February i8, 1892] 



NATURE 



The Zodiacal Light.—" The Zodiacal Light as related to 

 the Terrestrial Temperature Variations" is the sul>ject of a 

 reprint from the American A/acoro/o^t'cal yourtia/ (or November 

 1891, recently received from Mr. O. T. Sherman. In it the 

 author endeavours to show that, when the temperature of the 

 whole earth is considered, "the principal cause of variation is 

 the difference in the sum of the local densities of the zodiacal 

 light-forming matter which lies between us and the sun." 

 Curves have been constructed to indicate five-yearly means of 

 temperature variation from 1790 to 1884, five-yearly means for 

 the zodiacal light, and the yearly auroral numbers for Europe 

 south of the polar circle ; but there are not sufficient data to 

 permit the deduction of any very definite conclusion from them. 



THE ANCIENT TOMBS AND BURIAL MOUNDS 



OF JAPAN. 

 A T a recent meeting of the China branch of the Royal Asiatic 

 ■^ Society at Shanghai, Prof. Hitchcock, of the Smithsonian 

 Institute, read a paper on the ancient tombs and burial mounds 

 of Japan, in the course of which he said that, while the form and 

 structure of the Japanese mounds were now known, thanks to 

 the as yet unpublished researches of his companion in many 

 journeys in Japan, Mr. W. Gowland, their early origin was yet to 

 be traced. It was surmised that a few at least of the Japanese 

 burial customs were derived from China. In the course of his 

 own travels in the north of China he had failed to discover any 

 indications of the existence of mounds like those in Japan ; but 

 he still expected to hear of them from some experienced tra- 

 veller in the interior of that vast empire. Referring to the origin 

 of the tombs, the lecturer said the first Emperor, who lived in 

 the seventh century B.C., is supposed to be buried in Yamato, 

 and the tombs of his successors are pointed out by the Imperial 

 Household Department. The identity of the sepulchres may be 

 questioned, but it is a fact that we can distinguish consecutive 

 modifications of form apparently corresponding to successive 

 periods of time. 



Several distinct methods of interment have prevailed at 

 different periods in Japan. They may be conveniently distin- 

 guished as follows : (i) burial in artificial rock caves; (2) in 

 simple earth mounds, with or without coffins ; (3) in rock 

 chambers, or dolmens ; (4) in double or Imperial mounds. The 

 lecturer then proceeded to illustrate the appearance of these 

 different kinds of mounds by the aid of photograph slides thrown 

 on to a screen. He showed that the double mounds were in- 

 variably protected by a wide and deep moat, sometimes by two, 

 and consisted of two distinct mounds with a depression between 

 them. One of these double mounds, near Sakai, according to 

 Japanese reckoning dates from about the fourth century. The 

 height is about 100 feet, and the circuit of the base 1526 yards. 

 The Emperor Kei Tai, who is reported to have lived in the sixth 

 century, was one of the last emperors known to have been buried 

 in a double mound. Some mounds have terraced sides, and this 

 form is said to date from about the seventh century. Large 

 quantities of clay cylinders were used for the purpose of preserv- 

 ing the terraces against the effects of the weather. When the 

 covering of earth is removed, it is found that the stone chamber 

 beneath, which contained the coffin, opens through passages 

 often 40 feet and sometimes 60 feet long. The earth has in 

 many cases been washed away from the mounds, exposing the 

 rocks which are piled over the central chamber. According to 

 a Japanese authority, in all the sepulchres the first order of per- 

 forming the burials was the piling up of the earthen mound, leav- 

 ing an underground tunnel leading from the outside to the very 

 centre of the mound. This mound completed, the coffin, usually 

 carved and made of stone, in which the corpse was placed, and 

 sealed, was then introduced through the tunnel and placed in the 

 centre of the mound, and the tunnel was then filled up with stones. 

 The lecturer, however, said the coffins were not always intro- 

 duced through the galleries, and the tunnels were certainly not 

 filled up with stones, although their ends were probably closed 

 with stones. He inferred from his own observations that the 

 chambers were frequently, if not usually, built round the coffins. 

 Stone and clay coffins had been found together in one cave, 

 showing them to have been contemporaneous. 



