Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/535

 June 19, 188fi.]

��storage-reservoir iulo the city. One of them, at the head of the aqueduct, near Crotondaio, is to be of unuBUftl size, and is to be cod- stnicted to sup|X)rt a maximum presBure of (15 feet of water.

The aqueduct from Croton dam to Ilarlem River is now under contract to the amoimt of 811,900,000. The rest of the worlt is to be commenced Bhortlj, A. Fteley, CE.

��Ik referring to the application <>[ composite pho- togvapiiy to craniological Btudiea, Dr. BlllinE;9 lie- scrilted the methoda employed at the arm; medical muieum in the prejiara- tion of sucb composites. They are made directly from the skulls, and not hy com- bining separate pictures of individual crania. The skulls are adjusted In suc- cession on the objecl-fitand, itj such a manner that the horizontal datum-plane adopted by German cranjologisls. and the Bubnasa! and maximuDi occipilal points (or the supra-auricular points in prollle exposures), sliali coincide; llils being effected by movable frames on which are siretdied a series of vertical and horizonliil threads. It is very de- sirable that some unifonn scale for the preparation ttt such photographs ehould be agreed upon by crantologists before the preparation of extended aeriea Ib undertaken, and one-halt of the natural lize is suggested for tbis purpose.

These composite photographi should be studied in connection with the meas- urements of the crania included in theni. It Is a rapid and convenient means of obtaining graphic representations of a «erle«of irregular objects, — representa- tions which shall indicate not only the mean, but also, as for as potsible, the maxima, of variations.

Wbile something has been done in ibe study of the internal coiiGguration of the cranial cavity, and more especially of the various fostae and projections at Ita base, wllb reference lo their differ- ence in various races, thia Qeld of In- iiulry la as yet comparatively unworked; and Dr. Billings thinks it very deslraliU' to follow out thla special line of investl' gatioii ill connection with the large and valuable collection of crania of Ameri- " *" t

IS which now exists In the army museum and In the national

To do this, however, it la neceaiary that

> Abulnclofa paper mill lo llie NuIdmJ aaJcmy of idiitKH by Dr. WasHlJluTiiJl HitTUSWj, U.S.A. l-TMBnUBl, with

��sections should be made of (he skulla; and, before making sucb sections, it is desirable that all measura- menta, and especially the mensurementa of cubic ca- pacity of these crania, should be made according to the best and most approved methods, and the results carefully recorded.

From the results of preliminary experiments upon the metlioda in u^e for measuring the cubic capacity of crania. Dr. Billings became disnatisSed with their accuracy, and accordingly requested Dr. W. Matthews to undertake a aeries of esperlmpnls for the purpose of obtaining, if pnasible, some more accurate and re- liable method of ascertainlni; the cubic capacity. The following is anabstract of therepurtofDr. Matdiews, giving the results of hla observal ions and eiperimpnl"

���medical

��Fllllierto anlhropologists have chiefly employed !oiid particles, sucb a* shut or seeda, in the cubalure of Bkulls. Water baa been tried by former experi- menters wlcbout succeas. Dr. Toplnard, in lifs ' Alt-

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