1882.] 
Analyses of Books . 
493 
opposing, we have not space to enter upon the prolonged 
criticism which it would require. The work as a whole has 
given us no small pleasure, and we recognise in the author, not 
merely a man of great and unusual learning, blit what is of more 
importance a powerful and original thinker. 
Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists' Society. New Series. 
Vol, III. Part 3 (1881-2). Bristol ; James Fawn and Son. 
This issue contains a very considerable amount of sound valuable 
matter, and certainly indicates no falling off in the activity of 
the Society. 
Mr. F. F. Tuckett and Dr. Beddoe, F.R.S., contribute a paper 
on the gradual diminution of the human head — a subject which 
has excited some little discussion in the press, but has been by 
no means thoroughly sifted. Mr. Tuckett’s attention was first 
drawn to the subject by a remark made by a local hatter that 
during the last twenty-five years the size of hats had decreased 
by as much as half an inch in circumference. Messrs. Lincoln 
and Bennett, well known London hatters, state that the average 
size of hats sold by them has decreased from No. 7^ in 1855 to 
No. 61.9 in 1880. Other evidence of a similar kind has been 
obtained from different hat manufacturers in England and Scot- 
land, but it does not appear that enquiries have been made in 
Ireland, on the Continent, and in America. Nor does it appear 
whether the decline has only commenced within the last thirty 
years, or whether it can be traced to an earlier period. 
Very little light has been thrown on the cause of the change. 
Dr. Beddoe suggests that there is “ a certain degree of physical 
degeneration in the population of large towns.” But decrease 
in the size of the head is not in all cases connected with diminu- 
tion of stature, strength, or indeed intelligence. An instance 
has come under our notice where the size of the head has 
notably decreased in the male members of a family during three 
successive generations, though the stature has even more 
strikingly increased. 
Mr. C. Richardson communicates an interesting geological 
paper on the age of the River Wye. Taking all the elements of 
the calculation at a minimum value, the smallest figure reached 
is 1,274,000 years. 
Mr. H. §. Hele Shaw, C.E., discusses the methods of wind- 
measurement, a branch of meteorology of great importance, but 
as yet in a very imperfedt state. As instances of the discrepant 
statements put forward by experts in the engineering phase of 
the question, thus Mr. Hawksley thinks that a pressure of 
40 lbs. per square foot is unknown in this country. In America 
