The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-03
Brain Weight of Man and ouadru-
peds Compared.

peds Compared.
In a paper, preliminary Studies
Upon the Brain Weight of Mann
mails" Professor Max Weber of Am
sterdam gives some very interesting
facts regarding the absolute weight
of the brain in different animals,
and the relation which the weight of
the brain holds to the weight Of the
body at large. It should be said that
Professor Weber's researches are the
most extensive that have ever been
made on the subject, and they CORE
spondingly emphasize the value OF
his conclusions. He finds that in alb
solute brain weight man is surpassed
only by the elephants and whales;
but in relative weight, i. e, in the
ratio of brain weight to body weight
he Is surpassed by the squirrels
and mice. and by many forms of both
old world and new world monkeys.
1t is found. too, as the result of
comparison of the smaller and larger
quadrupeds, that the brain weight
does not increase in proportion to the
body weight; on the contrary, 1t
may be accepted as a general rule
that within am natural order Of
mammals the brain weight dimin-
ishes as the body weight increases.
In other words. within any special
group the smaller the animal the
larger, as a rule, is the brain.
AS a supplement to Professor Weber's
researches, it should be said that no
absolute relationship has vet been
determined to exist between the size
of the brain and mental capacity. the
latter being largely, or even princi-
pally. dependent upon the quality OF
the brain material: but, in general
way, it may be admitted that the
larger the brain in proportion to the
body the greater will be the amount
of brain force generated by II. In
tracing the evolution of certain life
forms-the mammals, for example, 1t
is interesting TO note how compare
lively small were the brains of the
first appearing species, and how
steadily they advanced in size with
the progress of time. In some of the
Eocene Dinoscretia, for example,
animals which nearly equaled the ele-
plant in size. the brain was so small
that it could have been passed through
the neural arches of the lum bar or
sacral vertebral. In the giant Jurassic
reptile BrOntosauriS which measured
probably so feet in length, the entire
weight of the skull does not appear to
have exceeded that of the fourth YER
zebra OF the neck.
Remarkable Long Period Weather
Forecasts OF lnd1a.
1t viii seem astonishing to Ameri-
cans, who are reasonably surprised
if the daily weather bulletins come
out right once in six, that in some
parts of the earth accurate weather
forecasts for a whole season. and
even for six months, are regularly
made uD. Yet this is what is now
being done in India, and it is prob
able that the remarkable work which
the METEOROLOGICAL bureau of that
country is doing will result in almost
a revolution in the science of weather
predicting. 1t is true that India pos
sesses certain exceptional features,
alike with all tropical countries, which
enable her forecasters to deal with
the weather in broad masses and for
long periods instead OF by the hour
or the day, as is chiefly the case with
our own weather sharps- But this
does not lessen the value of midas
achievement, which is, briefly, that
her meteorologists undertake to
make up forecasts before the changes
looked for have actually begun.
This is science that is worth some
thing. In the United States, for ex-
ample, weather prediction is little
more than a parallel TO a telegrapher
receiving news OF the approach of a
train and announcing the probable
hour Of its arrival. Sometimes the
weather bureau is able to bulletin
broad changes several days in ad-
vance; very often the changes pre-
dicted have taken place before you
have had time to read your morning
paper. The Indian weather bureau |
has now been brought to such a Ditch |
of development that ii now gives out !
forecasts as to the rainfall. drOuths |
prevalence of the winds and the like |
for an ensuing six months; and these
forecasts have proven of inestimable !
value to the farmers and cultivat- |
ors OF the country. The predictions |
cover an area equal to about half the |
United States and are made ND twice |
year. They depend for the larger |
part on the great monsoons. or tropi- |
cal winds. which sweep India in re- |
markedly regular periods. Finding |
out all that il is possible to find out |
as TO the probable strength, tempera- /
lure and continuance of the mon |
soons, the Indian weather sharp has
a key that opens the future to his |
view-at least for a season. This is |
not light work. however, and the !
makeup of the forecasts REQUIRES a |
week of heavy labor after every map
and scrap of datum is on the table |
This work is done at the head office I
at Simla. whence reports from all |
the sub-stations are sent by tele- |
graph. AT first il was believed that |
10 observations were needed outside |
of India itself, but now almost all of the
principal data are gathered from the
outside. The area of observation
has been gradually extended as far as
Mauritius and Seychelles. The
government recently sanctioning the
establishment of fresh stations in
Arabia, and a cable from SEYCHELLES,
and the continuance of the preparation /
OF the Indian ocean monsoOnal charts,
which trace the origin of the great |
winds from south of the equator. It
VIII thus be seen that this country has
not even an equipment comparable to
that of India, while apparently the In
dian bureau has been equipped with
men of the highest scientific training
and intelligence. The long period fore
casts, begun under the late Mr. Blan-
ford, and carried on by his successor.
Eliot, are based upon theories from
broad sequences, whose rational causes |
are as yet but little understood From
a careful study of the monsoon charts |
and of the barometTic conditions of the |
regions it has been found !
that the northward advance of the sun |
and the establishment of a thermal |
focus over India gives rise to horizon
tai window nOrthwards, which causes
the bursting of the summer monsoon !
about the first week in June. This
in the currents seems |
affected also by the seasonal enlarge
,aent of the south polar cyclone, so that
il is TO the South Indian oceanic area
that the attention OF the foreca sterS is