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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 163 



splendid head ; the second, an exceptionally ugly 

 Swiss, with a head 'that left a good deal to be 

 desired ; ' the third, an average mortal of ordinary 

 appearance. Among the inmates of the asylum 

 was a poor deaf-mute of the name of Meystre, 

 blind from his birth, but highly impressionable, 

 and quick to distinguish between shapes that con- 

 formed to his ideal of the beautiful and those that 

 did not. The feeling of a deformed or mutilated 

 man, for instance, would sometimes draw from 

 him signs of compassion and sympathy ; at others, 

 strange grimaces and mocking laughter. On being 

 told to examine the three visitors, Meystre showed 

 great admiration for the Swede ; but, on passing 

 to the Swiss, he seemed greatly amused, indulged 

 in his usual mocking laughter, and by his gestures 

 made it understood that he thought the man had 

 no back to his head, which he seemed to consider 

 an excellent joke. The result of the third exami- 

 nation was negative. It produced no sign either 

 of satisfaction or displeasure. 



These facts seem to show, and in Professor 

 Soret's opinion prove beyond a doubt, that, so far 

 as the ' human form divine ' is concerned, the 

 blind possess the same ideal of beauty as those 

 who see, and that this ideal is innate ; and he is 

 anxious that those who have charge of the sight- 

 less should make every effort to cultivate their 

 aesthetic taste ; that by means of cardboard 

 models in relief, and other expedients, they should 

 be familiarized with the highest types of human 

 beauty, which occupy so large a place in all litera- 

 tures. By this widening of their conceptions, they 

 would be enabled to understand allusions and 

 descriptions in poetry and elsewhere, which at 

 present they must find utterly incomprehensible. 

 The better to accomplish this object, Professor 

 Soret has drawn up a complete programme ; and 

 seeing how hard life is for the blind, and from 

 how many pleasures they are debarred, we may 

 heartily applaud this effort to ameliorate their 

 Bufferings by opening to them new horizons, and 

 wish it every success. 



PUBLIC HEALTH IMPROVEMENT IN 

 ENGLAND. 



THE death-rate in England and Wales in 1885 

 again fell, says the Lancet, to 19.0 per 1000 of the 

 estimated population, and excepting only the 

 year 1881, when it was 18.9, was lower than in 

 any previous year since civil registration came 

 into operation in 1837. The registrar-general's 

 quarterly return, relating to the last three months 

 of 1885, calls attention to the fact that the death- 

 rate in each of the five years 1881-85 was consid- 

 erably lower than the rate recorded in any year 



prior to 1881. The mean rate in the first half of 

 the current decennium (1881-90) did not exceed 

 19.3 per 1000, showing a further decline from 20.8, 

 the mean rate in the preceding five years 1876-80 ; 

 whereas, in the preceding forty years of civil regis- 

 tration, the mean annual death-rate was 22.3, 

 and the lowest rate in any quinquenniuui was 21.4 

 in 1841-45. This marked reduction in the English 

 death-rate has now been maintained for ten years, 

 and has been much greater in the second than in 

 the first half of that period. It cannot, in the 

 interest of further health progress, be too con- 

 stantly borne in mind that the commencement of 

 this period of reduced death-rate was coincident 

 with the coming into full operation of the public 

 health acts of 1872 and 1875. 



The effect of this reduced death-rate upon the 

 numbers and longevity of the English people is 

 phenomenal. The registrar-general points out 

 that the reduction in the last five years implies 

 that "more than 281,000 persons in England and 

 Wales survived that period, whose deaths w r ould 

 have been recorded had the mean rate of mor- 

 tality been equal to that prevailing in the ten 

 years 1871-80," in the latter half of which period 

 the improvement in the public health had already 

 set in. With regard to the increased longevity of 

 the population, Mr. Noel Humphreys, in a paper 

 read before the Statistical society in 1883, showed 

 that the effect of a reduction in the mean death- 

 rate from 22.5 in 1838-54, to 20.8 in 1876-80, 

 would be to add two years to the mean duration 

 of life of every male, and three years and a half to 

 that of every female born. 



Professor Graber has made an extensive 

 series of experiments on the degree and localiza- 

 tion of the sense of smell in insects, etc., from 

 among the results of which the following will be 

 found of interest (Journ. roy. micr. soc). Odors 

 are perceived by many invertebrates, such as mol- 

 lusks, insects, etc., with extreme rapidity, some- 

 times in one-third of a second, and even through 

 an intervening layer of water a half -millimetre in 

 thickness. This sensitiveness is very much greater 

 than was exhibited by the vertebrates experimented 

 upon (reptiles, birds). Insects deprived of their 

 antennae are still able to smell, but in varying 

 degrees in different insects and for different 

 odors, some fine odors being apparently perceptible 

 only through the antennae. Perception <>! smell 

 through the stigmata or respiratory organs is not 

 rapid nor important, though such has often been 

 maintained. In some cases the palpi of the mouth- 

 organs are more sensitive than the antennae, and 

 therefore the latter cannot be considered as being 

 alone the organs of smell. 



