Abstract
Bulletins de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, tome Seme, 4me fascic., 1885.—On the facial and cranial muscles of a young gorilla, by M. Chudzinski. The subject of this post-mortem examination, a young male, was 98 centimetres in height. The muscles of the head and face were the same in number as in the human species, but in form and dimensions they exhibited certain differences, being combined into a single fleshy mass, which covered most of the face.—M. Pozzi laid before the Society various anatomical characteristics with reference to the comparative constitution of the muscles of the Negro and the white races. —M. Folley drew attention to the greater anastomosis of the subcutaneous abdominal veins of the Negro, and the importance of this peculiarity in giving to the organism a greater power of resisting the action of rapid variations of atmospheric or aqueous pressures.—On the common origin of Malays and Vedahs, by M. Beauregard.—On the universal language of F. Sudre, by M. Gajewski. The basis of the system proposed fifty years ago by M. Sudre is the musical nomenclature of the vocal notes, do, re, &c., and from these he elaborated a language which claims to be equally capable of expression by means of musical instruments and the voice. The defects and impracticabilities of Sudre's proposed musical language were considered at length by MM. Kerckhoffs, Dally, and Dehoux.—Suggestions for the modification of Broca's method of determining the direct absolute cranial capacity, by M. Topinard. The points chiefly insisted on are the different results yielded by fresh, and often-used, lead, the latter being valueless after 100 cubage determinations.—On the cause and nature of the vitrification observed in tumuli, and other ancient structures, by M. Manouvrier.—Report of the recent Anthropological Exposition at Buda-Pesth, by Dr. R. Blanchard.—On the dimensions and location of the dolmens of St. Nectaire, by Dr. Verrier.—History and anthropology, by Dr. Fauvelle. The writer draws attention to the tissue of errors which works intended for the instruction of the young continue to promulgate, as exemplified in the current historical explanations of the origin and usages of earlier races.—On the Gallic habitation of Mane Gohenne, Carnac, by M. Gaillard. The finds, which consisted principally of flints and pottery, included a string of twenty-three green serpentine beads cut into various forms.—On certain unique objects shaped like fishes, found in the Mammoth Cave in Varsovia, by M. Zawisza, and supposed to have been employed as fetishes by sorcerers.—On the significance of certain strongly marked impressions on the inner surface of a skull, by M. Manouvrier. Such impressions have been regarded as an evidence of imperfection in the cerebral convolutions, and of consequent mental deficiency.—On man of the age of Palaeolithic pottery in the Lozere district, by MM. Martel and L. de Launay. The local finds attest the co-existence there of man and the cave-bear, and the fabrication of pottery at the:ime.—On the flint implements of Croix Fringant, near Cognac, by M. Germain.—On the calcareous islets of Taled Sah, in the inner sea of the Samsans, in the Malayan peninsula, and the natives who dwell in natural caverns and are engaged in collecting edible swallow-nests, by M. Macey.—On the displacement of the brain in accordance with the different attitudes assumed by the body, by M. Bonnard.—On the form of the hand and figure of Asiatics, by Dr. Mugnier.—Anthropometric and other observations of three Australians now being exhibited in Paris, by M. Topinard.—On the development of the cranium in the gorilla, by M. Deniker. It is found that, while the frontal region is developed, like other parts of the cranium, as rapidly in the gorilla as in man from the middle of foetal life to the eruption of the milk molars, different relations supervene after the latter period, the cranial development of the gorilla becoming much more strongly marked in the posterior and inferior than in the anterior regions. At the same time the upper maxillary rapidly acquires its characteristic prognathic form. An almost equal degree of prognathism is observable in the adult Negro, or Australian, and in the infant gorilla, but with its growth the latter acquires a facial angle which is smaller than that of any human cranium.—Ethnographic observations on the cerebral function, by M. Fauvelle.—On a case of an hermaphrodite, by M. A. de Mortillet.—Notes on the post-mortem appearances of an imbecile, by MM. Doutrebente and Manouvrier.—Report, by M. Letourneau, on the Godard Prize Essay of M. de la Calle (1885) on the earliest attempt at speech in infants. M. de la Calle attempts to draw a parallel between the first enunciation of the vowel-sounds a, e, o by infants, and the monosyllabic character of certain languages belonging to various peoples of the far east of Asia, which have scarcely yet entered upon the more advanced stage of lingual agglutination.
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Scientific Serials . Nature 34, 20 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/034020a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/034020a0