712 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



heart is a sign that the patient is destined 

 to a sudden death from the action of the 

 cause that produces the sound, nor is it al- 

 ways evidence of organic cardiac disease. 

 It is a grave symptom, but its importance 

 may be and often is exaggerated. It is 

 only probably produced by deformity in the 

 cardiac valves ; but anaemic, aortic, and, still 

 more, pulmonary murmurs, are now gener- 

 ally recognized. The late Dr. Latham care- 

 fully discriminated between grave and com- 

 paratively trivial injuries to the mitral- 

 valve curtains by endocarditis, and held 

 that there were three divisions of cases of 

 permanent unsoundness of the heart re- 

 maining after endocarditis : 1. Cases in 

 which, besides the permanent endocardial 

 murmur, there is no other symptom refer- 

 able to the heart ; 2. Cases in which, be- 

 sides the murmur, there is occasional pal- 

 pitation ; and, 3. Cases in which, besides 

 the murmur, there is constant palpitation. 

 The typical cases of the text-books, where 

 there is a series of morbid sequela? grad- 

 ually descending more or less swiftly, all 

 belong to the third division. Dr. Fothergill 

 has cases in his own practice of mitral mur- 

 murs which have existed for sixteen, four- 

 teen, twenty-seven, and thirty-eight years, 

 without developing any very alarming symp- 

 toms, and reports the death, between the 

 writing and publication of his article, of a 

 case of aortal regurgitation a rapidly fatal 

 form of disease which had not perceptibly 

 advanced during twenty-five years of ex- 

 cessive activity. lie also notices cases of 

 aortic obstruction of fourteen, sixteen, and 

 eleven years, of which the first only has as 

 yet died. In conclusion, he observes that 

 under proper treatment, by which the pros- 

 pects are profoundly affected, and with care, 

 a life of activity is practicable in many 

 cases, provided bodily exertion be avoided, 

 or exercised moderately. 



Recent German Archaeological Discov- 

 eries. Dr. MeTalis rend a paper before the 

 recent Congress of German Archaeologists 

 upon the human skeleton that has been found 

 at Kirchheim, on the Eek. The skeleton lay 

 in a north-and-south direction, with a pol- 

 ished stone hatchet on its breast, and around 

 it were quite handsomely adorned potteries 

 and broken bones of the musk-ox, aurochs, 



cow, dog, wild-boar, and sheep. The bones 

 indicated a man of middling vigor, the skull 

 approached in build the Engis and Niederin- 

 gelheim skulls, and was strongly dolichoceph- 

 alous, prognathous, and furnished with pow- 

 erful jaw-bones. Dr. Vater described an 

 interesting collection of objects which had 

 been found early in August in digging for 

 the foundations of a military building at 

 Spandau. While digging in the moor at 

 the entrance of the Havel into the Spree, 

 the workmen came upon a pile-dwelling in 

 which were bones of animals with a small, 

 roundish skull of a high type, and bronzes 

 in good condition : three swords, six celts, 

 a knife, five lance-points, a ball of sand- 

 stone, several bits of horn, a grinding-stonc, 

 and a canoe ten feet long dug out from an 

 oak-log. The metallic objects are much 

 rusted, and of a northern type in form. 

 The swords are distinguished by their typ- 

 ically short hilts. Dr. Gross exhibited a 

 number of articles that he had dug from 

 the mud of the Bieler Lake at Corcelette, 

 among which were bronzes which had evi- 

 dently been made on the spot, armlets, 

 finger-rings, buttons, celts, molds for cast- 

 ing, a l'ude copper axe, horn lance-points, 

 and a veritable lump of tin. Some of the 

 earthen vessels represent pleasing types re- 

 calling Grecian patterns ; others, dishes, 

 have been painted in yellow, red, and white 

 designs, and others bear a wave-ornament 

 that appears to have been laid on with tin, 

 in the same way that many of the lower 

 Italian vials are adorned with stripes of 

 gold. The latest excavations of Gross show 

 that wood, horn, clay, iron, copper, tin, 

 bronze, and amber, were used as materials, 

 while gold and silver were still wanting. 

 The marks of the use of the wheel in mak- 

 ing the potteries indicate that a tolerably 

 high state of civilization had been reached 

 at this period, which, by all the evidence, 

 must be fixed at a time beiore the Romans. 



Prevention of Damp in Buildings. M. 



G. Phillippe, civil engineer of Rouen, France, 

 has considered the subject of damp in build- 

 ings, in papers that are reviewed in " Van 

 Nostrand's Engineering Magazine." Damp 

 is caused in buildings by the presence of 

 water in the atmosphere and the soil, com- 

 bined with the porosity of building mate- 



