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SEVERAL new editions of scientific books of established reputation have recently been received. The fourteenth edition of Naumann's well-known "Elemente der Mineralogie," edited by Prof. F. Zirkel, has been published by Mr. Engelmann, Leipzig (London: Williams and Norgate). The book stands in the first rank of treatises on mineralogy, and is likely to maintain this position while it is so well kept in touch with scientific progress by revised editions. —A similar standard work is Gray's "Anatomy: Descriptive and Surgical," the fifteenth edition of which, edited by Messrs. T. Pickering Pick and R. Howden, has been published by Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co. The entire work has undergone revision, and the section on embryology has been considerably amplified. The volume will thus secure the attention of students for some time to come.-The third edition of Prof. A. H. Church's "Chemistry of Paints and Painting" has been published by Messrs. Seeley and Co. An elaborate and appreciative review of this book appeared in these columns nearly ten years ago (vol. xlv. p. 243). The plan remains the same as in the first edition, but many slight changes have been made and new pigments, or new varieties of old pigments, are described. In the four last chapters Prof. Church gives "adequate evidence of the instability of several favourite pigments largely used by painters in water-colour during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries."—Mr. Walter Scott has published the third edition of Mr. Havelock Ellis's book on "The Criminal," which was reviewed in these columns when the first edition appeared (vol. xlii. p. 75, 1890). Since then increasing attention has been given to criminal anthropology, and Mr. Ellis gives a valuable statement of the present position of the subject. His book has been enlarged by more than one hundred pages, and much new material has been examined and summarised.

WE have received a copy of Prof. Letts' report on the scheme of sewage purification for Belfast and its probable

effects on the Lough. In this report Prof. Letts first deals in a simple way with the chemical nature of sewage and the various methods of sewage disposal. He then deals with the subject of the vast deposits of sea-lettuce (Ulva latissima) which accumulate on the Belfast foreshore and, undergoing decomposition, produce serious nuisance. It is shown that the development of the sea-lettuce, which is extraordinarily rich in nitrogen, is associated with the presence of sewage in sea-water and that it thrives wherever an ordinary sewage effluent escapes into seawater. Coming next to the proposed method of treating the Belfast sewage by double contact with bacteria beds and the discharge of the resulting effluent into the Lough, Prof. Letts concludes from his experiments that the bacteria beds are dispersers rather than converters of nitrogen, that is to say, they liberate a large proportion of sewage nitrogen in the gaseous form. Hence the effluent from such beds is unlikely to stimulate the growth of the noxious green seaweed, and Prof. Letts considers it probable that the proposed system of sewage treatment will eventually suppress the growth sufficiently to put an end to the existing nuisance. In a series of recommendations appended to his report, Prof. Letts suggests the reclamation of large tracts of foreshore and more systematic removal of the decomposing weed. He thinks it probable that by allowing the sewage effluent to flow into tidal ponds containing sea-water and sea-lettuce the nitrogen content might be reduced almost to the vanishing point. The lettuce could be regularly removed and used advantageously as a manure.

THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a White-fronted Capuchin (Cebus hypoleucus) from Central America, presented by Mr. G. B. Apostoloff; two Syrian Bulbuls (Pycnonotus xanthopygos) from Tayif, Arabia, presented by Mr. G. P. Dovey; a Hocheur Monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans, 9) from West Africa, a Simpae Monkey

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(Semnopithecus melalaphus, 8) from Sumatra, three Ogilby's Rat Kangaroo (Bettongia penicillata) from Australia, a Zebra (Equus 8), four Young Lions (Felis leo, 8 8 8 8), a Caracal (Felis caracal) from Abyssinia, an Indian Antelope (Antilope cervicapra), a Ruddy Ichneumon (Herpestes smithi) from India, a Goshawk (Astur palumbarius), European; five Smoothclawed Frogs (Xenopus laevis) from Africa, deposited; twelve Changeable Troupials (Quiscalus versicolor), six Painted Terrapins (Chrysemys picta), two American Box Tortoises (Cistudo carolina), a Copperhead (Ancistrodon contortrix), two Horrid Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) from Pennsylvania, three White-eyebrowed Finches (Zonotrichia leucophrys), three Lark Buntings (Calamospiza bicolor), three Mexican Quails (Callipepla squamata), two Painted Box Terrapins (Cistudo ornata), five Poinsett's Lizards (Sceloporus torquatus, var. poinsetti), six Lesser Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma modestum), a Say's Snake (Coluber catenifer, var. sayi), a Confluent Rattlesnake (Crotalus confluentus), two Testaceous Snakes (Zamenis flagelliformis), two Western Diamond Rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox) from Pecos, Texas; two Common Rattlesnakes (Crotalus durissus), two Couper's Snakes (Spilotes corais, var. couperi) from Marion co., Florida, received in exchange.

