Oct. 25, 1888] 



NATURE 



631 



cremated remains were found in the vicinity of the pyral mounds. 

 The skeletons, as a rule, were so frail that comparatively few 

 could be preserved. Of the whole number about one hundred 

 good skulls, and probably fifty tolerably complete skeletons, 

 were collected. These were so frail that Dr. Wortman was 

 compelled to use a goodly supply of shellac varnish to keep them 

 from falling to dust. Silicate of soda was tried, but it was not 

 found so good as the ordinary shellac dissolved in alcohol. 



The objects which go to make up the collection are various, 

 and consist of those of ornament and utility. Numerous shell 

 carvings, some of which had been beautifully in'aid with 

 turquoise, were found, while a very few copper ornaments in 

 the shape of bells and ear-rings were also dug up. Their tools 

 consist almost entirely of stone, and were, for the most part, 

 polished, though such implements as potters' stones, rasps, mauls, 

 metates, &c. , were never polished. Their stone axes and hatchets 

 are of the ordinary pattern, and are generally well polished ; 

 they are of various sizes and shapes, and some of them were no 

 douH used as picks in digging up the hard cement and gravel 

 in the construction of their irrigating canals. Stone hoes, 

 knives, and arrow-heads were also found in abundance. 



The collection of pottery is large, and, according to Mr. 

 Cashing, resembles that of Zufii manufacture more than any 

 other people. It is often highly decorated with quaint and 

 unique patterns, in various colours, and some fragments exhibited 

 a fine glaze, which indicates a high state of the ceramic art. 



That they were acquainted with metals there can be but little 

 doubt, although they do not appear to have made use of it except 

 in the way of ornament. Some places in the neighbouring 

 mountains seemed to indicate that they mined for ore, which 

 they smelted in crude ovens. Whether this was copper or the 

 precious metals is now difficult to determine, but that they were 

 accustomed to bring these ovens or furnaces to a very high heat 

 is indicated by the slag in their immediate vicinity. 



It is perhaps premature to attempt to decide who these people 

 were, to whom they were related, and what became of them; I 

 think it fairly settled by the r e discoveries that they were the 

 ancestors of the modern Pueblos. Whether or not they were 

 in any way connected with the ancient people of Mexico and 

 Yucatan the future alone can decide. It ?eems certain, however, 

 that one part of them went north to found the later Pueblo 

 civilizations which are now represented by the Zunis of to-day. 



If historical evidence is worth anything, and if we can trust 

 the ordinary evidences of archaeology, then these ruins are 

 beyond question pre-Columbian, and may be as much as a 

 thousand years old. 



Mr. Cushing's final Report will be awaited with interest by 

 all who are in any way interested in the subject. The archaeo- 

 logical specimens have been shipped to Salem, and the skeletons 

 will go to the Army Medical Museum in Washington. 



SELF-REPRODUCING FOOD FOR YOUNG FISH. 



FN a very interesting Report of the United States Consul 

 at Marseilles on the above subject, he says that every 

 person interested in the artificial propagation of fish, particu- 

 larly those of the genus Salmottidce, knows the great care 

 which is necessary to carry the young fry through the period 

 immediately following the absorption of the umbilical sac, and to 

 bring them to such a stage of maturity that they can be oafely 

 turned loose in open ponds and streams to shift for themselves. 

 The mere hatching of the eggs presents no 1 difficulty, but with 

 the commencement of artificial nutrition the serious part of the 

 work begins, and it is usually only a small percentage of the 

 swarms which are hatched that reach the maturity of yearlings. 

 During the intervening months it has been customary to feed 

 the young fish on curdled milk, coagulated blood, finely 

 hashed meat and liver, grated yolk of eggs, macerated brains of 

 animals, &c, ihe preparation of which, and the constant 

 feeding of the little creatures, involves constant and costly 

 labour. Besides, none of these forms of nutriment have 

 been found entirely satisfactory ; they are artificial, and 

 different from the living organic food which Nature provides. 

