January 6, [898] 



NA TURE 



237 



small stones, or of a flat stone, was made at the bottom of the 

 hole, and the urn, with its contents, was inverted. In some 

 cases the urn was protected by loose stones arranged around it. 

 In obviously exceptional instances, it may be perhaps of a tribal 

 chieftain, a small stone cist was built to enclose the urn, and 

 even a cairn of stones was piled above and around to protect it 

 and to mark the spot. 



Cremated interments not contained in urns have been recorded 

 in a few instances, and in them the surrounding sand or gravel 

 has usually been discoloured, from the blackened remains and 

 charcoal having to some extent become diffused through it. 



The largest examples of cinerary urns were from 12 to 16 

 inches in height, wiih a flat narrow bottom, and 10 to 12 inches 

 wide at the mouth. About one-third the distance below the 

 mouih the urn swelled out to its widest diameter, and was sur- 

 rounded by one or two mouldings, between which and the 

 mouth the outer surface was often decorated with lines which ran 

 horizontally, or vertically, or obliquely ; sometimes they inter- 

 sected, and formed a chevron or a diamond-shaped pattern. 

 Below the mouldings, the surface was without pattern, though 

 sometimes raised into an additional simple circular moulding. 



When the inhumation of an unburnt body was decided on, a 

 rude cist or coffin, formed of undressed flattened stones, was 

 built for its reception. As a rule, the sides and ends of the cist 

 were formed each of a single slab of sandstone, schist, gneiss, 

 granite or other stones provided by the rock in the neighbour- 

 hood ; but in some instances of a stone of a different character 

 from the adjoining rocks, and obviously brought from a distance. 

 The stones were set on edge and supported a great slab, which, 

 being laid horizontally, formed the lid or cover of the cist, and 

 which was much thicker and heavier than the side and end 

 stones ; sometimes, as if for additional protection, a second 

 massive slab was placed on the top of the proper cover. The 

 floor of the cist was formed, when the earth was shallow, of the 

 native rock, and at other times of compacted earth, or a layer of 

 pebbles, or of flat stones. Usually the stone walls and the cover 

 of the cist were simply in apposition, but sometimes they were 

 cemented together with clay. In some cists, exposed a few years 

 ago on the farm of Cousland, near Dalkeith, the peculiarity was 

 observed of the cist being divided in its long direction into two 

 compartments by a stone slab down the middle. 



The cists were oblong, the length exceeding the breadth, and 

 although they varied in size, those for adults being larger than 

 for children, they were always shorter than would have been 

 required for a body to be extended at full length. As the end 

 stones were usually set within the extremities of the side stones, 

 the internal measurement of length was some inches less than the 

 external. The average dimensions may be given for the interior 

 about 4 feet in length, 2 feet in breadth, and 2 feet in depth. 

 The cover slab was much larger both in length and breadth, as it 

 overlapped both the sides and ends. 



These cists remind one, in their general form and plan, but on 

 a much smaller scale, both as regards the size of the enclosed 

 space and the magnitude of the stones, of the dolmens so frequent 

 in Brittany. As survivals in modern times, we may point to the 

 empty stone boxes, on the cover stone of which an inscription is 

 incised, to be seen in so many country churchyards, built on the 

 ground superficial to the pit in which the body in its wooden 

 coflin has been inhumed. 



Owing to the shortness of the cist the body could not be ex- 

 tended at full length, but was laid upon its side, with the elbows 

 bent, so that the hands were close to the face ; the hips and knee 

 joints were also bent so that the knees were in front of the 

 body. 



Usually only a single skeleton has been found in a cist, either 

 a man or a woman as the case may be. Sometimes two skeletons 

 have been seen, at times a man's and a woman's, doubtless 

 husband and wife ; in others the second skeleton has been that 

 of a child. Sometimes the cist was below the average in size, 

 and contained only the skeleton of a child or young person. 

 Such examples throw light upon the family relations of the 

 people of this period. They show that they desired to preserve 

 the associations of kinsfolk even after death ; and when the cist 

 contained the remains only of a child it was constructed with the 

 same care as if it had been the tomb of a chief. 



