December i6, 1920] 



NATURE 



513 



The thirty-third annual Report of the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology for 1911-12, published in 1919, 

 shows no evidence of the effects caused by the war 

 on many scientific societies in Europe. The activities 

 of American anthropologists continue unabated, and 

 the format of the report, with its abundant illustra- 

 tions, is fully up to the pre-war standard. One of the 

 most important investigations carried on by the 

 Bureau is the transcript by Mr. F. W. Hodge, the 

 Ethnologist-in-Charge, of a series of inscriptions 

 recorded by the early Spanish explorers on El Morro, 

 or Inscription Rock, in the Zuni district, which have 

 an important bearing on the early history of the 

 Pueblo tribes. Opportunity was taken to explore an 

 interesting Pueblo site in the Jemez Valley. It was 

 the custom of the inhabitants to throw large stones 

 into the graves of the dead, thus destroying the pot- 

 tery deposited with the remains. Numerous frag- 

 ments discovered will enable these jars to be recon- 

 structed. It is satisfactory to learn that the progress 

 made by Mr. W. H. Holmes in compiling his 

 "Handbook of Archaeology" has been satisfactory. 



Thb Afuieums Journal, recently compelled to double 

 its price, has managed to set against this an increase 

 in the number of pages and plates and the enlistment 

 of high authorities in its staff of reviewers. The 

 improvement seems particularly marked in the 

 domains of art, archaeology, and cultural anthropo- 

 logy. The educational use of museums has been much 

 discussed of late by the Museums .\ssociation, and the 

 December issue of the journal contains an article, 

 "The Child and the Mummy," by Mr. Peart, Director 

 of Education for the City of Winchester, who suggests 

 ways in which the dead objects in a museum may 

 be made more alive for younger pupils. He would 

 permit some handling, would add colour to back- 

 ■ grounds and labels, would connect the demonstration 

 l with knowledge already possessed by the child, and 

 I would lay stress on the human associations of each 

 I specimen — the romance of collecting and so forth. 

 In the same issue Mr. Charlton Deas pleads for 'an 

 Imperial Department of Illustrated Public Informa- 

 tion " — the home propaganda of war-time continued 

 ill peace. 



The report on the Government Museum at Madras 

 for i() 1(^20 has just been received. The new super- 

 intendent, Dr. F. H. Gravely, announces a large 

 number of additions to the archaiological collections, 

 rhiefly in the form of copper-plate grants. Among 

 these the most interesting is a set of thirty-one found 

 in an underground chamber at the temple of 

 Tiruvelang.idu, Chittoor district, and recording the 

 grant to that temple of the village of PalaiynnCir by 

 King R."ijendr;i-Ch61a in a.d. 1016. A sword-fish, 

 HistiophoTUs brevirostfis, 5 ft. i in. in length, has 



rely been procured. The specimen 4 ft. 4 in. long 

 iiientioncd by F. Day (" Fauna of British India," 

 Fishes, vol. ii., p. 133) has disappeared from the 

 museum, and it would be interesting to know where 

 it now is. 



Thi Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology 

 (36th Street and Woodland .Avenue, Philadelphia) 

 Utues abstract library cards, of standard size for card- 

 NO. 2668, VOL. 106] 



catalogues, of all papers appearing in the Journal of 

 Morphology, the Journal of Experimental Zoology. 

 the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, and 

 the six other periodicals which it publishes. Sinco 

 the abstracts are distributed to subscribers before the 

 appearance of the complete papers, they serve for pre- 

 liminary notices as well as for permanent records. 

 Individual investigators may find them useful, and 

 societies compiling bibliographies in these sciences 

 would save themselves trouble and expense by taking 

 the complete series. 



The Meteorological Magazine for November states 

 that forecasts can be obtained by communication with 

 the Meteorological Office by telegraph or telephone 

 to cover a period of twenty-four hours, also the state 

 of the weather in various parts of the United Kingdom 

 or the Continent. The Office is open day and night, 

 including Sundays. The discussions of recent work 

 of foreign meteorolc^ists held at the Meteorological 

 Office, South Kensington, which take place fortnightly 

 during the winter months, and have continued 

 since 1905, are now noticed in the magazine, and, 

 indeed, for the first time in the public Press. The 

 opening discussion this season was on " New Methods 

 of Forecasting," based on two papers by Prof. 

 Bjerknes. A record of 35,030 metres (22 miles) was 

 alleged to have been established by a balloon at Pavia 

 on December 7, 191 1, but doubt is now thrown on the 

 results, and it is suggested that the barograph was not 

 working properly, which renders it probable that the 

 greatest height attained was 18,900 metres— little more 

 than one-half of the alleged height. 



.\ NEW geographical journal has appeared in Italy. 

 L'Vniverso is published every two months by the 

 Istituto Geografico Militare in Florence, and is 

 devoted mainly to researches in astronomy, geodesy, 

 and cartography, but contains several articles on 

 regional geography. The issues which have appeared 

 maintain a high standard, and are well illustrated 

 with plates and coloured maps. An article in No. 2 

 (.March-.April) gives a useful account of the Topo- 

 graphical Service of the Turkish Empire, and is illus- 

 trated with specimens and keys of the maps of 

 various scales. 



The Meteorological Service of the Dominion of 

 Canada is issuing a series of monthly weather 

 charts. Each chart shows the mean temperature, the 

 difference from the average mean temperature, and 

 the total precipitation of the month throughout 

 southern Canada. The highest and lowest tempera- 

 tures at various stations are given in tabular form. 

 Weather and agricultural reports for nearly too 

 stations are added. There are also notes on the 

 probability of gales on the Great I^kes in the month 

 of publication. 



Thb problem of di-ti-nuining the forces which will 

 act on a part of an actual aeroplane when in flight 

 by observations on a model in a wind-tunnel is a 

 very difficult one. .An attempt at a solution of part of 

 the problem has been made at the Bureau of 

 Standards at Washington by Mr. H. L. Dryden, to 

 whose work Scientific Paper No. jq^ of the Bureau 



