328 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



dence has already been obtained to prove that the caves were 

 very extensively used by an early race of men, but the race 

 to which the remains should be referred is not yet determined. 

 In his investigations in the vicinity of a group of mounds in 

 Monroe County, Kentucky, Mr. Putnam was also quite fortu- 

 nate in finding a peculiar mode of burial that has not before 

 been noticed, inasmuch as the bodies, in one case ten in 

 number, were buried in a circular grave, made by placing 

 erect slabs of limestone around a floor laid with thin stones. 

 The bodies had all been placed in the grave at the same 

 time, and evidently in a sitting posture, with their backs 

 against the slabs. The skulls show a race remarkable for 

 the shortness of their heads, and in one case at least exhibit- 

 ed a posterior flattening. The bones of the skeletons were 

 quite thick and massive, and the shin-bones were remarkably 

 flat. 



EFFICIENCY OF ANCIENT WEAPONS. 



An interesting experiment was recently made by the di- 

 rectors of the St. Germain Museum, in Paris. Certain imple- 

 ments of war, constructed from designs on Trajan's column, 

 were tested, and it was found that the catapult threw arrows 

 to a distance of 300 yards, and hit a mark regularly each 

 time up to 180 yards. The same can be said of the onagea, 

 which sent stones of one and a half pounds to a distance of 

 180 yards with astonishing precision. The initial velocity 

 with which the stones were sent was calculated to be more 

 than sixty yards per second. 12 A, X., 273. 



THE SACRED FIRES OF THE PUEBLO INDIANS OF TAOS. 



The American Sjiortsman of October 17 gives an interest- 

 ing account of a visit to the Pueblo Indians of Taos, wherein 

 the author describes one of their council chambers, or " estu- 

 fas," as follows : " We were very curious to enter their coun- 

 cil chambers, in' which the same fire is kept constantly burn- 

 ing for Montezuma; but it was only after a great deal of 

 persuasion, backed up by a promise of ' cuatros reales,' that 

 the * Capitas de la Guerra' consented to show us the one be- 

 longing to him by virtue of his office. We descended by a 

 long ladder to the chamber, which is underground, and found 

 ourselves in a bee-hive-shaped room with an arched ceiling. 



