328 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



gested applications of similar objects dug up in various parts 

 of the world. 



DISCOVERY OF A HUMAN BONE IN A CAVE IN YORKSHIRE. 



The discovery of a human fibula bone in the remains of 

 the Victoria Cave, near Settle, in Yorkshire, is justly consid- 

 ered as a very important scientific fact, as there seems to be 

 no doubt of its human origin, or that it is of the same age as 

 the molars of Eleplias antiquus and the bones of the hyena, 

 with which they are associated. Mr. Tiddeman maintains 

 that it was deposited in preglacial times, before the great ice 

 sheet overspread the country. 15 A, September 5, 1874, 317. 



ETHNOLOGICAL INQUIRIES BY THE GERMAN TRANSIT EXPEDI- 

 TION. 



As might have been expected, nearly all the European ex- 

 peditions for the observation of the transit of Venus have 

 received instructions to make collections and observations in 

 other branches of science than that of astronomy; and the 

 Germans being especially interested in the subject of ethnol- 

 ogy, very elaborate instructions for observation have been 

 prepared by Professor Virchow. In these attention is par- 

 ticularly invited to the investigation of prehistoric remains 

 among the Polynesian and Melanesian Islands, and in regard 

 to the distribution of domestic animals therein, the determi- 

 nation of the boundaries between the Negritos, the Papuas, 

 and the Australians, as also any mixture with them of the 

 Malays. Inquiries are to be made as to the distribution of 

 sundry peculiarities in the arts, such as that of manufacturing 

 vessels of clay, and the extent of the use of certain arms. 

 Particular attention is called likewise to the articles of food, 

 and the degree to which animal substances enter as nutri- 

 ment; also where salt is dispensed with, and the amount of 

 use of human flesh as compared with other materials. 30 C, 

 July, 1874, 56. 



FOOTPRINTS IN SOLID ROCK. 



Considerable interest has been excited from time to time 

 by announcements of the discovery of supposed human foot- 

 marks in the solid rock; the latest being an account in the 

 Nashville Union, of August 2, of their occurrence at the nar- 