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN.

THE PERIOD OF ALGOL.-Prof. S. C. Chandler has made a further investigation of the minor inequalities of the period of Algol. These have probably escaped notice up to the present owing to their being so minute as to be of the same order as the

errors of observation.

This later inquiry indicates that the deviations of the observed from calculated times of minima have been periodic, distinct changes occurring in the course of a few months, but it does not appear that the periodicity is of a regular character. More frequent and continuous observations of the minima, however, are required to decide this question.

It appears from the curves representing these minor inequalities that the length of the principal of them is about 15,000 periods, this period from the most recent computations being 2d. 20h. 48m. 55'60s. +

3 694s. sin (133° - 0°024 E.) + 1·784°. sin (16° E.) Tables are then given showing the influence of including these new terms in the comparison of observed with computed epochs of minima (Astronomical Journal, vol. xxii. pp. 39-42,

1901.

THE MELBOURNE OBSERVATORY.-The annual report of Mr. P. Baracchi, the Government astronomer at Victoria, has recently been issued. All the usual routine work in astronomy, meteorology, terrestrial magnetism, &c., has been carried on as endeavour to lessen the accumulated arrears of unreduced usual, and considerable progress has been made in the

records.

With the astrographic instrument 261 plates have been obtained, including 63 chart triple exposures, 49 chart single exposures, and 39 catalogue plates. The chart series of single exposures of 60 m. is now complete. The new Repsold micrometer made from the designs of Sir David Gill is found to work very satisfactorily, and measurements are made at twice the former speed, dealing with about 170 stars per hour..

The Milne seismograph is now adjusted in position and a continuous photographic record of seismic disturbances will be started as soon as possible.

ROYAL ALFRED OBSERVATORY, MAURITIUS. -The annual report of Mr. T. F. Claxton, director of the Royal Alfred Observatory, has recently been distributed, giving details of progress made during the year 1900. The meteorological and magnetic observations have all been continued as in previous years, but much of the astronomical work with the prime vertical and equatorial had to be abandoned on account of the unhealthiness of the district. Photographs of the sun with the photoheliograph were taken whenever weather permitted, and 311 negatives with 301 prints were forwarded to the Solar Physics Committee.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CERTAIN FEATURES AND TYPES OF THE EXTERNAL EAR. IN these days the search for some characteristic of the human body which will give unequivocal evidence of the mental nature of the individual still goes on as merrily as ever. To some men the bumps of the head tell everything; to others the lines of the palm are hieroglyphic expressions of the qualities of the brain, not to speak of what they tell of things past and events to come; in fact, there is scarcely a feature of the human body that has not, at one time or another, been advo

consideration. The first of these is the school of workers founded by Lombrosa, which believes that a certain class of criminals are criminals because of an imperfection in the development of their brains. It is probable, as this school supposes, that such imperfectly developed brains will be wrapped in defective bodies; by the presence of bodily defects, and they have used very largely those of the external ear as an index, the imperfections and unbalanced nature of the brain may be detected. It is clearly a matter of the utmost moment for a State to be able to recognise its criminals, who are criminals because of their constitutional imperfections, and this undoubtedly is the aim of

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cated as an index of certain faculties, and now it is the turn of the external ear. Although not one of these many pretensions has ever stood the test of scientific investigation, or even that of a casual every-day experience, yet their advocates continue to thrive and abound unabated. If those handmaidens of the brain- the muscles of expression-those that set the eye and strengthen the mouth, fail to yield a clue, then it is vain to seek for it in any other structure of the body.

