244 



SCIENCE. 



[YoL. VI., No. 137. 



also the tongue, which was roughened at the apex, 

 and unusually wide and thick. 



A general foreshortening and lateral compression 

 of the bones of the face have taken place, resulting, 

 among other things, in limiting the gape, contracting 

 the palate, and crowding the exterior nares to a po- 

 sition nearer the orbit, and on a line with the superior 

 portion of the pupil. The symmetry of the head is 

 unaltered ; and there is no evidence that this condi- 

 tion was due to a wound inflicted by a fish-hook, or 

 otherwise. 



Some measurements of the head, taken in straight 

 lines, are as follows : — 



mm. 

 Depth of head (through centre of pupil and angle of 



mouth) 51 



Angle of mouth to symphysis of inferior maxillary, 27 



«• " superior " 23 



Pupil " inferior " 35 



" " superior " 25 



Width of mouth 24 



Distance between orbits 23 



Nares from orbit 2 



Wid':h of tongue at base 16 



Root of tongue to symphysis of inferior maxillary . 16 



The accompanying figure is intended to represent 

 in profile the head of this specimen, half life-size, 

 drawn with the mouth open to show better the 

 points in question. A careful dissection would prob- 

 ably show some anatomical facts of interest. 



F. H. Herkick. 



The magnetic declination in 1728. 



In an ofiicial publication lately issued by the U. S. 

 geological survey (Bulletin No. 13, Washington, 

 1885), we notice an error, which, if not corrected, 

 would do injustice to the memory of the surveyors 

 of 1728, by throwing doubt upon their work on the 

 coast where the state boundary between Virginia 

 and North Carolina intersects it near the head of 

 Currituck Sound, and which reflects injuriously on 

 a chart published by the U. S. coast and geodetic 

 survey. 



It is asserted (p. 95) that there is a discrepancy of 

 6° in the variation of the compass as given by the 

 boundary commissioners, and as inferred from a 

 magnetic chart of the Coast and geodetic survey. 

 We quote from the bulletin: " It is stated in Byrd's 

 journal, that the variation of the compass was ascer- 

 tained to be a little less than 3° W. [The magnetic 

 chart of the U. S. coast-survey would make it 3° E.] " 

 We take exception to this last statement. The mag- 

 netic chart referred to is published in the Coast and 

 geodetic survey report for 1882, illustrating Appendix 

 No. 13, on the distribution of the magnetic declina- 

 tion in the United States at the epoch 1885, Jan. 1. 

 It gives the declination for the present year 3° 36' 

 W., and is supported by an observation at the north 

 end of Knott Island in latitude 36° 33.9', long. 75° 

 55.3', which gave in April, 1873, 2° 54.8^ W., and, when 

 reduced to 1885, 3° 38' W. For the effect of the 

 secular change between 1728 and 1885 we make use 

 of the Baltimore series of observations. Coast and 

 geodetic survey report for 1882, Appendix No. 12, 

 p. 273, and find the declination in 1728 nearly 0.45° 

 smaller or less west than at present : hence it was 

 then nearly 3° W., as closely as can now be computed, 

 and not 3° E. as stated in the bulletin. It is true, 

 that, about 1800, the declination was slightly east; and 

 it was probably overlooked that the needle reversed its 

 motion about that time. 



An interesting account of the labors of the sur- 

 veyors, the hardships they had to endure, and of the 

 anxiety felt for the safety of the party while travers- 



ing the Dismal Swamp, is contained in the Westover 

 manuscript by William Byrd [now accessible in print: 

 two copies exist in the Congressional library]. He 

 states that the commissioners of the dividing line 

 found on March 6, 1728, the variation somewhat less 

 than 3° W. ; and had any serious error been committed 

 by the surveyors, they could not have helped discover- 

 ing it. 



In connection with the above, the bulletin also 

 states: " But it appears from the operations of the 

 U. S. coast-survey at both ends of the line, that the 

 point of beginning on Currituck Inlet, instead of be- 

 ing, as so constantly assumed, in latitude 36° 30', or, as 

 determined by the surveyors of 1728, in 36° 31', is in 

 36° 33' 15"." On this point it may be remarked that 

 the line laid down on Coast chart No. 137A, edition 

 of 1885, in latitude 36° 33' nearly, rests, not on direct 

 evidence, since no ancient boundary mark was ever 

 discovered, but simply on tradition, and was so laid 

 down on the best information that could be had. 

 The Coast and geodetic survey was never ofiicially 

 called upon either to recover or to rectify this ancient 

 boundary line. It may also be stated that the old 

 Currituck Inlet closed long ago. C. A. S. 



Washington, D.C., Sept. 4. 



The Kongo free state. 



The account of the Kongo free state in a recent 

 number of Science suggested an idea which is, per- 

 haps, not undeserving of some attention. The two 

 principal diflBculties in the way of Mr. Stanley's 

 enterprise, seem to be the climate, which is deadly to 

 white men, and the absence of a civilized population 

 with which to trade. Now, it might be found that 

 both these diflBculties would be overcome by coloniz- 

 ing the country with American negroes. They have 

 become re-acclimated on the coast of Liberia, where 

 the climate is fatal to white men; and it is not unfair 

 to assume that the difficulty of acclimatization would 

 be much less in the high regions of the Kongo coun- 

 try. They will bring with them some of the wants 

 of civilized life, thus furnishing a basis for trade. 

 They would, perhaps, furnish the best class of work- 

 men for the projected railway, and form a happy me- 

 dium of communication between the whites and the 

 natives. A Patbiot. 



Washington, Sept. 1. 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES FROM A NEW 

 POINT OF VIEW. 



So much has been written about the German 

 universities, — so many histories of separate 

 foundations, so many discussions of academic 

 methods, so many descriptions of student-life, 

 and the like, — that it would seem hardly pos- 

 sible to bring their merits and their limitations 

 before the public in any fresh aspect. Yet a 

 recent writer has done exactly this. He has 

 studied the subject from the point of view of 

 a political economist, or more exactly of a 

 philosophical statistician. That is to say, by 

 a very careful and orderly comparison of the 

 recorded facts of different decades and of dif- 

 ferent parts of the country, he has thrown 

 such light on the results of an academic sys- 

 tem as he might have thrown upon a system 



