632 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which mention is made of the result of ex- 

 cavations in " the Carpenteria." These ex- 

 cavations led to the discovery of a large 

 mass of human bones, domestic implements, 

 trinkets, and other objects, which were at 

 first supposed to be "prehistoric." The 

 ardor of the explorers was, however, much 

 dampened when they found among the 

 treasure-trove such modern articles as 

 glass beads and glass wine-bottles, and the 

 conclusion was inevitable that the curiosity- 

 seekers had simply struck " a big graveyard 

 of the native population, whom the mission- 

 ary padres found and taught here eighty or 

 one hundred years ago." A letter of in- 

 quiry having been addressed to Mr. Hubert 

 H. Bancroft, author of " The Native Races 

 of the Pacific States," that gentleman ex- 

 pressed in the following terms his opinion 

 of the supposed prehistoric character of the 

 Carpenteria "find:" 



" There is no evidence whatever in Cali- 

 fornia of a race older or more civilized than 

 that found by Europeans a cetitury or so 

 ago. In Mexico and Central America the 

 case is very diflFerent. There are a few ma- 

 terial remains in Northern Mexico, Arizona, 

 and New Mexico, but nothing, so far as I 

 have been able to discover, north of these 

 points." 



Rare Minerals in Colorado. Writing of 

 rare minerals found in Colorado, Mr. T. F. 

 Van Wagenen, in the Engineering and 

 Mining Journal, says that thallium, in- 

 dium, and cadmium, have lately been de- 

 tected in ores from that State. Of the 

 rarer metals there have been found in Colo- 

 rado, besides the three mentioned above, 

 nickel, cobalt, selenium, tellurium, uranium, 

 bismuth, molybdenum, and platinum, and 

 there is scarcely a doubt that columbium, 

 thorium, titanium, and vanadium, will be 

 recognized as soon as proper search is 

 made. A belt of tellureted veins is be- 

 lieved to traverse the entire State from 

 north to south. Two years ago, sylvanite 

 and altaite were found in San Juan County. 

 The principal locality for bismuth-ores is in 

 Geneva, where two mines are being worked 

 that carry a considerable quantity of schir- 

 merite. Sulphide and carbonate of bismuth 

 occur on Sugarloaf Mountain, Boulder Coun- 

 ty. Nuggets of native bismuth are common 



in the upper gulches of the Blue Valley ; the 

 same metal has been found also in the Ar- 

 kansas Valley. Nickel-ore, ranging from two 

 to five per cent., has been found in three 

 localities. Among the mineralogical curiosi- 

 ties of the tellurium belt may be mentioned 

 a telluride of mercury found in the Mountain 

 Lion mine. Native mercury and amalgams 

 of both gold and silver have also been found 

 at several points along this belt. 



The Vienna Scientific Club. In January, 

 1876, the project of founding a Scientific 

 Club in Vienna was considered at a meeting 

 of the Geographical Society of that city. It 

 was very favorably received by the members, 

 and measures were taken to carry it into 

 execution. Before many weeks the club was 

 organized, and suitable quarters provided 

 for it in the house occupied by the Austrian 

 Association of Engineers and Architects. 

 There the club finds ample accommodation 

 for the social gatherings of its members, as 

 also for its regular Thursday-evening meet- 

 ings for scientific discussion, and its more 

 public entertainments. In March, the num- 

 ber of members was nearly 700, and it was 

 steadily increasing. The yearly dues of 

 members of the club amount to only sixteen 

 florins less than eight dollars and there 

 is an entrance-fee of five florins. The club 

 has a growing library and reading-rooms, 

 with a very large number of periodicals, 

 scientific and literary, on file. If such clubs 

 as this, and equally inexpensive, were found- 

 ed in our large American cities, they would 

 afford a much-needed means of communica- 

 tion between workers in different branches 

 of science. Further, they would give some- 

 thing like organization to the body scientific, 

 and perhaps add weight to scientific opinion. 



Steel-Bronze Cannon. Uchatius's inven- 

 tion of "steel-bronze" cannon rests, says 

 Nature, on the observation that all metals 

 (lead and zinc excepted) gain an increase 

 of elasticity, after undergoing a continuous 

 weighting above their first limit of elastici- 

 ty. Later experiments by the inventor of 

 the steel-bronze cannon appear to show 

 that even homogeneous bronze is capable 

 of a great increase of its elasticity through 

 simple stretching without condensation. It 

 is only a stretching of the vnetals above 



