Evening star., 1897-01-02

TFwlIW the weight of the
body at large. Ii
| should be said that Professor weber's
researches are the most extensive that
have ever been made on the subject.
and they correspondingly emphasize the
value of his conclusions. He finds that in
absolute brain weights man is surpassed
only by the elephants and whales; but
In relative weight. e., in the ratio of
brain weight to body weight-he is sur
passed 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 a COM
parison Of the smaller and larger quadru-
peds, that the brain weight does not in
crease in proportion to the body weight;
on the contrary. it may be accepted as
general rule, that within any natural Or
der 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 supplement to Prof. weber's re-
searches, 1t should be said that no abso-
Lutte relationship has yet been determined
to exist between the size of the brain and
mental capacity, the latter being largely
or even principally, dependent upon the
quality OF the brain material but, In a
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 it.
In tracing the evolution of certain life
forms-the mammals, for example, 1t is
interesting to note how comparatively
small were the brains of the fish appearing
species, and how steadily they advanced
In size with the progress of time. In some
of the Eocene Dinoscerata, for example.
animals which nearly equaled the elephant
in size, the brain was so small that IT
could have been passed through the neural
hos of fhn Inv, ,1,a,. nlN,-al
In the giant Jurassic reptile Brontosaurus,
which measured probably fifty feet IN
length, the entire weight of the skull does
not appear to have exceeded that of the
fourth vertebra Of the neck.
Mediterranean Sea Level.
Two peculiarities have for many years
been assumed for the Mediterranean basin;
that 1t was practically deficient in tide,
and that its surface was depressed a meter
or more below that of the Atlantic ocean.
The first suppositior has had seemingly
only careless or imperfect observation for
its basis as it is now we'll known that the
tidal oscillations of the water consid-
cradle and well marked at many localities.
The assumed depression of the water level
was seemingly grounded on accurate meas
urements, made at different times, and
confirmed by Bourdaloue who in 1850
was charged by the French government to
carry a series of levels through France for
the purpose of establishing datum lines in
the interior directly referable to the mean
level OF the sea at Marselles.
A confirmation Of the difference of levels
was thought to be found in the steady in
flow of surface water through the Straits
OF Gibraltar, condition that is well known
to be antagonized by the counter currents
which are found at no great depth beneath
the surface. The cause Of this low-lying
level. as compared with the level of the At
lantic ocean, was considered te be the ex-
cess of evaporation over precipitation and
iLf1ows due to uniformly dry and hot
climate and the passage across the basin
of water-a bsorbing winds coming from the
superheated African desert.
Through the use Of instruments of a high
er degree of precision than had formerly
been employed. especially the medimare-
meter, differential registering contrivance
devised by NJ. Lallemand, the present head
of the "leveling commission Of France-it
his recently been determined that the diff
ference In level which has so generally been
accepted and long figured as teaching of
all text books OF geography, does not, in
fact, exist. In other words, the Mediter-
ranean sea holds the same level as the At
lanttc ocean: furthermore. the concurrent
results of observations made at different
parts of the littoral Europe and Africa as
on the Danish, italian and African coasts
would seem to indicate that an absolutely
(or very nearly that uniform level is main
tanned over nearly all parts of the Euro
pean seas.
Who Invented the Alphabet
mig III tic 1SldIu Ol STele, Wnere
he has made series of discoveries which
have shed new light on the origin of Euro
pean civilization, Arthur ]. Evans, the en-
inent English archaeologist, has discovered
fragments of an inscription which carries
back the discovery of writing for centuries
beyond the date hitherto assigned. Not
merely this, but the home of the invention
commonly awarded to the ingenious Phoen-
icfans. is transferred to another race the
mysterious and prehistoric Mycenaeans,
whose remains now constitute the most in
teresting problem Of antiquity.
A year ago at the Oxford meeting of the
British Association. Evans demonstrated
the existence Of prehistoric Cretan script,
evolved by gradual simplification and Sc
lection from an earlier picture writing
akin to that of Egypt and Babylon. This
script Is first found in associa tion with the
curious seals and scarabs which the an
clients were fond of carving and which
have themselves served to trace the ad-
vancement Of art and proximately the his
tory of these early people Succeeding this
primitive script came another more con-
ventionalized and often linear, revealing
the progress made in the art
In his last exploring tour however Evans
brought to light an inscribed historic relic
far SURPRISING these in interest and i'm
portance. 1t consists of fragmen of what
may be described a steatite or scapstone
table of offerings to Zeus, bearing part of
letters, with two punctuation marks an
swerirg to the same early Cretan script
found In the seals. 1t was found in the
lowest level Of Mycenaen stratum, contain
ing numerous native objects, in the great
cave of Mt. Dikta, which, according to the
Greek legend, was the birthplace of Zeus
An Early Record.
This early script precedes, by centuries,
the most ancient records Of Phoenican
writing. and supplies very close analogies
to what may be supposed to have been the
pictorial prototypes of several of the Phoe-
nician characters. It stands, on the other
hand. in direct relation to the syllable char
acters used at later date by the Greeks
In Cyprus About half the characters used
by the Cretans are believed to be repre-
sented in the fragment and, il this he
true, the Phoenicians. who borrowed this
alphabet. added but little to it, since their
own contained but sixteen characters
In the succeeding improvement, through
Homeric times, the number was increased
with some changes and the addition OF
signs for the vowels, so that the alphabot
of classical Greece emerges with twenty
two to twenty-four characters Substantial
ly that which is l sed by the European race
today. 1t is now altogether proba Bile thai
other relics will be found, showing the Cre
tan script in its entirety. though the great
step in the history Of the art of writing i'm.
piled In the evolution Of symbols Of pho.