After showing a number of photographs of the pottery dis- 

 covered in the mounds, he drew attention to a number of small 

 clay figures representing human beings. He said it was a very 

 ancient custom in Japan to bury the retainers of a prince stand- 

 ing upright around his grave. Like many other customs, this 

 also came from China. In the time of the Japanese Emperor 



NO. I 164, VOL. 45] 



Suinin (97-30 B.C.), his younger brother died, and they buried 

 all who had been in his immediate service around his tomb 

 alive. " For many days they died not, but wept and cried 

 aloud. At last they died. Dogs and crows assembled and ate 

 them. The Emperor's compassion was aroused, and he desired 

 to change the custom. "When the Empress Hibatsuhime-no- 

 Mikoto died, the Mikado inquired of his officers, saying : ' We 

 know that the practice of following the dead is not good. What 

 shall be done?' Nomi-no-Sukune then said : ' It is not good 

 to bury living men standing, at the sepulchre of a prince, and 

 this cannot be handed down to posterity.' He then proposed 

 to make clay figures of men and horses, and to bury them as 

 substitutes. The Mikado was well pleased with the plan, and 

 ordered that henceforth the old custom should not be followed, 

 but that clay images should be set round the sepulchre instead." 

 Even as late as the year 646 an edict was published, forbidding 

 the burial of living persons, and also the burial of " gold, silver 

 brocade, diaper, or any kind of variegated thing." From this 

 it might be inferred that the old custom of living burial was 

 kept up, to some extent, even to the seventh century. The 

 edict reads : ' ' Let there be complete cessation of all such 

 ancient practices as strangling oneself to follow the dead, or 

 strangling others to make them follow the dead, or killing the 

 dead man's horse, or burying treasures in the tomb for the dead 

 man's sake, or cutting the hair, or stabbing the thigh, or wailing 

 for the dead man's sake." The figures of clay thus introduced 

 as substitutes for human sacrifices, and also to take the place of 

 horses, are known as tsuchi ningio. Specimens of them are 

 now very rare, and this fact leads to the supposition that the 

 figures were not buried, but left exposed on the surface of the 

 ground. 



In the discussion which followed, Dr. Edkins pointed out the 

 resemblance which existed between the stone relics found in 

 Japan and China and in Europe, as indicating the existence of 

 communication between distant lands in those days. .It was 

 also very interesting to note that, in the very earliest ages, men 

 had been possessed with the idea of a future life for the soul. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCA TIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge.— E. W. Hobson, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer of 

 Christ's College, late Deputy Lowndean Professor, has been 

 approved for the degree of Doctor in Science. 



A decision on the subject of appointing lecturers in agri- 

 cultural science will be taken by the Senate on February 25. 



A meeting for the purpose of considering the propriety of 

 erecting in Westminster Abbey a memorial to Prof, Adams 

 has been summoned by the Master of St. John's, and will be 

 held in the Combination room of that College on Saturday, 

 February 20, at 3.30 p.m. 



St. Andrews. — At a meeting on Saturday, the 13th inst., of 

 the Senatus Academicus of St. Andrews University, consisting 

 of the Principals and Professors of the United College and St. 

 Mary's College, St. Andrews, and University College, Dundee, 

 it was unanimously resolved to confer the honorary degree of 

 LL.D. upon Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S., and Dr. Hugo 

 Miiller, F. R. S. The conferring of the degrees will lake place 

 in April. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, January 28.— " On certain Ternary Alloys. 

 Part V. Determination of various Critical Curves, and their 

 Tie-lines and Limiting Points." By C. R. Alder Wright, 

 D.Sc, F. R. S., Lecturer on Chemistry and Physics in St. 

 Mary's Hospital Medical School. 



The author describes a number of "critical curves " obtained 

 in accordance with the triangular system of representation 

 proposed by Sir G. G. Stokes, whereby the composition of a given 

 ternary mixture is represented by the position of the centre of 

 gravity of three weights placed at the respective corners of 

 an equilateral triangle, and respectively in the proportions of the 

 three components of the mixture. With certain pairs of metals, 

 e.g. lead and zinc, each will only dissolve the other to a limited 

 extent when molten, so that a mixture of the two separates into 

 two binary alloys, one containing chiefly lead with a little zinc, 

 the other mainly zinc with a little lead, the exact proportion 

 depending on the temperature of the mass. If a third metal, 

 e.g. tin, be added to the mixture, such that this third, or 