 A plan invented by Mr. F. Lugrin, of Geneva, and practised 

 since 1884 with the greatest success in the piscicultural establish- 

 ment at Gremaz, in the province of Ain, in Eastern France, 

 seems to overcome all these difficulties. The apparatus at 

 Gremaz occupies a gently-sloping piece of ground, about six 

 acres in extent, watered by three springs, which collectively 



yield about 500 gallons of water a minute. The tanks are about 

 120 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 5 feet deep. On account of the 

 gravelly nature of the soil, the walls and bottoms of some of the 

 tanks are lined with cement. The tanks are divided l>y sliding 

 gates of wire gauze sufficiently fine to prevent the passage of the 

 fry. Mr. Lugrin spreads upon the bottom of these tanks a 

 material impregnated with the elements necessary to produce 

 spontaneously a limitless number of Daphniu-, Cyclofs, Limit., 

 as well as larvoe of various Ephemera which form the natural 

 aliment of trout and other SalmoniJie. This producing material 

 is of trifling cost. The water in the tanks, which is from 

 2 to 3 feet d<-ep, is left undisturbed for a few weeks, and is then 

 found to be peopled with myriads of the species above named. 

 With a fairly abundant propagation of these organisms, 20,000 

 young fry and 3000 fish one year old can subsist and thrive for 

 a whole month in a tank of the size of one of those at Gremaz. 

 These 23,000 fish and fry will eat from 600 to 800 pounds in a 

 month, and each tank at Gremaz will produce from 650 to 900 

 pounds of erevettes (freshwater shrimps), to say nothing of the 

 myriads of other species which are produced at the same time. 

 Trout raised by this method have the flavour and firmness of 

 wild fish. One great advantage of Mr. Lugrin's system is, that 

 once a tank is prepared it is permanently productive. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The lecture-lists for this term contain no consider- 

 able innovations in the physical and chemical teaching. The 

 u-ual systematic courses are to be given at the University 

 Museum, and at Balliol, Christ Church, and Trinity. We may 

 notice especially the following lectures : — 



Prof. Pritchard, Recent Speculations on the Structure of the 

 Stellar Universe, Spherical Astronomy, and the Theory of 

 Errors ; Prof. Price, Optics ; Mr. Walker, Double Refraction 

 treated Mathematically ; Mr. Baynes, Theory of Gases, and 

 Practical Electrical Measurements ; Prof. Odling, 5-Carbon and 

 6-Carbon Compounds ; Mr. Vernon Harcourt, Volumetric 

 Analysis. 



In the Biological Departments two new Professors have just 

 entered on their offices. Prof. Green is giving two courses of 

 lectures on Geology, and improving the Museum collections, and 

 Prof. Vines has begun a systematic course of Elementary 

 Botany. The Morphological Laboratory is in charge of Dr. 

 Hickson and Mr. Latter ; and Mr. Mitchell lectures on the Geo- 

 graphical Distribution of Animals. Prof. Burdon-Sanderson is 

 lecturing on Elementary Physiology, and Mr. Gotch has a more 

 advanced course. Dr. Tylor's subject this term is Race, 

 Language, and Civilization. 



An important statute has just past Convocation, which intro- 

 duces the biological sciences into the Pass Examinations of the 

 University for the B. A. degree. It is expected that the change 

 will be of great use, especially to medical students, who cannot 

 afford the time required to read for an Honour Examination in 

 Natural Science. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 15. — M. Des Cloizeaux in 

 the chair. — On the deformation of the images of stars seen by 

 reflection on the surface of the sea, by M. C. Wolf. An attempt 

 is here made to calculate the extent of this deformation, attention 

 to which has lately been drawn by M. Ricco. The calculation 

 shows that the difference in the angular heights of the object 

 and its image increases towards the zenith, at first rapidly, then 

 slowly, attaining its maximum at the zenith, for which it is double 

 the depression of the horizon. A luminous band stretching from 

 the apparent horizon to the zenith of the observer, and subtending 

 an angle of 90 19' '2, would give an image terminating at the 

 nadir, and with an angular extent of not more than 90 - i9' - 2. — 

 On the latent colours of bodies, by M. G. Govi. The experi- 

 ments here described with the bi-iodide of mercury, minium, 

 and some other substances exposed to the light of the incan- 

 descent vapour of sodium— that is, the nearly pure yellow light 

 D — tend to show that ordinary diffused or transmitted light does 

 not give us the true colour of bodies. To obtain this true, but 

 invisible or latent colour, a special process of illumination is 



