The sun., 1901-03-17
SCIENCE.
THE spxo,AL SENSES op sAvAoEs.

SCIENCE.
THE SPECIAL SENSES OP sAvAor.
DR.. Rivers accompanied an English expe-
dition to New Guinea. and In addition to other
duties undertook Investigation ons on the specisi
senses Of the natives. who are pure savages'
Their sharpness OF sight Is superior TO that
Of Europeans. although not so superior as
often imagined. The habit Of observation
and the corresponding faculty of memory
are specially well developed. naturally. They
have little or no sense of visual beauty. but
remember accurately details OF dress de-
meanor. &c. that they observe. II one may
Judge by their vocabulary their di-c!imina-
ton OF colors is not we'll developed In
south Queensland the natives have only
three word 10 distinguish different colors
In kiwai Island there u no word TO separate
blue from black he'd appears 10 be the
color most readily marked. the violet colors
are the least so. In Torres straits blue aud
green have the same name. y heir hearing
il not superior. and their sense Of smell is
inferior to that of Europeans. Their tactile
sensihility and their sense oi weight l., on
the other hand. superior. The latter Tact
is somewhat singular. considering that they
have no abstract dea OF weight. nor any
word TO describe it,
SOLAR RADIATION AID HARrH TEMPERATURES
A. a ame"tinc OF the Roval Society ~ Lor Ion
ON Jan 81. Dr Knot, rcud papsr on solar
radiation and earth Temperatures IN which
co,nparisor was made batvoen two sets of
data. one being Prof Langley'- well.known
and generally accepted determination Of
the solar constaut the other ueing the eN-
,'ln'h''' SUI o' '',nprI "'n'e go
,.rra,e,, So, hv tho Austrian shin Pola
These ohse va,iors indicate marked urnal
variations Of temDeroture in a stratum Of
surface vo,nr nr,y ,,n,rcs IN ,b'ckncss II
il dins,-,lt to crcdii direct sIar radiation
with I'm, rower to nen.trate 50 dccnlv The
diNr,lty ia greatly increased when a sinrle
CalC,lla,i. N shows thai Ito afternoon ,rrrpasr
o, temperature implies an nccun,,,lation or
, 90, unite Of heat over each square canti-
metre of surfac, during eirh, hours Of sun
chine For. with Iaugl.y's yuluo Of the
solar constant. 1t fol .ows that the whole solar
cnersy would not account for more than
so units This soriou- discrepancy deserves
notice. IA T. must DO cleared M 1h" pula
ohsery ltions aprear 10 be Trustworthy
'N''"D''''' ~ i"' '|ANf f''''
,,, r.. l. ,,,,all, ~, ..,,,.,t,,,,i. 49,.
n.r,od rcipr .loyt pnd ~ 2 ar,cvp, oi y,rr,-
lion one stellar r,agrirud.. II is likely that
"a. variation d,.rauds uppr t,, rntnt.ou
reriod of INF. small r,arer. and ~ will. no
doubt. h.. c,pplc'a'y -r.irri IN the.
courso Of Tho obsery8iio,. for fl,, dcrarminr-
lion of IFS ror,'l,y NOW in. ,rog,...
MA"\tII' - Ntf or THE 'NlItp STATES
The nljed States Coast and Geodcric
Survey ha- Organized sge,Iai bureau
charged with Il magnetic survev Of ne whole
country, iuc,HdInA Alaska. the Hawaiian
Islands and Porto Rico. some i've hGnd'sd
stations have h.cu slreadN o,ruIicd and the
magnetic elements dec;rotion. dip aud
intensity have been determined. Other
special stations have been established ~
which these observations win he repeated
from time to time in order to determine the
secular variations Of the elements. Mag
netic oh-ervntorles Of a permanent character
will b- established at theltenham. Nd, Sitka
and Honolulu. new edition Of tables and
charts Of magnetic elements I. in course of
preparation. and the whole field of a mag
netic survey will he covered within reason
ably short period.
,,,,.,,. ,,,.,,,
MI 'iaSton OF 'he biue hul 'bscrN"'olN
haS made n"'ah'r us" oi the METEOROLOGICAL
oh-erNh'l"hS I1h'h dhrihg u" lo'aI ecl'nse
"i MAY -N''"' ihe dh'I derived IRON 'hr
SPecla' e'HpNe "o-'''H''"h~ "'T" pNIeh
on maps "l 'He H''' N''''N '"' "hrr"'H
~ MtiA |t
"Ihu7 "er' P Pt'"''H' I'N'I-'u ~ ".I''''h
Hs 'he Hhhra "' '"' 'hhd'" p"'>"d trom one
S'd" OF me continent Wv 'h' o'h"r' b"ih
maps shO" "@'h' "h'i'I"'h'' "r'nh-
tloh ana an ou'ho" "f AR extending more
man 1il""h huhar"d nhies IRON IN" shadow
Tie temperature d"r'">S'"n ares an" 10 the
"chp-" IaS- b'h'hu IN" umb'n som" Nv" hum
dr"d miles VI Ns central portion IN" lem-
pera'Gfe depression wass deai"r' fahr.
,,,,.i,,,,. d,rir., .. .,l,,.g, ~, .l.,,.a,,,,
,,.,.,tia, ~, ,ro l,,,;lI,, ,..a.. ..,,', ,,,
similar 80 those for tho tcmpeiaiuIa. The
pressure changes in thls eclipse Hs IA others.
show Il central area Of Ipmr,vn!.. nigh pre-
sure surrD.utnd by rins of uinImum
pressure which j., IN 10. .Hrn. surrounded
by ring " maynuunl pressure
All these effects proclaim Tho develop
menr Of ,old-air cyclone Nature nm,
here performed an experiment lr which all
the causes thai ,onlplicatc the origin Of an