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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



but the corner of a box similarly construct- 

 ed, in which we found about three pints 

 of wheat-kernels, most of which dissolved 

 when brought in contact with the light and 

 air. A few of the kernels found in the cen- 

 tre of the heap looked bright, and retained 

 their freshness on >>ing exposed. These 

 were carefully presened, and last spring 

 planted and grew nicely, though the field-in- 

 sects seemed determined to devour it. We 

 raised four and a half pounds of heads from 

 these few grains. The wheat is unlike any 

 other raised in this country, and produces 

 a large yield. It is of the club variety 

 the heads are very long, and hold very 

 large grains. . . . We find houses in all the 

 mounds," he continues, " the rooms of which 

 are as perfect as the day they were built. 

 All the apartments are nicely plastered, 

 some in white, others in a red color ; crock- 

 ery-ware, cooking-utensils, vases many of 

 a pattern similar to the present age are 

 also found. Upon one large stone jug or 

 vase can be traced a perfect delineation of 

 the mountains near here for a distance of 

 twenty miles. We have found several mill- 

 stones, used in grinding corn, and plenty of 

 charred corn-cobs, with kernels not unlike 

 what we know as yellow dent-corn. We 

 judge from our observations that these an- 

 cient dwellers of our country followed agri- 

 culture for a livelihood, and had many of 

 the arts and sciences known to us, as we 

 found moulds made of clay for the casting 

 of different implements, needles made of 

 deer-horns, and lasts made of stone, and 

 which were in good shape. We also find 

 many trinkets, such as white stone beads 

 and marbles ; also small squares of polished 

 stones, resembling dominos." 



The Origin of Mineral Oils. Mendelejeff, 



in a communication to the Russian Chem- 

 ical Society, questions the current view as 

 to the origin of mineral oils, namely, that 

 they are the products of the decomposition 

 of the fossil remains of organisms, and pro- 

 poses a theory of his own. He calls atten- 

 tion to the possibility of the interior of our 

 globe containing metallic masses of vast ex- 

 tent. If iron be the prevailing metal, and 

 if it occur in combination with carbon, we 

 have the material from which we can con- 

 ceive the mineral oils to have been derived. 



Contact with water at a high temperature, 

 and under great pressure, brought about by 

 the upheaval or disruption of any of the 

 overlying sedimentary strata, would result 

 in the formation of metallic oxides and sat- 

 urated hydro-carbons. The latter, permeat- 

 ing the porous sandstones of higher levels, 

 condense there, or, by undergoing further 

 change, become the marsh-gas of the " gas- 

 wells," or are converted into unsaturated 

 hydro-carbons. The invariable association 

 of salt-water with mineral oil is not without 

 its bearing on this interesting question. If 

 the view recently advanced by Steenstrup 

 that the curious metallic masses discovered 

 by Nordenskjold in Greenland, and generally 

 held to be meteoric iron, be correct, and they 

 are erupted matter and not of cosmical ori- 

 gin, their composition, which analysis has 

 shown to be in a considerable degree carbide 

 of iron, approaches nearly that of the ma- 

 terial assumed by Mendelejeff as the source 

 of the oil. 



A Low Mammalian Brain. At a meeting 

 of the American Philosophical Society, as we 

 learn from The American Nalurcdist, Prof. 

 Cope exhibited a cast of the brain-cavity of 

 a species of Coryphodon from New Mexico. 

 This, according to Prof. Cope, is the lowest 

 and most reptilian type of mammalian brain 

 so far discovered, inasmuch as the diameter 

 of the hemispheres does not exceed that of 

 the medulla, which itself is as wide as the 

 cerebellum. The latter is small and flat. 

 The middle brain is the largest division, 

 much exceeding the hemispheres in size, 

 being especially protuberant laterally. The 

 hemispheres contract anteriorly into the very 

 stout peduncles of the olfactory lobes. 

 These continue undivided to an unusual 

 length, and terminate in a large bulbus, 

 which is at first grooved above and then 

 bifurcates at the extremity. The length of 

 the hemispheres is fa that of the cranium, 

 and their united bulk sV that of the hemi- 

 spheres of a tapir of the same size. Their 

 surface is not convoluted, and there is no 

 trace of a Sylvian fissure. The region of 

 the pons Varolii is very wide and exhibits a 

 continuation of the anterior pyramids. The 

 large size of the middle brain and olfactory 

 lobes gives the brain as much the appear- 

 ance of that of a lizard as of a mammal. 



