156 



NATURE 



yjune 15, 1876 



made and admirably adapted to their peculiar use. Orna- 

 mentation was confined, in the vast majority of cases, to 

 the natural markings of the mineral, and not derived from 

 any carving as is so marked a characteristic of the pipes 

 of the mound-builders. Fig. 6 represents a perfect speci- 

 men of such plain pipe bowls as I have described. There 

 is no line, straight, curved, or zigzag upon it. The red 

 man who made this specimen had utility solely in view ; 

 unless the choice of mineral was considered, as giving 

 beauty to the finished pipe. The material of the speci- 

 men figured is a pale green slaty rock, veined wiih black. 

 The variation in shape of such pipe bowls is of course 

 considerable ; and supposing each individual to have 



made his own pipe, the shape was in each case decided 

 by the maker's fancy solely. As in the case of arrow- 

 points, of which a score of patterns occur, so with pipe 

 bowls. One will scarcely find two precisely alike ; yet 

 the "family likeness" is very strongly marked. 



There does occur, however, a second form of smoking 

 pipe, but much more sparingly than the preceding, differ- 

 ing greatly, both in size and shape. While the two 

 patterns occasionally approach in general outline, they 

 do not do so sufficiently to warrant our considering the 

 one to pass into the other form. 



This variety of pipe, of which Fig 7 is an example, is 

 well known as the calumet or " peace-pipe." The bowl 



Fig. 7.— Calumet, natural size. 



in this case, as a lule, is much smaller, and the labour of 

 the maker has been expended upon the stem-like base, 

 which in every specimen I have seen has been quite 

 elaborately ornamented. The specimen figured is not as 

 much carved as many, but being quite perfect, is repre- 

 sented in preference to fragments of others. 



I believe no specimens of " animal pipes," such as are 

 found in the Mississippi valley, have been found in New 

 Jersey, which fact is interesting, as there is much reason 

 for believing that when the mound-builders occupied the 

 western valleys the red man was already occupying the 

 Atlantic coast ; and doubtless some tradmg was carried 

 on between the two peoples. Therefore, it would be 

 natural to expect that such pipes should occur among 

 our Indian relics ; or at least that there was sufficient 



knowledge concerning them to suggest to the coast 

 Indians the idea of imitating them ; but there is no trace 

 of such imitation I believe. It is their smoking pipes 

 alone, of all their productions in the flint-chipping art, 

 that are dissimilar. 



Through the writings of the earlier missionaries we 

 learn of the peculiar uses and significance of these 

 calumets, which formed so prominent a feature on all 

 important occasions ; but whether they were introduced 

 by some other race with whom the red man came in con- 

 tact, or originated de novo, it is impossible to determine ; 

 but it is quite certain that the specimens so far brought 

 to light do not enable us to trace the evolution of the 

 calumet from the simpler form of pipe. 



Trenton, N.J., U.S.A., May 6 Chas. C Abbott 



NEW METEOROLOGICAL LABORATORIES 

 AT MONTSOURIS 



TV/r MARI6 DAVY, Director of Montsouris Observa- 

 ■'•''-'■ • tory, has organised, partly at the expense of the 

 French Government, partly at the expense of the City of 

 Paris, a chemical and microscopical laboratory for the 

 analysis of all the matters in suspension in the air of 

 Paris, both quantitatively and qualitatively. A certain 

 quantity of air is constantly aspired by an aspirator 

 in continued operation. The ozone acting on iodide of 

 potassium and starch liberates iodine. The quantity of 

 ozone liberated is measured by a titrated solution of 

 arsenite of sodium. The matters in suspension are col- 

 lected on a glass plate, and the crop is placed under the 

 object-glass of a powerful microscope magnifying 1,000 

 times. The principal forms are drawn and plates are 

 executed and published monthly in the Transactions of 

 the establishment. The analysis of rain-water is conducted 

 on the same principles, and the results of chemical analysis 

 are calculated and compared with the wind and other 

 atmospheric circumstances. 



We are indebted to M. Marid Davy for the principal 

 results of the month of February, the first period for 



which the whole system has been put into complete 

 operation. 



The electrical department has been fitted up, after a 

 preliminary trial, and has been in working order for some 

 time. In order better to illustrate the importance of 

 these researches we take the liberty of altering the figures 

 in order to give the results in round numbers for the 

 whole area of Paris within the fortifications. The surface 

 is about 80,000,000 square metres. In February 1876 the 

 quantity of atmospheric water was 4,500,000 cubic metres. 

 This is about double the average, but in some years on 

 record the quantity was even larger, in 1776 a century 

 ago, it was more than 6,500,000 cubic metres. In taking 

 as an average the analyses of rain-water at Montsouris, 

 the 4,500,000 cubic metres contained 4,700 kilogrammes 

 of nitric acid and 10,700 kilogrammes of ammonia. 

 This mass of nitric acid is supposed to have been pro- 

 duced by electrical reactions in the atmosphere, and 

 ammonia only partly, as Montsouris is in the southern 

 part of the city, close to the fortifications. 



The 4.500,000 cubic metres of rain water were also 

 proved to contain 172,000 kilogrammes of organic 

 matter, and 88,400 kilogrammes of metallic salts or 

 products. A number of organic matters have been found 



