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Scientific Serials.

1889; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 40; Issue: 1021 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/040091b0

1476-4687

Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies

Bulletins de la Société d' Anthropologie, tome onzième, série iii., fasc. 4 (Paris, 1888).—Conclusion of M. Variot's paper on the removal of marks of tattooing; and on an instrument for tattooing, by the same writer.—On the sacrum of a chimpanzee, by M. Chudzinski. In this case the sacrum was composed of seven vertebræ, the normal number in the Anthropoids being only five, or at most six.—A process for mounting histological specimens treated under paraffin, by M. Mahoudeau.—A description of the cranium and brain in two assassins, by MM. Fallot and Alezais. This communication gives a minute analysis of the convolutions and other parts of the hemispheres, while it supplies numerous and special measurements of the various parts of the skull together with the respective cerebral and cranial indices.—On the cranial alterations observable in rachitic conditions, by M. Regnault.—On the first temporal convolution in the right and left hemispheres, in the case of a person who was known to have suffered from deafness of the left ear, by M. Manouvrier.—A communication regarding the truth of the reports made by various travellers that cannibalism exists among the Fuegians, by M. Hyades. According to this writer there is absolutely no ground for this charge.—On a Peruvian bell, by M. Verneau.—On the antiquity of Egypt, and the evidences of its condition in prehistoric times, by M. Beauregard. In this very exhaustive article the author passes in review the material evidence remaining of the ages of cut and polished stone and of bronze. He believes that Egypt at the time of the Pharaohs exhibited the mixed condition of combining the use of flint implements with the simultaneous acquaintance with the means of extracting copper, and blending it with other metals, including tin, although no distinct hieroglyphic for the latter has been recognized in the older language of Egypt. It remains undetermined where and when first the ancient Egyptians obtained the tin which enters into the bronze fabricated in the valley of the Nile as far back as the seventeenth century before our era.—On the birth-rate in France, by M. Chervin. This paper contributes the most elaborate and detailed series of statistical tables, for the separate departments, of the births, marriages, and deaths registered, as well as of the numbers of children born in a definite number of households. The means obtained from these lists show that 8 per cent. of all the marriages in France are sterile, and that while 25 per cent, yield only one child, 100 families supply a mean of only 259 children. Many curious points of interest are suggested by this complex report, but it does not do much to explain the causes of the want of increase in the population of France, as compared with that of other countries.—On the hinged and cantoned cross in Cyprian decorative art, by M. Max Richter. The remains of ancient art in Cyprus strongly resemble those of Hissarlik, excepting that there is no trace of the swastika, or hinged cross on the decorated red jars of the Bronze Age, while its later appearance and disappearance in Cyprian art appears to coincide with the predominance and decline of Phœnician influence.—On the survival in Brittany of some of the usages and privileges of clanship, by M. Sébillot.—On a semi-pagan procession on St. John's day, in the Basses Alpes, by M. Arnaud. From time immemorial the peasants of Lauzet have proceeded after the benediction of the neighbouring lake to throw stones into its waters amid loud and angry cries of vengeance against the evil spirits who bring rain and hail storms. In this strange ceremony the local curé is constrained by popular will to take part.—On phallotomy among the Egyptians, by M. Letourneau.—On the centre of creation, and the first appearance of the human race, by M. Lombard. The writer supports Signor Saporta's view that vegetable forms, which now cover our continents, have spread slowly and continuously from north to south, recent species forcing back or obliterating those of more ancient origin. The laws which Signor Saporta endeavours to establish for the diffusion of vegetable forms, M. Lombard thinks may be extended to the animal kingdom, including man, whose cradle he would seek in circumpolar regions.—Report of sixth Conference on Transformism, under the presidency of M. Duval, by M. Bordier.—Report of fifth Broca-Conference, by M. Topinard, a member of the commission for awarding the prize instituted by Madame Broca in memory of her husband. The memoirs presented between 1885 and 1888 are not numerous, but great value attaches to two among these works, viz. the general ethnography of Tunis, by Dr. René Collignon, to whom the Broca Prize for 1888 has been unanimously awarded; and ethnological researches in regard to the human remains discovered at Spy, by M. Fraipont, who received a silver medal in recognition of the great merit of his work.—On the longevity of the Berber races, by M. Letourneau.—On a Palæolithic station on Mont Roty, and on a novel flint implement, by the Abbé Blanquet.—On an ancient cemetery at Biskra, Algeria, by M. de Mortillet.—On a sepulchral dolmen, discovered at Nanteuil-le-Houdouin (Oise), by MM. Collin and Lair.—A prehistoric station at Frileuse (Seine-et-Oise), by M. Vauvillé.