INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1875. clxi 



We have also received the report of the Museum at Co- 

 penhagen, by Waldemar Schmidt, containing, among other 

 matters, an illustrated account of some Porto Rico stone im- 

 plements. 



A new pile-dwelling was lately discovered at the Swiss 

 hamlet of Vingelz, not far from Biel, where, at a depth of 

 only about three or four feet below the surface, a platform 

 was found resting upon piles, and composed of beams nearly 

 a foot thick. 



The most interesting prehistoric Swiss discovery is that 

 of Dr. Scheuermann, of Basle, who called the attention of 

 Professor Rutimeyer to the fact that, while observing the im- 

 pression of plants in the lignite (Schieferkohle), he noticed a 

 number of pointed sticks resembling in appearance the sur- 

 rounding coal. These Professor Rutimeyer thought to be 

 of the species Abies excelsa, and certainly showing evidence 

 of human workmanship. He moreover regarded them as 

 contemporaneous with the coal. This coal is not only over- 

 laid with glacial drift, but at least in some places (Metzikon, 

 etc.) its substratum is of an erratic nature. If the Profess- 

 or's conclusions are correct, we have here evidences of hu- 

 man work contemporaneous with Elephas antiqiius, Rhinoc- 

 eros murkily cave bear, and aurochs in an interglacial period. 



The annual meeting of the German Anthropological So- 

 ciety was held at Munich from the 9th to the 11th of Au- 

 gust. The most flattering reports were received with ref- 

 erence to the prehistoric charts of Germany, which when fin- 

 ished will enable us to draw up for that country a scheme 

 of history similar to M. Mortillet's archseologic charts of 

 Gaul. Professor Schaafhausen presented a report upon the 

 expenses incurred in excavating at Klusenstein, the cave of 

 Honnethal, and Martin's cave near Letmath. Professor 

 Virchow spoke of some peculiar forms of skulls from the 

 islands of the Zuyder Zee, and of the exhaustive work of 

 J. Wilhelm Sprengel on the skulls of the Neanderthal type. 

 (Brunswick, Vieweg & Son, 1875.) 



In the report of the association for 1874 is a paper by 

 Herr Virchow on the areas of brachycephalic skulls in pre- 

 historic and historic times in Germany. Dr. Much, at 

 Munich, gave an account of archaeological researches in 

 1874 among the old German habitations and forts in Lower 