When cremated bodies are found associated with stone cists in 

 the same cemetery, the cinerary urns in which the ashes were 

 customarily deposited lie outside the cists, and in quite inde- 

 pendent excavations in the soil, but in such close proximity as to 

 show that they belonged to the same period. In two instances 



NO. 1471. VO', 57] 



short cists have been opened, in which, alongside of the skeleton 

 of an unburnt body, were cremated human bones, not contained 

 in a cinerary urn, but scattered on the floor of the cist, 

 which conclusively prove that both cremation and inhumation 

 were sometimes in practice at the same interment. 



( To be continued. ) 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Mr. Charles E. Green, President of the Board of Trustees 

 of Princeton University, died suddenly on December 24. 



Lafayette College, at Easton, Pennsylvania, suffered 

 serious loss by fire a few days ago for the second time in its 

 history. Pardee Hall, with its valuable collections, was nearly 

 destroyed, and the library was much injured. 



Science states that bills have been again introduced into both 

 Houses of Congress to establish the University of the United 

 States. Such a bill was introduced by Senator Edmunds in 

 1890 and referred to a select committee, which reported 

 unanimously in its favour. The standing committee since 

 appointed has also reported unanimously in its favour, and it is 

 said that the bill will probably be passed during the present 

 session. 



Among recent appointments are : — Dr. S. Fuchs to be asso- 

 ciate professor of physiology at the University at Jem ; Prof. 

 Waldemar Lindgren, of the U.S. Geological Survey, to be pro- 

 fessor of metallurgy and mining engineering in Stanford 

 University ; Mr. Edgar R. Cumings, of Cornell University, to 

 be instructor in geology in the University of Indiana ; Dr. W. 

 Ophiils to be professor of pathological anatomy in the University 

 of Missouri. 



An additional chair of Chemistry has been founded and 

 endowed in the McGill University, Montreal, by Mr. \V. C. 

 McDonald, who recently erected a new chemical building at a 

 cost of 240,000 dols. The same donor has provided an 

 additional endowment of 50,000 dols. for the faculty of Law, to 

 the deanship of which faculty, with the chair of Roman Law, 

 Mr. F. P. Walton, of the Scotch Bar, was recently appointed. 

 Mr. McDonald has, moreover, supplemented" the existing 

 endowments associated with his name by a further gift of 

 200,000 dols. to provide for any deficiency in income that may 

 result from the fall in the rate of interest on investments. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine, December, 1897. 

 — A wet day in a wet district. A remarkably heavy rainfall oc- 

 curred in the Lake district on November 12. At Skelwith Fold 

 (Lancashire) it amounted to 6 03 inches, or 75 per cent, of 

 the annual mean ; at Skelwith Bridge (Westmoreland) 6 35 

 inches were measured, or 7 '8 per cent., and at Leathwaite 

 (Cumberland) 803 inches, or 6"i per cent, of the annual mean. 

 There was no thunderstorm, but a continuous pelting rain nearly 

 throughout the twenty-four hours. Naturally, much damage 

 was caused by floods. — Temperature variations in November. 

 An observer at Cheltenham draws attention to some remarkable 

 changes during November 14 to 20, the greatest of which was 

 a fall of 2i°'4 between the iSthand 19th. In the neighbourhood 

 of London the greatest difference between any two consecutive 

 readings during November was 19° '6. Mr. Symons points out 

 that nearly similar differences also occurred in 1866 and 1893. — 

 The same number also contains some useful particulars, with 

 illustrations, respecting Richard's instruments for use with kites 

 or balloons. Pressure, humidity, and temperature are simul- 

 taneously recorded on a single sheet of paper ; the total weight 

 of the instrument is only 36 ounces. 



WiedemamC s Annalen der Physik und Cheinie, No. 12. — 

 Origin of contact electricity, by C. Christiansen. The gas 

 surrounding a jet of zinc, lead, or tin, amalgam has a marked 

 influence upon its uninterrupted length. Air, oxygen, and 

 sulphurous acid have the effect of retarding the breakmg up of 

 the jet, owing to contact electrification. The author measures 

 the length of the continuous jet by making it part of a circuit 

 containing a galvanometer, the steadiness of the needle denoting 



