POPULAR SOlEISrCE I^EWS. 
[January, 1891. 
from observation or testimony that rhynchonella 
pleurdon is a shell of the carboniferous limestone, 
and rhynchonella tetraedra is a shell of the lias. We 
could not from mere inspection of the fossils 
themselves pronounce as to their real geological 
position. It is quite true that, by practice, a 
paleontologist has his eye so trained that he can 
make a close approximation to the actual horizon 
of fossils which he may never have seen before ; 
but he can only do this by availing himself of a 
wide experience based upon the ascertained order 
of appearance of fossils, as determined by the law 
of superposition. 
Thus, it is seen for geological purposes, and, 
indeed, for all purposes of comparison between 
the fauna and flora of dififerent periods, that it is 
absolutely essential, first of all, to have the order of 
superposition of strata rigorously determined. 
Unless this is done, the most fatal mistakes may 
be made in paleontological chronology. But when 
it has been once done in one typical district, the 
order thus established may be held as proved for 
a wide region, where, from paucity of sections, or 
from geological disturbance, the true succession 
of formations cannot be satisfactorily determined. 
When the order of superposition has been deter- 
mined in a great series of stratified formations, it 
is found that the fossils at the bottom are not 
quite the same as those at the top of the series. 
As we trace the beds upward, we discover that 
species after species of the lowest platforms dis- 
appear until, perhaps, not one of them is found. 
With the cessation of the older species, others 
make their entrance. These, in turn, are found to 
die out and are replaced by newer forms. After 
patient examination of the rooks, it is ascertained 
that every well-marked formation is characterized 
by its own species or genera, or by a general 
assemblage or facies of organic foi-ms. This can 
only, of course, be determined by actual practical 
experience over an area of some size. When the 
typical fossils of a formation are known, they 
serve to identify that formation in its progress 
across the country. Thus, as we trace the foi-ma- 
tion into tracts where it would be impossible to 
determine the true order of superposition, owing 
to the want of sections, or the disturbed condition 
of the rocks, we can employ the fossils as a means 
of identiflcation, and speak with confidence as to 
the succession of the rocks. AVe may even demon- 
strate that in some mountainous ground the beds 
have been turned completely upside down, if we 
can show that the fossils which are now the upper- 
most strata ought properly to lie underneath those 
in the beds below them. 
[Original In Popitlar Science News.] 
JACK OF SOCIAL HARMONY TO THE AGE 
OF THE ABORIGINES OF NEW NEXICO. 
BY M. J. (iOKTON. 
A STUDY in cosmopolitanism, not only of many 
different peoples, but of peoples belonging to the 
successive epochs of the race development, may be 
made a most interesting subject for observation in 
traversing old New Mexico. From low grades 
of Comanche and Apache Indians, still wolfish in 
instinct, up through the Pueblo inhabitants, nom- 
ads of pastoral grade, looking in stolid apathy- 
living monuments of unsocial lite and spirit — upon 
the new world of telegraph and the railway, with 
the inmiobile masks of dejection and animalism 
which deny all expression of even the slightest sug- 
gestion of intelligence to their faces, they note the 
on-rushing tide of life, in which they can take no 
part, as they are unfitted by lack of capacity to 
understand the complex incidents of a civilization 
beyond their comprehension, save as unwilling 
spectators ; and so on up to the modern type of the 
highest intellectual and best developed specimen 
of civilization, perfectly able to scientifically un- 
ravel all the riddles of a past and — by the savage 
decendants — forgotten ancestry. 
The name New Mexico is a misnomer, as the 
archaeologist finds many traces of a pre-historic 
population, which in numbers, manners, customs, 
and peculiarities show that the country must have 
been gray with antiquity long previous to the dis- 
covery of America by Columbus. The easily de- 
cipherable remains show the occupancy of the 
land by the clifl-dwellers ; then are found distinct 
traces of the wild prairie Indian, followed by the 
rude mining contrivances of the Spaniard, who 
dominated the cliff'-dweller and drove back the in- 
vading predatory hordes of the wolfish Indians : 
then came the Mexican, followed by the restless, 
energetic, resistless American. 
In Mora County, where excavations were made, 
the plan and size of the ancient villages showed 
distinctly the traces of a people similar in char- 
acteristics to the Pueblo Indians of the communal 
houses at the present date. In all the excavations 
were found earthen-ware pots, filled with charred 
corn ; and large quantities of pottery, well-made 
arrow points of flint and obsidian, and hand-mills 
(metates) were also unearthed. One very singular 
fact crops out, if the individual making observa- 
tions is keen eyed enough to note the indications : 
that at some time, the Spaniard, in his greed for 
gold and silver, compelled the Pueblo Indians to 
work the mines along the mountains from the 
Santa Fe range to the Organ range and elsewhere, 
and that although traces are found of the metals in 
the remains of the Pueblos, nothing of value is 
found during the excavations, showing that 
while the old abandoned shafts were worked by 
the Pueblo Indians under duress, they were not 
conversant with these metals previously ; or, more 
exactly, that the people, pre-historic and of an old 
type, and other to those found when Espejo made 
his famous tour, three centuries ago, did no work 
among the precious metals. 
