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NATURE 



\_AugUSt 2 2, 1878 



the rarest. They also ate venison of the stag {Cervus 

 elaphus). Their place in the archaeological scale of 

 culture is fixed by the few and simple forms of bronze 

 articles in the barrows, the simple wedge-shaped axe^ 

 and the short broad dagger, in association with various 

 articles of stone, coupled with the absence of the higher 

 bronze types, such as the sword. They belong to the 

 early bronze age. The absence of the sword is also 

 noticed in the tuinuli of France, referred by Mr. Chantre 

 to the same horizon. At this time the knowledge of 

 bronze was gradually finding its way northwards from the 

 Mediterranean centres, and the simpler forms preceded 

 the more complex and elaborate. 



Nor are we left in doubt as to the ethnical relations of 

 these ancient Yorkshiremen. Prof. Rolleston's elaborate 

 examination of the crania and skeletons reveals the fact 

 that the two types — the small long-headed or " Iberian," 

 and the tall robust round heads, or " Celtic," which have 

 been traced by Thurman, Huxley, Busk, and myself, 

 from Scotland to the Mediterranean, and from the Rhine 

 to the Pillars of Hercules, occur in the round barrows 

 side by side in intimate association. The former of these, 

 "the Silurian" of Prof. RoUeston, is considered in this 

 work as the older of the two. According to Dr. Thurman 

 it was dormant in Britain in the Neolithic age, at the 

 close of which it was invaded by "the Celtic" or "the 

 Cimbric " of Prof, Rolleston. The truth of this view is 

 confirmed by the fact that the dead of these two races 

 rest peacefully together in the round barrows of the 

 wolds referable to the early bronze age. In concluding 

 this review it remains merely to say that this valuable 

 work fills a void in the archaeological record of Great 

 Britain, and that it contains a larger mass of accurately 

 observed facts than any book hitherto published relating 

 to the Bronze Age in this country. 



W. Boyd Dawkins 



THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN 



THE following letter appears in the Daily News of 

 Tuesday, from its Special Correspondent, dated 

 Manitou, Foot of Pike's Peak, Colorado, August 2 : — 



Since the eclipse I have had no easy time of it. To 

 gain accurate information concerning the work done 

 along the long north and south line, on which, as your 

 readers already know, the stations were located, it was 

 necessary to return over the crest of the Rocky Mountains 

 at Sherman (8,200 feet) down to Cheyenne, and then go 

 as far south, by the Colorado Central line, as Colorado 

 springs, passing Denver on the way. Manitou, whence 

 this letter is written, is about six miles from the latter 

 place on the old and famous Ute trail, a road much im- 

 proved in these later days for the needs of the enormous 

 traffic connected with the mines at Leadville. The place 

 itself is lovely — so lovely, indeed, that although it is over 

 2,000 miles from the eastern seaboard, the hotels and 

 baths (iron and alkaline) formed but a nucleus for a large 

 encampment, tents dotting the slopes in all directions. 

 The newly-published geological map of this region with 

 which Prof. Hayden, with his wonted generosity and 

 forethought, had supplied some of the astronomers, 

 enabled them to revel with more or less success in the 

 wonders of the famous " Garden of the Gods," and Glen 

 Eyrie, where the rocks put on everything they can in the 

 way of uncommon arrangement and colour. Vertical 

 beds of limestone and sandstone 300 feet high, and not 

 many yards thick, even at the base — each spire excelling 



the other in some glorious colour, including all those we 

 see in an English sunset — is a sight never to be forgotten, 

 even if Pike's Peak, with its patches of snow, were not 

 seen through such gigantic and weird portals. 



Here, then, we met the Pike's Peak and the Las Animas 

 parties, all rejoicing over their success. Two of the 

 former — General Myer, the creator and chief of the won- 

 derful meteorological signal surface, and Prof. Cleveland 

 Abbe — have suffered somewhat from their sudden trans- 

 ference from the plains to a height of above 14,000 feet. 

 The latter, indeed, had to be transferred on a litter, by 

 the General's order, to a station at mid-height before the 

 eclipse. But t'ae journey to Manitou does not exhaust 

 my wanderings. Much was expected from Prof. Holden's 

 party at Central City, easily reached from Golden City 

 by one of the most wonderful railways in the world. To 

 Central City, therefore, I went up to a point called Black 

 Hawk. The railroad is filched from the bed of a stream 

 at the bottom of a true cailon. Here rail and river to- 

 gether are not fifteen yards broad, and precipitous cliffs 

 1,000 feet high shut out the light. Here, again, the cliffs 

 recede, the river bed widens, and miners — ^American and 

 Chinese — are engaged in extracting the precious gold 

 from the turbid water and its bed, some of the miners 

 making in this way 1,500 dollars a week. From Black 

 Hawk to Central City there is no possible approach 

 except up the side of a steep hill. The railway accepts 

 the condition, and zigzags up — now engine, now cars, 

 foremost — till the nest of stamping mills and smelting 

 furnaces at Black Hawk looks like a speck below. 



The party at Central City had been as fortunate as the 

 rest in the matter of weather, and their station, on the 

 top of Teller's Hotel, in the middle of this strange moun- 

 tain community, had proved a very convenient one. 

 After my last letter to you, I became acquainted with the 

 fact that Mr. Burnham, so well known for his work on 

 double stars, and whose eye seems to be keen as was 

 formerly Dawes's among us, was going to observe the 

 eclipse on behalf of the Chicago Times — a piece of news- 

 paper enterprise worthy of imitation. I tried to find him 

 when I passed through Denver to Prof. Young's camp, 

 but was unsuccessful, though I was fortunate enough to 

 see Prof. Young himself, whose party was second to none 

 either in persoiinel or in their means at the disposal for 

 securing good results. 



My telegram to you, immediately after the eclipse, was 

 necessarily based upon the most meagre materials, and 

 laid emphasis upon those parts of the combined attack 

 which were most strongly represented at the northern 

 stations. Still, now that the complete information is 

 before me, I have very little to alter, so singularly and 

 exceptionally do the observations support each other in 

 the main ; and I say in the main, because on some points 

 there is enough disaccord to make the astronomers already 

 look forward to the next eclipse. Without going too 

 much into detail I will go over the ground in the light 

 obtained by personal communication with the chiefs of the 

 different parties, with the single exception of Prof. Hall, 

 who is a most skilful and competent observer, and to whose 

 opinion, as the discoverer of the satellites of Mars, the 

 gieatest weight is to be attached. The corona was much 

 less briUiant than usual. Those who have observed the 

 greatest number of eclipses are strongest on this point. 

 The contrast, perhaps, is most striking between this 

 eclipse and that of 1871 observed in India. Now that 

 this fact is recognised, the naturalness of it is apparent 

 to everybody. We know that the sun's activity and the 

 various meteorological and magnetical conditions on our 

 own earth which depend upon or are connected with it 

 wax and wane every eleven years or so. This is termed 

 the sun-spot period. Thus the sun was very active in 

 1 87 1, and it will be again very active in 1882. It is very 

 sluggish now, and it will be sluggish again in 1889. In 

 1 87 1 we had many spots, many prominences, many mag- 