There are three classes of observers, however, which have made a special study of the external ear, deserving of the utmost

the Lombrosa school. In their investigations of the external ear they found certain features to exist in those of the criminal and insane classes with a much greater frequency than in the sane. With their results I wish to compare a wide series of observations made on the criminal and insane classes of this country.

The second class of observers, which deserves attention, is that which has contributed to our knowledge of the development, anatomy and evolution of the human external ear. Its contributions make up quite an extensive literature. Prof.

Schwalbe, who may be regarded as the chief of this class, gives references to 145 papers in his latest work on the ear-most of which deal only with the external ear.

The third class is that of which Bertillon is the chief. To this class the characters of the external ear are important only so far as they may assist in the identification of the criminal. Its system of observation is purely empirical, and the large masses of facts which it has accumulated are useless for the scientific advancement of the subject.

In a paper contributed recently to La Nature,3 from which Figs. 1 and 2 are borrowed, Mr. Henri Coupin remarks that

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There are two types of ear which everyone must have noticed, although they have found no name for them. They are contrasted types and mark the opposite poles of ear development. One of these is that which the novelist occasionally condescends to notice. describing it as "a beautifully modelled, small, shelllike ear." Popularly it is regarded as a sign of high breeding. Examples of this type may be seen in Fig. 1, Nos. 1, 5, 8, 11, 18, 20, 25, 27, and in Fig. 2, Nos. 8, 12, 16, 19, 25, 34, 35.

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writers of fiction, while describing with a fulness o. detail the features of the eye, mouth, nose and hair of the heroine or hero, carefully abstain from any mention of the external ear. Yet there is no doubt that the ear is a subject of common remark among friends and acquaintances, but often in an inarticulate

"Handbuchs der Anatomie des Menschen," von Bardeleben. Abtheil ii. Band v., 1898.

2"The Bertillon System of Identification." Translated by McClaughry. 1806 "Notre Oreille," La Nature, p. 138, July 27, 1901.

An example of the same type will be seen in Fig. 3, which is a tracing from a photograph of a typical ear of the orang. For the reason that the chief features of the orang's ear are present in the type of ear I have just cited, I have named it the "orangtype" of human ear.

The type of human ear contrasted to this is one never alluded to in fiction, but is frequently the subject of everyday remark. It is large, expansive, and projects like "wind-sails from the port-holes of a steamer in the tropics." A very good illustration of it is seen in Fig. 2, No. 45, but further examples may

be detected in the same figure, Nos. 13, 17, 31, and in Fig. 1, Nos. 9, 13, 15, 28, 29, 30, 35, 36, 38, 46. An ear of the same type is shown in Fig. 4; it is a tracing from the ear of "Sally," the chimpanzee, and is typical of her species. This may be called the "chimpanzee type" of human ear."

This nomenclature, of course, does not imply that people with the orang-type of ear are related any more to the orang than the chimpanzee-type indicates an affinity to the chimpanzee. The resemblances are due to the fact that in the orang the external ear has undergone marked retrograde changes; in the chimpanzee the ear has retained its pristine development. The one marks

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the ebb tide of retrogression, the other the full tide of develop. ment; the corresponding types in man mark the same extremes. The anatomical parts of the ears of the three great anthropoids and man are the same (see Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6), but in men are found types exemplifying the retrograde changes which have overtaken the ears of all orangs, and also examples of the full development which marks the ears of chimpanzees. Curiously enough the gorilla, like man, shows an amplitude in the variations of its ear, but on the whole it inclines towards the orangtype.

But what is meant by retrogression, and what by full development of the ear? The explanation entails a reference to the seven parts which compose the outer ear. Each of the seven springs as separate part round the opening of the ear in the embryo, and by the fourth month they have fused to form the whole structure.