No one ever doubted the mineral wealth of "New 
Mexico. Situated as it is in the belt of the flint 
girdle of the Rocky Mountains, it is, from its 
position, the link in the mineral belt which extends 
across the continent binding Colorado to the north 
and old Mexico to the south, as has long been 
known. It was after the conquest of old Mexico 
and the finding of the precious metals there that 
the Spaniards pushed on and up into this country, 
conquered it, and undoubtedly sought out the 
placers and mines, and established smelters, nu- 
merous of which are still found. When new leads 
are accidently found, there is an uncanny sensa- 
tion in the discovery of old residuum, and mayhap 
a long unused gangway hidden away imder the wash 
from the mountains above; or, as many believe, 
concealed by the Mexicans when the Americans 
obtained the Territory ; or, more unlikely still, that 
the Pueblo Indians obliterated the traces of ancient 
mining, to keep the Spaniards from again sending 
them to enforced labor in the mines. But in the 
.Jarillas district are found what is now known as 
the Silver Hills, and here are traces of ancient 
workings of a considerable territory, and extensive 
works all covered over with debris from some 
source and the dumps of rejected ore, which will 
pay a handsome profit under present modes of 
treatment and advantages of transportation. If 
such development of the mines obtains through- 
out the Territory, it shows the slack method of 
the enslaved Pueblos ; and there mnst be fabulous 
wealth hidden away in the dump-heaps of all the 
old half-developed mines and carelessly scaven- 
gered waste lots. 
This view obtained in the Cerrillos mining dis- 
trict, one of the oldest and most marked of the 
Spanish workings in the Santa Fe district. About 
twenty miles south of Santa Fe, it was the home of 
the Tegua and Tanos nations of the ancient races. 
Here are the abandoned pueblos of San Marcos, 
San Lazaro, Calisteo, Cienaga, Agua Frio (Qid- 
mado), and the puebolos of the Arroyo Hondo. 
A deeper insight shows that the Spaniards con- 
quered the country for the metals, and then en- 
slaved the Pueblos to have the mines worked. 
This culminated in the great revolution of 1860, 
when the Spaniards were driven back. 
The Rio Grande River meanders through this 
lonely land, and the sun stares down on the naked 
waste, not sparing its bareness, ugliness, and bald- 
ness ; and the sun-baked, desolate land and the 
dreary waste, nothing discomfited, stare back 
blankly. In all the dreary sameness and loneliness 
there is no grateful freedom or repose in all its 
unadorned, unprotected breadth. For the loneli- 
ness was broken in upon by the slow throb of the 
engine at the reduction works, and the hot air 
was wearied by the sense of a fretful toil and 
ever increasing monotony, in which the sun shone 
without joyousness, and the wide-stretching barren 
solitude was without serenity. 
The highly vitalized air of social enterprise fades 
in this far away region. To come in contact with 
the people of this region, whose minds are nar- 
rowed by petty interests and the hand-to-hand 
struggle with Nature in her primitive wildness, is 
to take lessons in the inharmonious development of 
the race in the past forms, and to appreciate the 
growth of this later and happier age, when the in- 
dividual who is open to Its influences may be 
healthfully nourished by the social atmosphere of 
the time. 
[Original in POPULAR SCIENCE Nbws.J 
SPRING ROCK CAVE. 
BY II. J. SEYMOUH. 
Although the above heading is not found in 
any of the guide-books used by travellers viewing 
the wonders of Niagara, yet the entrance of said 
cave is in plain sight of every one who passes 
along the road on the west, or Canada bank of the 
river, a few rods below the upper suspension bridge. 
liOoking across to the American side, my curiosity 
was often roused by what appeared to be two or 
three entrances into the rock, having a rude like- 
ness to Gothic doorways. 
On a holiday last summer, as I was crossing the 
bridge, intent on a walk for exercise and amuse- 
ment, I discovered a small ladder fastened against 
the perpendicular rock on the east side, reaching 
down to the talus 1)elow. "Now is my opportu- 
nity," thought I, "to investigate those holes." 
Proceeding to the place where I had seen the 
ladder, I found a substantial stairway leading a 
dozen or more feet down to a shelf in the preci- 
pice, at the farther end of which there was a copi- 
ous si)iing of the coolest of water, which was ap-i 
parently much used by the neighborhood. From I 
this shelf a narrow and rather frail ladder reached 1 
down some eighteen or twenty feet to the talus^ 
l)elow. The placing of this ladder was evidently 
due to the enterprise of some juveniles, a number 
of whom were at that moment bathing in the river. ] 
Crossing with some difficulty the tail-race of a fac- 
tory, the waters of which poured out of a hole in 3 
the rock above me, that was some eighty feet below J 
the surface above where the factory was situated, | 
and scrambling up through a thicket of cedars, '. 
vines, and berry bushes, I found myself in close j 
