Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/24

 SCIENCE.

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��Miiuh bofi been nriliEii uiid piiblislieil alioiit tUi« natural bridge, since llie uppeamnce, a ceutury agu, of a descriptioti of il in the 'Travels of the Marquis (le Chasielhix In North America In 1780-82;' but lliere appears lo be a lack of a coiuplele description of the bridge and iti surrouudinss. wlilcii is readily available, and n'hich would prove of <>pe<'ial value to Ihe topu^raplier and the geologist.

��HEREDITARY INTELLECT AND THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF TALENTS.

Thf.rk is Imiflly anv subject mote faauiiiat- ing to meti of intellectual pursuits tli.-ui that of biogrsphy. Within the lust few years we may itlmost assert that the foundatiotts liave been laid for a science of comparative biog- raphy which promises to be uot only interest- ing as a branch of inquiry, but of practical importance to all who are engaged in the edu- cation of youth and the ndrancement of science. The writings of Calton, Itibot, James, and others, have shed a great deal of light upon the influences which lend lo produoe intetleoUinl distinction: und, if investigations of this kind are far from being so comprehensive or so exact as would be desirable, tbey are, to say the least, suggestive and slimulating. To books of this olass belongs the trealise which is named above. The ^'olnme is worthy of a much more ex- tended and critical review than we can now give ; but. having i-eceive<l an early copy of it, we bring it at once to the attention of our readers.

Eleven years ago Alphonsc de C^andoUe, the celebrated botanist, who suceoeded to the chair of his renowned father in the Academy at Geneva, and lo the place of a foreign member of the French institute made vacant by the death of Agasstz, published a history of the modern sciences and of scientiSc men during the lost two centuries. The work has long been out of print. Its venerable .-iiithor. more than seventy-eiglit years old, lias now issued a revised edition of this work, enlarged by more than a hundred pages of new material. Some portions of the original edition (par- ticularly a defence of Darwin's theory of natu- ral selection, which seemed to the author no longer called for) have been omitte<1, and in place thereof some new researches in respect to here<lity in the human species have been introduced. By whathe calls iiis new method.

��the author endeavors to distinguish in the fiicts of birth those which come from heredity, and those which are for the first time manifested in a family, and which inaj' be considered as individual variations. These oharacteristics, and those developed aftei- biith by exterior inSueiic-es, determine the adaptation of the individual to the circumstances in which he is found ; that is, to his environment.

De CandoUe has now curried Iiia inquiry beyond the ranks of those who are commonly called scientific men, — the students of mathe- matical and natural sciences. — and has made a study of those who are devoted to moral and social sciences.

It is not generally known how well he is fit- ted for both these lines of investigation. His career has been that of a botanist, but he began life hy the study of law ; twice he has been a member of constitutional conventions, and repeatedly of legislative bodies.. We neert say no more to assure the reader that this ueir etlition of bis history is fresh, suggestive, and instrnctivc. If all its reasonings are uot ac- cepted, the student of comparative psychology must be grateful foi^ the light which it shf^ upon one of the most difficult, interesting, and important inquiries which can be made in re- spect to the intellect of man.

His new method, as be terms it, is this. — to select, without any preconceived notions, a certain number of iudividuals whose personal characteristics can be ascertained, and those of their parents and grandparents. The characteristics to be noticetl are these : 1°, ex- terior physique ; 2°, internal organs, so far as they can be judged without autopsy: .t". in- stincts or native disposition ; and, 4°, intellec- tual faculties. Having collected the facts, the iuQuence of heredity can be approximately as- certained. The author first thought of study- ing the family of some sovereign, — Ixiuifl XIV., Frederick the Great, or some one else of whose ancestry there are abundant records ; but he finally determined to study his own family. Being seventy-eight years old, he playfully says that he knows himself quite well. Of his parents and grandparents, all of whoiQ lived to be more than sixty years old. he has a good recollection, supplemented by letters, memoirs, and portraits. He then noted in his subject ' A ' sixty-four characteristics, of which he found sixty-three in one or both his parents. He extended his observation to thirty other individuals belonging to sixteen families ; and in the entire group of thirty -one persons- bo was able lo enumerate 1 ,0:!'2 characteristics of whioii he was able to stale their presence or

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