POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



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of shell and clay. At a higher level, the 

 fireplaces, while not so numerous, are more 

 interesting, because more or less of fire 

 relics are obtained from them. They are 

 only slightly concave, and mixed with the 

 ashes are stones broken by the action of fire, 

 bones of various kinds, arrow-heads, drills, 

 stone and hematite celts, stone pipes, per- 

 forated stones called shuttles, and much 

 broken pottery. These places seem to have 

 been occupied at different times, and also by 

 different tribes or nations. The first occu- 

 pants used stone in the manufacture of their 

 pottery. They were succeeded by others 

 who used shells, and these in their turn gave 

 way to people using stone. The latter seem 

 to have occupied the ground for only a brief 

 period, and then to have been displaced by 

 others using shell. In the adjoining field, 

 however, both kinds of pottery are found in- 

 termingled. It is Mr. Lewis's opinion that 

 the people of these fireplaces antedated the 

 residence of the mound-builders in their 

 neighborhood by many centuries, because the 

 works of that race, themselves very ancient, 

 are found on the surface above them. The 

 fireplaces occur at various levels, from near 

 the top of the bank to thirty feet below. 

 At one point they were visible at seventeen 

 different levels. They are exposed to view 

 by the caving off of the banks at high water. 

 A somewhat similar series of fireplaces or 

 ovens was described in the American Associ- 

 ation by Prof. Putnam as observed on the 

 banks of the Little Miami River. 



Cold Waves. According to Prof. T. 

 Russell's explanation of the subject, in the 

 American Association, the term cold wave is 

 employed when a fall of temperature occurs 

 in twenty-four hours of 20 or more over an 

 area of at least 50,000 square miles, and the 

 temperature in any part of the area descends 

 to 36. According to this definition, there 

 were in the United States, between 1880 and 

 1890, 691 cold waves. In the great cold 

 wave of January 17, 1882, the twenty-de- 

 gree fall line included an area of 1,101,000 

 square miles, and the ten-degree fall line an 

 area of 2,929,000 square miles. There have 

 been in ten years six cold waves in which 

 the area of the twenty-degree fall was more 

 than a million square miles. The cold waves 

 seem always to occur over the country 



covered on the preceding day by an area of 

 low barometric pressure, or the southeast of 

 the country covered by an area of high press- 

 ure. Where both occur, the cold waves at- 

 tain their greatest extent. Only a few cases 

 are recorded in which low pressure areas 

 have not been followed by a fall of tempera- 

 ture at their centers. In twelve instances 

 within ten years there were rises in temper- 

 ature instead of falls. On the other hand, 

 cold waves do not occur without the presence 

 of an area of high or low pressure. The ex- 

 tent of the cold wave is dependent on the 

 extent of the area of low pressure and the 

 area of high pressure on the day preceding 

 it. The shapes and relative positions of 

 areas of high and low pressure are various, 

 and are described and classified in the au- 

 thor's paper. 



The Forest. In a paper read at the 

 American Association Prof. B. E. Fernow 

 said that the forest is both a material re- 

 source and a ' cultural condition. While it 

 may and does form the object of individ- 

 ual activity, it also can by its location or 

 position become an element influencing 

 climate, soil, and waterflow. The climatic 

 influence of forest areas is as yet not gen- 

 erally proved, although conditionally ac- 

 cepted, but the influence of forest areas 

 upon the waterflow, and with it upon soil 

 conditions and upon winds, is generally 

 recognized. As a material resource the 

 forest is exhaustible, but restorable with- 

 in limit. The virgin forest must be re- 

 duced to get the agricultural ground that 

 is needed, but when the requirement for 

 food is satisfied it is desirable to treat 

 the forest in such a manner as to secure 

 continued reproduction. This gives rise to 

 forest management and forestry as an in- 

 dustry. Reproduction of the natural for- 

 est is inferior in quality and quantity to 

 that which can be produced by national for- 

 est management. After mentioning some 

 special considerations and economical pecul- 

 iarities pertaining to forest growth and for- 

 estry which may influence the relation of the 

 state toward them, the author went on to 

 say that, so far as the forest represents a 

 material resource simply, the position of the 

 state toward it need not differ from that 

 which it takes toward other industries and 



