lyman. 



Without going over the ground there tra- 

 versed, we shall follow Professor Lyman in 

 saying that the cosmical origin of the Novem- 

 ber meteors, and the true explanation of the 

 radiant, as well as of its position with respect 

 to the earth's orbit, had been well settled by 

 the observations of Olmsted and Twining after 

 the shower of 1833. Olmsted had attempted, 

 but unsuccessfully, to point out the probable 

 orbit of the meteors in space. Newton first 

 took sure and definite steps toward such a de- 

 termination. He collected and analyzed pre- 

 vious observations, and pointed out not onl}' 

 the five possible orbits, but how the only true 

 one could be determined. The laborious 

 computations necessar}" were made b}' the 

 distino-uished Ensjlish astronomer. Professor 

 Adams of Cambridge ; and thus the orbit of 

 thirty-three and one-fourth years was definiteh' 

 established. Newton's papers on this subject 

 in the American journal of science have become 

 classical, and are referred to by all writers on 

 meteoric astronomy. His later papers on com- 

 ets are characterized by the same originality 

 and abilitj' as those on meteors, and have 

 largely added to his scientific reputation. An 

 important memoir from his pen appeared in 

 the first quarto volume published by the Na- 

 tional academy of sciences in 1866, wherein 

 he endeavored to show the laws which govern 



the movement of sporadic meteors, as he 

 had previously investigated the phenomena of 

 periodic showers. Two admirable summaries 

 of what is known in respect to meteoric laws 

 have been contributed by this acknowledged 

 authority to the new edition of the Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica (vol. xvi. 1883), and to 

 Johnston's Cyclopaedia (1877). 



In all matters pertaining to the advancement 

 of education and the progress of science, 

 Professor Newton has been a wise and firm 

 upholder of conservative ideas. He has shown 

 no desire for popular applause : he has rarely 

 appeared as a speaker before public assem- 

 blies. But wherever he has been called upon, 

 he has come forward with independence, cour- 

 age, and persistence, to uphold what he believed 

 to be right. In electing him to be their pres- 

 ident, the association has shown its desire to 

 honor one whose titles to such a distinction 

 are of the most solid character, — important 

 contributions to knowledge, by difficult and 

 prolonged study, guided by an acute and well- 

 trained mind. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*** Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The 

 toriter's name is in all cases required as proof of good faith, 



Man's ancestry. 



Pekmit nie to dissent from your editorial comment 

 (Science, vol. vi,, p. 81), that man is of those forms 

 whose ancestry is unknown. I cannot but think 

 that the data at hand are already abundant for an 

 answer, and that we can allocate his systematic rela- 

 tionships as well as those of any other animal. The 

 data are given in the anatomical monographs, or, 

 better still, can be tested by a comparison of the 

 structure of man, and the primates, as expressed in 

 the skeletal and other systems. It is diflBcult for me 

 to understand how any one acquainted with the data 

 could reach a conclusion other than that man is the 

 derivative of a form very much like the chimpanzee 

 and gorilla, and that, could his remote ancestors be 

 seen, they would be placed not only in the same family, 

 hut in the same group with the African apes. The 

 general agreement in the skeleton, the anapophy- 

 ses, the digits, the sternum, the pelvis, the carpal 

 and tarsal bones, the tuberculation and ridges of the 

 molars, and numerous other points in which there 

 is similarity between man and the African anthro- 

 poids, appear to me to preclude any other scientific 

 conception. Compare man and the anthropopitheci 

 of Africa, contrast the several species with the other 

 apes, and the monkeys generally, and then apply the 

 doctrine of probabilities to the morphological results. 

 The only logical conclusion must be that man is 



