690 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



anatomical dissertation on the deformities of the sknlls of the 

 Chinook Indians. M. Marcele Daly exhibited two large water- 

 color drawings taken by his father, many years ago, of plans of 

 the ruined cities of Copan in Honduras, and Utatlan, the ancient 

 capital of the Quichas, accompanying them with remarks on 

 Central American architecture. Among its peculiarities are the 

 presence of walls in the interior of the temple pyramids, and the 

 thorough painting of the whole. The author considered it re- 

 markable, too, that long houses with rows of columns were usu- 

 ally found near the temple pyramids (or adoratorios). Dr. Seler 

 exhibited a number of Aztec manuscripts containing plans of the 

 great Temple of Mexico, on which the long pillar houses were 

 likewise seen near the temple pyramid, and remarked that they 

 were the residences of the priests, as is expressly given out in 

 the Sahagun manuscript. As described by M. Theodore Ber, the 

 ruins of the ancient city of Tiahuanaco are composed of a pecul- 

 iarly colored granite, which probably came from the " Island of 

 the Sun " in Lake Titicaca, and must have been brought to the 

 site on large rafts. Vessels with a capacity for a hundred persons 

 are still in use on the lake. The author explained that the name 

 of the city means " a dried shore/' and discussed the probability 

 of the waters of the lake having once reached to the spot. Among 

 other subjects that were considered in papers and discussion were 

 the attributes, relations, and symbolism of the Aztec war-god 

 Huitzilopochli, by Dr. Seler ; Ancient Danish Colonies in Green- 

 land, by Prof. Waldemar Schmidt, who held that the eastern and 

 western settlements were not on different sides of the peninsula, 

 but both on the western side ; and Vestiges of a Tiahuanaco 

 Civilization, Aztec Cities, and Aztec Potteries in the Pampas, by 

 Senor Moreno, of Buenos Ayres. 



Attention was called by M. de Saint-Bris to the assumed Chi- 

 nese documents relating to a pre-Columbian discovery of Amer- 

 ica ; but their value was disputed by the Sinologue, Prof. Cor- 

 dier ; and Prof. Gafferal explained, with reference to the alleged 

 pre-Columbian discoveries of the Corte Reals, that the name An- 

 tilla in Martin Behaim's globe refers to Aristotle's Antilla, and 

 not to an America known before Columbus. From Das Ausland. 



M. J. RocnE, addressing the International Telegraphic Conference in Paris, re- 

 called some of the objections that were made to the electric telegraph when it 

 first went into practice, as being of historical interest, and as illustrating the 

 extent to which the fear of the new controls the world. Berryer said that the 

 wires running along the railways would cause accidents to the engineers, and with 

 the posts would offer unpleasant sights to travelers ; Pouillet said that the expense 

 would be ruinous and without practical results ; and that the invention, though 

 an ingenious one, would not displace the old way of telegraphing. 



