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The Esquimaux. Dr. John Rac, in giv- 

 ing an account of his Arctic explorations 

 before the American Association at its re- 

 cent meeting, spoke of the Esquimaux as a 

 generous and polite people, who had care- 

 fully preserved the tradition of events that 

 happened twenty years ago. They believe 

 they came from the West ; and they seem to 

 Dr. Rae physically like the Chinese. They 

 build their huts and boats in a similar way 

 with the Siberian natives, but appear very 

 short in stature on account of the shortness 

 of their legs. Dr. Flam, of London, had 

 said that the skeleton of an Esquimau in 

 his museum had thirty-five vertebras, or one 

 more than the average number. They are 

 not to be regarded as gluttonous, for the 

 large quantities of meat they consume seem 

 to be required by the climate. 



Apparent Size of Magnified Objects. 

 Professor W. E. Brewer reported to the 

 American Association concerning some ex- 

 periments he had made upon the estimation 

 by different persons of the size of images 

 of objects seen through the microscope. 

 More than one hundred persons, of all ages, 

 classes, and occupations, gave very many 

 different estimates. A common louse was 

 used as the test-object, and the magnified 

 image was projected at ten inches. By far 

 the larger number of persons underestimated 

 the size value theoretically given the image 

 by scientific microscopists, which was about 

 4 - 66 inches. Two estimates were of only an 

 inch ; several were of more than a foot. 

 One student likened the figure to a cock- 

 roach, another to a lobster. Mechanics and 

 artisans generally overestimate. A draughts- 

 man, who was accustomed to measure and 

 draw all his work, after careful examination 

 said the image was at least five feet long ! 

 A professor of physics said he could make 

 the image look of any size he wished. 



Fossil Ilnman Foot-prints in Nevada. 



Several communications have lately been 

 made to the California Academy of Sciences 

 respecting what seem to be foot-prints of 

 men which have been discovered in a sand- 

 stone hill in the yard of the State Prison at 

 Carson City, Nevada. The hill is about 

 sixty feet high, and stands at an elevation 

 of 4,592 feet above the sea. It appears to 



have been formed by the deposition and 

 drifting of sand upon what was the bed of 

 an ancient lake. A surface of about three 

 quarters of an acre has been cleared by 

 quarrying to a depth of from fifteen to thirty 

 feet, and down to the layer of arenaceous 

 shale beneath the sandstone, which is sup- 

 posed to represent the bottom of the lake. 

 The tracks are in this shale. Accordimr to 

 the description of Dr. Darkness, they are 

 accompanied by the tracks of several ani- 

 mals the mammoth, the deer, the wolf, the 

 horse, and some birds and are in six series 

 of from eight to seventeen foot-prints each, 

 in regular order, and each showing more or 

 less plainly the imprint of a sandal. The 

 first series, consisting of sixteen tracks, 

 " were evidently made in a layer of sedi- 

 ment of, perhaps, two inches in depth, for 

 below this layer we find the compact sand- 

 stone. Li each instance the mud had been 

 raised by the pressure of the foot into a 

 ridge which entirely surrounded it." No 

 single impression affords complete evidence 

 that it was produced by a sandal, " but 

 when we study them as a whole," says Dr. 

 Darkness, " we find that what is wanting in 

 one is furnished by others which follow." 

 These tracks measure nineteen inches in 

 length, by eight inches in breadth at the ball 

 and six inches at the heel. The average 

 length of the stride is two feet three inches. 

 The distance between the feet, or the strad- 

 dle, is eighteen inches. A second series of 

 tracks was observed, made by an individual 

 who was walking in deeper mud, which clung 

 to and closed in and upon the foot. In an- 

 other part of the area are four other series, 

 at a level a few inches lower than those of 

 the first series, smaller, and possibly made 

 by moccasins. The toes of the tracks of the 

 first series turned outward ; " number two," 

 says Mr. Gibbes, curator of mineralogy, in 

 his account, " toed the mark, and walked as 

 straight as a surveyor running a line. Se- 

 ries number three presents more irregular 

 steps with toes turned out, possibly those of 

 a woman bearing a heavy burden." Within 

 the same area are the immense tracks of a 

 mammoth, quite as plainly marked as the 

 others, and, in another part of it, marks 

 which Engineer Scupham, of the Central 

 Pacific Railroad, describes as " confused 

 tracks of a man and some lara;e animal. 



