November 6, 1885.] 



SCIEJS^CE. 



405 



on the determination of azimuth follows it. The 

 book closes with a very full and clear setting- 

 forth of the subjects of precession, nutation, aber- 

 ration, and proper-motion, with the formulae for 

 their application, and a set of tables most useful 

 to the field-astronomer in reducing observations. 



The most valuable and characteristic feature of 

 the book is the excellent series of examples taken 

 from actual modern practice, which accompany 

 almost every method of using each instrument, 

 and are fully discussed by the method of least- 

 squares where its application is advantageous. 

 There is throughout an endeavor to impress the 

 importance of developing the degree of accuracy 

 inherent in the observations, and the best methods 

 of avoiding or eliminating systematic errors. The 

 whole work besj)eaks the thorough master of his 

 subject. The warning as to parts of the normal- 

 equations solution not checked by the proof- 

 f onnulse, the giving of the complete values of the 

 auxiharies in the formulae for the weight-co- 

 efficients out to four unknown quantities, and 

 many other points which would be overlooked by 

 the mere book-maker or pxu-e theorist, show that 

 Professor Doohttle has thorouglily beaten the 

 whole ground, and knows where the difficulties 

 he. 



The typography of the book is excellent, and 

 Professor Doolittle's known thoroughness gives us 

 assurance that much less than the usual number 

 of mistakes will be found in the printed text. 



MEXICAN ETHNOLOGY. 



The magnificent etlmologic museum of the 

 Trocadero at Paris is one of the sights of that 

 great capital which no scientific visitor should 

 overlook. It is particularly rich in its American 

 department, and the conservator of the museum, 

 Dr. Hamy, has taken a pride not only in collecting 

 in this department, but in studying his specimens 

 and in pubhshing the results of his studies. As 

 editor of the excellent Revue cFethnographie he 

 has always at his command a medium to give them 

 promptly to the world. He has collected a num- 

 ber of these studies luider the title, ' Decades 

 Americanae.' They treat of such topics as 'An 

 anthropohthfromGuadelupe,' ' Fishing industry in 

 ancient times in the Calif omian Archipelago,' ' The 

 Tzompantli,' 'An Aztec arrangement for supportmg 

 skulls,' ' The American solar wheel,' 'A pipe from 

 King's Mound, Ashland,' etc. All these articles are 



Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans VAmerique Cen- 

 trale. Antkropologie du Mexique. Par. M. E.-T. Hamy. 

 Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1884. 4°. 



Decades AmericancB. Memoires d'archeologie et d''ethno- 

 groyphie Americaines. Par le Dr. E.-T. Hamy. Paris, 1884. 



freely illustrated, and the specimens are described 

 and discussed with clearness and from an astonish- 

 ing width of special reading. 



The ' Anthropology of Mexico ' is a work of much 

 more ambitious character. In this large and hand- 

 some quarto published by the French government, 

 Dr. Hamy discusses the human remains that have 

 been collected by French explorers in various por- 

 tions of Mexico. He places them in relation with 

 the oldest relics of the stone age from the same 

 region, and reaches the conclusion that the imple- 

 ments, at any rate, point to a period and condition 

 of human life exactly the same as existed in the 

 United States and Europe duAig the epoch of un- 

 polished stone. In the crania examined the prin- 

 cipal characteristics were marked prognatliism and 

 brachycephalism. These traits the author thinks 

 are especially pronounced in the skulls of the 

 Otomis and Mazahuas. Besides the minute descrip- 

 tions and abundant hthographic illustrations %vith 

 which he enhghtens his topic, he enters somewhat 

 fully into the earliest legendary history of Mexican 

 ethnography, attempting to define more closely the 

 identity and relations of tliose mysterious people, 

 the Quinamies, the Ohnecs, and the Xicalancos. 

 He wisely, however, treads with caution on this 

 very uncertain ground. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 



Longitude signals between St. Louis and 

 Mexico. — Professor H. S. Pritcliett, director of 

 the observatory of the Washington university at 

 St. Louis, kindly communicates the results of a 

 longitude campaign between his observatory and 

 the Observatorio nacional de Mexico, Sr. A. 

 Anguiano, director. A prehminary discussion 

 gives 35^ 57^.25 as the difference of longitude, 

 or 6h 36°i46'-41 W. of Greenwich as the result- 

 ing longitude of the transit-circle piers of the 

 Mexican observatory. This differs 5^-0 from the 

 old value determined by moon-culminations. The 

 circuit was 2583 miles long, with five repeaters, 

 and the armature time was quite constant, aver- 

 aging 0^-38. The outfit of the Mexican national 

 observatory includes a 15-inch equatorial by 

 Grubb, and an 8-inch meridian-circle, and a 6-inch 

 transit, both by Troughton and Simms. The 

 personnel consists of the director (Sr. Anguiano) 

 and five assistants. 



Comet observations at Greenwich. — The some- 

 what unusual appearance in the Astronomisclie 

 nachrichten (2688) of comet-observations communi- 

 cated by the astronomer-royal attracts otu- atten- 

 tion, and we trust this is only the beginning of a 

 continuous series. One point, we think, is worth 

 noting. As communicated, they give the meas- 



