8o THE POPULAR SCIEXCE MONTHLY. 



able that persons noted for manifestations of motiveless malice are 

 often reputed to be incipiently insane. 



All forms of envy are magnified by the instant prominence which 

 they occupy in thought. In an orchestra of ten instruments the har- 

 mony of nine may be overpowered by one that persists in playing out 

 of tune. The presence of envy and malice in one person may cause 

 us to lose sight of its absence in ninety-nine. We may therefore con- 

 clude that cynicism, which is the perception of the dark side of every- 

 thing, can never become a great destructive force, because it can not 

 accumulate power. It must ever remain a standing threat, a stimulus 

 to right thinking. The higher forms of power in men are positive 

 and not passive. Superstition and the darkness of cynicism must be 

 swept away by the evolution of intelligence. 



-- 



SOME PEEHISTOEIC VESSELS. 



A VERY remarkable archaeological discovery has recently attracted 

 the attention of the scientific world in Scandinavia, and has be- 

 come a matter of popular concern in Norway, where every one is in- 

 terested in the ancient and glorious national traditions. The baths of 

 Sandefiord are situated in the southwestern part of the fiord of Chris- 

 tiania. The road from that place to the ancient city of Tansberg 

 passes near the village of Gogstad, not far from which is a tumulus 

 or funeral-mound, which has been long known in the local traditions 

 under the name of Kangshaug, or the Mound of the King. This heap, 

 which is nearly fifty metres, or more than one hundred and sixty feet, 

 in diameter, rises in a gentle slope from the level of the plains and 

 meadows which extend from the fiord to the foot of the mountains, 

 and is covered with a verdant sod. According to the legend, a pow- 

 erful king had chosen the spot as the place where he should finally 

 rest, surrounded by his horses and his hunting-dogs ; and his most 

 precious treasures had been buried near his body. Superstition and 

 the fear of avenging spirits had for centuries prevented every kind of 

 examination of the tomb, but the investigating zeal of our age vent- 

 ured to penetrate the mystery. Excavations were made, and brought 

 forth the discovery of an entire viking's war-vessel, and the grave of 

 the unknown chief by its side. 



The sons of the peasant on whose land the tumulus was situated 

 began to dig into it in January and February, 1880 ; they turned 

 away a spring which they found in digging, and soon afterward met 

 with building-timbers. AVisely, they suspended their labors to bring 

 them to the attention of the society at Christiania for the preservation 

 of ancient monuments. This society took charge of the subsequent 



