h says, in a letter to the _Journal of Commerce_, are allotted
to an elaborate report from an able committee, on Mr. Gratiolet's Memoir
concerning the cerebral protuberances and furrows of man and the
_Primates_, the first order of animals in the class Mammalia, which
include the Ape. The inequalities on the brain of man and most
of the mammifers were denominated by the celebrated Willis,
_gyri_,--_convolutiones_,--_plicae_; the French use the phrase--_plis
cerebraux_. The theories of Willis gave birth to the whole system of Dr.
Gall: the _plicae_ are found in the class of mammifers alone; they are
rarer and less marked in the lower than in the higher species of the
great family of monkeys and baboons. They have been regarded as
_indicia_ or exponents of more or less perfection in the organ of
intelligence, by their number, their projection, and their measure of
separation by the furrows. The Report puts these two questions--among
the numerous differences of the cerebral _plicae_, in number, disposition
and proportion. Is it possible to discriminate, in man, and among the
mammifers that have them, constant characters of particular types, of
families, genera, and even of species? 2d. Do some of those types
exclusively distinguish such or such a family, and are they more or less
marked or impaired, but still recognizable, according to the genera? The
Report adds--These questions are solved in the affirmative by the
results of Mr. Gratiolet's researches relatively to the great family of
_Apes_. The importance of these results for the zoologist and the
phrenologist is then signalized, and the insertion of the Memoir in the
volume of Transactions emphatically recommended. According to the
author, it is with the brain of the _Orang-Outang_ that the brain of man
has the most points of resemblance. The distinguishing points in regard
to all the Apes of the superior class are designated, and they
correspond to the physical indications which denote a higher
intellectual power.

* * * * *

Respecting the _African Exploring Expeditions_, Miss Overweg (daughter
of one of the travellers) and the Chevalier Bunson, have received in
London interesting letters, stating the continued success of the
adventurous scholars. Previous to the 6th of August Dr. Overweg had
safely joined his companion, Dr. Barth, at Kuka. The latter started on a
highly interesting excursion to the kingdom of Adamowa, while the forme