380 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. VI., No. 143. 



the absolute form of Munk's localizations, Pro- 

 fessor Christiani does little to put any other posi- 

 tive and definite conceptions in thek place, and 

 one may say as a last result, that he leaves the 

 subject of division of labor in the brain as obscure 

 as he found it. There are some other important 

 and interesting experimental discoveries in the 

 book, to which we lack space for reference. It 

 may be added, in a general way, that the question 

 of locaUzation seems now in a far more hopeful 

 state than ever before. The distinction of relative 

 centres and absolute centres, introduced by Exner, 

 in his statistical study of human brain lesions, bids 

 fair to be a fruitful conception, if it can ever be 

 intelligently worked out. A recent article by 

 Exner in the Biologisches centralblatt (band v., 

 hefte 1 und 2), takes a mediating position and tries 

 to show that the facts reported by Goltz and Munk 

 are far less at variance than the reporters them- 

 selves think. It is a very praiseworthy article^ 

 and should be read by all those who are interested 

 in the subject of Professor Christiani's work. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



Advices from the Pacific coast afford some details 

 in regard to the journey of Lieut. H. T. Allen 

 and his companions, though the complete report 

 is of course reserved for headquarters. There is 

 a good deal of confusion of names, distances, 

 and positions in the press reports, from which, 

 however, we are able to gather that the party 

 ascended the Copper or Atna River, and explored 

 its northern and western branch to its source, 

 a distance which, omitting h-regularities of the 

 stream, must be between two and tlu-ee hundred 

 miles. The Copper River had been explored by 

 Serebrannikoff to a distance of some fifty miles 

 from the mouth in 1848 ; and several prospectors 

 have been on the river since the purchase of the 

 territory by the United States, but no record, ex- 

 cept in newspaper articles, has been kept of their 

 wanderings. The branch explored by Lieutenant 

 AUen and the eastern branch are about of equal 

 size ; the latter is believed to rise not far from the 

 head of Lynn Canal. They found the river ex- 

 tremely rapid, with many cataracts, and having 

 in soQie places a fall of seven feet to the mile. Its 

 width is variable, sometimes several miles, in- 

 cluding large islands ; at others but a few hun- 

 dred feet. There are many glaciers near it, and 

 the active Wrangell volcano rises almost from the 

 river. Remains of the mammoth were seen ; the 

 color of gold was found in the river-bed, and 

 copper and silver ore brought back, the former 

 from the range in wliich the river heads. A 

 portage was made across this range to the sources 



of the Tananah, where there are a number of ex- 

 tensive lakes. The river was reached about 125 

 miles above the point to which it had been ex- 

 plored, and it and the Yukon were followed to the 

 sea. Game was not very abundant, fish being the 

 chief reliance of the Indians. No casualties oc- 

 curred, the chief difficulty being to obtain labor, 

 since the Indians were averse to work. Two 

 miners and several Indians were with Lieutenant 

 Allen's party, which found some difiBculty in 

 subsisting on the country. Great credit is due 

 Lieutenant Allen and his companions, whose 

 journey may be compared to that in which the 

 celebrated Robert Campbell discovered the sources 

 of the Yukon. R c^d '<: 5" ; C i<. 



Lieutenant Cantwell's recent exploration of the 

 Kowak River was made by a party consisting, 

 beside the commander, of two seamen ; C. H. 

 Townsend, naturalist ; an interpreter ; and eight 

 or ten Innuit. The river was entered July 2 with 

 a steam launch and two canoes. At the rapids 

 Townsend remained with the launch, the rest 

 ascending ia skin canoes. They reached with 

 great difficulty a canon some 300 feet deep and 

 very narrow. The boats were hauled over a tem- 

 porary bridge constructed of felled trees. Above 

 the gorge the stream became very shallow. 

 After great difiiculty the source of the river was 

 reached, consisting of four large lakes, of which 

 the most impoi-tant is in about north lat. 67°, west 

 long. 153°. It is supposed to be about 520 miles 

 from the mouth of the river. 



Assistant engineer Samuel B. McLenegan, who 

 accomxDanied Cantwell in his exploration of the 

 Kowak in 1884, this year undertook a very diffi- 

 cult bit of exploration in a double bidarka or 

 kayak, obtained at Unalashka. Owing to the dif- 

 ficulty of obtaining native assistance he was 

 accompanied only by Seaman Nelson of the Cor- 

 win. They ascended the Noatak, also called the 

 Nunatak or Inland River, which has been known 

 for thirty years, but never explored. This river 

 enters Hotham Inlet, westward from the Kowak, 

 and about thirty miles north of the arctic circle. 

 They entered the river July 2, and found almost 

 from the first great difficulty in stemming the rapid 

 current ; at times they were compelled to track the 

 canoe by a line from the bank, or wade in the 

 shallows of the river-bed. Much of the region 

 was mountainous. The river passed through 

 numerous canons, with sides rising high above the 

 water, even reaching 1,000 feet in some places. 

 The scenery was very grand. Indications of iron 

 and copper ore were observed in many places. 

 Two hundred and seventy-five miles, by the river, 

 above its mouth, part of the provisions were 

 cached, and the explorers hved on the country, 



