cxxxiv GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



The Longmans have published, a translation of Merk's work on 

 the excavation at Kesserloch, near Thayngen, Switzerland, which 

 will place this valuable treatise within the reach of English readers. 

 Some doubt is thrown upon these relics by P. Lindenschmidt {ArcMv, 

 IX., 173). The discovery of sharpened sticks in an interglacial coal- 

 stratum of Switzerland, noticed in the last Becoixi, is reviewed by 

 Professor Steenstrup in Archiv, under the question whether we have 

 here veritable traces of man, or only the w^ork of beavers. The 

 learned archaeologist accompanies his discussion with numerous il- 

 lustrations, and adduces several instances of sticks in the Danish 

 peat which were thus sharpened. The question what the lacustrians 

 did. with their dead has been partly answered by the discovery of 

 one of their tombs on Lake Neuchatel, between Auvernier and Co- 

 lombier. The slab graves very much resembled those found in the 

 mounds of Tennessee. 



In Materiaux, No. 12, 1875, is an article by E. Riviere upon the 

 quaternary fauna of the caverns of Baousse-Rouss, in Italy, called 

 the grottoes of Mentone. Rev. A. H. Sayce reviews in Academy^ Jan. 

 29th, Corssen's great work on the Etruscan language. He considers 

 it a failure, " but of such a useful kind that, if Corssen has failed to 

 show that Etruscan is an Italic diet, the question, so far, may be con- 

 sidered as settled, for where Corssen has not succeeded, no one else 

 will." Signor Alessandro Castellani read an instructive paper before 

 the American Association upon Etruscan and Greek art in jewelry, 

 and its revival. Count Gozzadini published at Boulogne, 1875, a 

 beautifully illustrated quarto, entitled "De quelque mors de cheval 

 italiques et de T^p^e de Ronzano en bronze." In the Comptes-Rendus 

 de I'Academie des Sciences, etc., de Boulogne, 1875, Signor J. Capel- 

 lini treats of the Pliocene man in Tuscany. The argument rests, 

 however, upon gashes in the bones of Balasnotus and other water 

 animals. To this P. C. de Fondouce replies {Materiaux^ No. 5) that 

 these gashes are often made in conflicts between individuals of living 

 species. The most important archaeological discoveries in Italy are 

 those which have been made in the excavations at Rome. 



Mr. Percy Gardner read a paper before the Royal Society of Liter- 

 ature, April 19th, on "Greek River "Worship." The subject of glass 

 manufacture among the ancient Greeks is discussed by X. Landerer 

 in Gaea^ 1876, p. 511. The objects are found mainly in the graves of 

 women, and consist principally of long-necked vases, some of which 

 contain toilet waters. Schliemann, in his researches at Mycenae, 

 claims to have found the tomb of Agamemnon, containing immense 

 treasures. 



Africa. In the Revue d'Anthropologie, No. 3, for this year, is a pa- 

 per by M. Tissot upon the mcgalithic monuments and the blonde 

 people of Northern Africa. The article is followed by a learned dis- 