Horiz.helix

the ear of the chimpanzee (Fig. 4) shows similar characters in its descending helix. On the other hand, the orang's ear (Fig. 3) shows the descending helix not only markedly reduced, but its margin, like that of a cankered leaf, is inrolled. A reference to the orang types in Fig. 1 (such as No. 11) and Fig. 2 will show inrolling of the margin of the descending helix, similar to that in the orang. The various degrees to which the inrolling may be carried is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 5. Four degrees of inrolling are recognised, viz. o, 1st, 2nd or 3rd degree. It should be remarked, however, that the reduction in size of the descending helix and inrolling of its margin do not con. stitute all the characters of the orang type-with these the development of the ear as a whole also shows reduction in size. The height of the ear of a chimpanzee is nearly twice that of an orang, yet the orang is the larger animal of the two.

There is one prevalent conception of the human ear which I believe to be a mistaken one, and which I wish to correct now. It is usual to speak of it as a decaying structure. This is remarkable, if true, for with the introduction of speech the means of catching sound are more needed than ever. Although the helix, especially the descending helix, which in mammals generally makes up the greater part of their trumpet-shaped ears, has undergone and is undergoing retrogression in man, that part of the ear which bounds and deepens the concha, the antihelix (Fig. 5), has reached a development in man which it never had before. At least, no other primate shows such a development. That is the change which appears to be going on in man now,

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Three of these parts surround the concha, or cavity, and opening of the ear-passage, viz. the tragus, the antitragus and the antihelix (see Fig. 5). The remaining four parts form the circumference of the ear, viz. the ascending helix-in front and above; the horizontal helix-above; behind, forming the wide posterior border of the ear-the descending helix ; and below-the lobule. | Now only one of these seven parts suffers markedly from progressive or retrogressive changes, and that is the descending helix. In Fig. 5 a human ear is represented somewhat diagrammatically with the descending helix fully developed; that is to say the descending helix is wide, expansive, and its margin is not inrolled;

3rd degree

FIG. 5.-Diagram of the human ear.

viz., that in him a new type of ear is being evolved in which the antihelix plays the chief part in collecting sound-waves, while the circumference--the outer helix-undergoes retrogression. In this the orang-type of the human ear differs from the ear of the orang; in the orang the antihelix is in as retrograde a condition as the other parts of the outer ear, even the crus of its antihelix is only occasionally developed (Fig. 3); in the orang-type of the human ear the antihelix is especially well developed.

I should like to proceed at once and inquire into the relationship which those two types of human ears bear to the mental bias of the individuals in which they are found. But in order to avoid the mistakes made by the followers of Lombrosa on the Continent, it is necessary to allude to certain factors which have a powerful influence in determining the type of the external ear. I need not allude to age; that influences shape to some extent, but its effect is principally on its size. Schwalbe found that, on an average, the length of the ear increases 20 mm. from the twentieth to the eightieth year and the breadth at a corresponding rate. The ears of old people are always large and hence in my statistics I excluded those over sixty. This increase is a factor which those who use the ear for identification purposes should remember more than they do.

Sex is a powerful factor. The following table (table 1), in which are given the number of ears observed, the locality in which they were observed, the sex of the individual and the percentage in which the orang- and chimpanzee-types of ear occurred, will show its influence.

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Peterborough Cork ... Dublin

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278 268 22 38... 33 The table shows that the orang-type occurs in from 38 to 51 per cent. of women, while in men it varies between 16 and 27 per cent. Taking the average of this table, the orang-type may be said to occur in 18 per cent. of men and 45 per cent. of women. The chimpanzee-type, on the other hand, occurs four or five times more frequently in men than in women. That the orang-type should be characteristic of women and the chimpanzee of men is what one may expect; for in bodily characters, always excepting those of a sexual nature, woman apparently foreshadows the coming characters of the race.

My statistics are not sufficiently wide to allow of more than a partial statement as to the orang-type of ear being a sign o. aristocratic birth, but of eight peeresses I find five have ears of this type, which certainly lends some support to the popular supposition. On the other hand, of five leading lady singers only one shows this type of ear.

Race, too, has an influence on the proportion with which the two types occur. That may be seen from Table I. The prevalence of the chimpanzee-type in Kerry, and the orang-type amongst the Jewish women may be noted. The orang-type occurs in about 90 per cent. of Hottentots; it is very frequent, although of a characteristic type, in certain races of negroes.

The ear-types, too, are correlated with the colour of the hair. In Table II. statistics are given of observations made at twentyseven different localities of the United Kingdom.

TABLE II.

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Male. Female. Male. Female. Male. Female. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Fair-haired 2015 1127 31.3 46.7 15.8 4'I Black-haired.. 1796 1463 15.8 40'3 36 4'7 The individuals with hair of intermediate shades of brown are omitted, and only those with distinctly fair or distinctly black hair are included. It will be seen that the orang-type occurs in fair-haired men twice as frequently as in blackhaired men; the chimpanzee-type occurs in exactly the reverse proportion. Curiously enough the colour of hair scarcely affects the ear of the woman; black and fair show both types with an equal frequency. Both this table and the last draw attention to the fact that the variations in one sex are not necessarily correlated with those of the other.

It will be readily seen how necessary it is to consider those various factors which influence the ear before proceeding to consider the ears of those who have their liberty temporarily or permanently suspended because they are no longer able to conform to recognised social standards of conduct. The variation according to race or locality is wide (vide Table I.); sex and other qualities are influencing factors. In the following table (Table III.) are given the proportions with which the orang- and chimpanzee types of ear occur (1) in habitual criminals, obtained through the courtesy of Dr. Garson; (2) the insane of four asylums in different parts of the kingdom; (3) congenital idiots. TABLE III. No. of

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tion from the sane of their neighbourhood and that there is no constant difference between the two classes. The insane mer of Aberdeen and Cork show the orang-type less frequently than the sane; in Dublin the case is the reverse. In the insane women a similar variation is shown in the prevalence of this type; in one case it is lower, in another higher and in still another the same. It is so also as regards the chimpanzeetype. We must, therefore, conclude, so far as concerns these two types of ears, that there is no correlation between them and a bias towards insanity.

The congenital idiots show a prevalence of the orang-type, considerably above the average, and an occurrence of the chimpanzee-type below the average, but the number of the observations is too small to allow of any certain conclusion.

When, however, the confirmed criminal class is dealt with striking departure from the normal is encountered quite unlike the statistics gained from any other series of observations. The sexual ratio becomes inverted; the orang-type, instead of occurring in the female twice as frequently as in the male, which is the normal ratio in the sane, occurs with the type, it is found almost as frequently in the female as in the male. greatest frequency in the male. So, too, with the chimpanzeeIn short, male criminals show a preponderance of the orang-type female criminals of the chimpanzee-type. There is a reversion of the normal sexual ratio.

criminals show a departure from the sane in their physical Thus it will be seen that, taken as a class, not as individuals, constitution. But what does this really mean? It means, I take it, that the criminal class is recruited in undue proportion from the group of men who manifest the orang-type of ear and the women who possess the chimpanzee-type. A larger proportion of individuals of these two classes is predisposed towards of the orang-type of ear in any individual is of itself no evidence crime than those with opposite types. But clearly the presence of this predisposition.

I have already shown that the ratio in which these two types of ear occur is correlated with the colour of the hair. On comparing the colour of the hair of the criminal class with that of groups of people in various parts of the country, for the criminals I dealt with were drawn from almost every county, I found that the criminal class was drawn in an undue proportion from the black-haired men, in a lesser degree, also, from the blackhaired women, and that therefore the orang-type should occur in them with a decreased, and not as it does with an increased, frequency.

Darwin's Point.-Since Darwin drew attention to the reninant of the tip of the human ear, an enormous literature has grown up around it. Vali found that it occurred with thrice the normal frequency in the insane; but before considering the relationship which its presence bears to an unstable mental equilibrium it is necessary to clear away some popular miscon ceptions that still prevail as to its nature.

It is not the case, as the following table (Table IV.) will show, that it is only in the human ear that the tip has become lost; it will be seen that this is also the case in all the anthropoids, a group that is genetically closely related to man. TABLE IV.-The Occurrence of Darwin's Point. (1) In Apes and Anthropoids.

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Orang. type.

Chimpanzeetype.

Per cent.

Per cent.

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African Negroes

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Taking the insane first, it will be observed (compare Tables 1. and III.) that on the whole the insane, so far as relates to the prevalence of the two types of ears, do not show a marked devia

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