583 



NATURE 



[April 23, 1896 



familiar. It is true that two or three rings of growth in a tree 

 are often very close together in consequence, perhaps, of 

 adverse seasons, or insect depredations upon the leaves ; and 

 this is easy to understand. 



It seems therefore not easy to say what can have occasioned 

 this apparently abrupt cessation of vigour in a tree which had 

 previously made good progress, and which again as suddenly 

 renewed its former healthy condition. 



Would any extraordinary convulsion of nature be likely to 

 account for the facts of the case? But might we not expect 

 to see evidence of similar catastrophes at various epochs in a 

 tree of such great age ? Nothing, however, afterwards appears 

 but ordinary average growth, becoming gradually less with 

 increasing age. _ 



Now the dates given on the part of the section about where 

 the thinning occurs run up comparatively close to, but do not 

 quite correspond with a very remarkable period of the world's 

 history, viz. towards the middle of the fourteenth century. If 

 the tree had ceased to grow for a few years before it was cut, the 

 correspondence would be very close indeed. 



About this period many extraordinary particulars are given in 

 Hecker's "Epidemics of the Middle Ages." In this work 

 details occur of the appalling convulsions, terrestrial and atmo- 

 spheric, to which the world was subjected for some years prior to 

 the outbreak of the Black Death. 



Amongst others of a similar tendency the following passages 

 appear. 



" Mighty revolutions in the organism of the earth of which 

 we have credible information had preceded it (the Black Death). 

 From China to the Atlantic the foundations of the earth were 

 shaken ; throughout Asia and Europe the atmosphere was in 

 commotion, and endangered by its baneful influence both vege- 

 table and animal life." 



" Before the earthquake (that of Cyprus) a pestiferous wind 

 spread so poisonous an odour that many were overpowered by 

 it, and expired in dreadful agonies. This phenomenon is one of 

 the rarest that has been observed, for nothing is more constant 

 than the composition of the air." 



" Earthquakes were more general than had been within the 

 range of history. In thousands of places chasms were formed 

 from whence arose noxious vapours." 



" It is probable, therefore, that the atmosphere contained 

 foreign and sensibly perceptible admixtures to a great extent, 

 which at least in the lower regions could not be decomposed 

 and rendered ineffective by separation." 



"The order of the seasons seemed to be reversed— rains, 

 floods, and failures in crops were so general that few places were 

 exempt from them." 



" In the inmost depths of the globe that impulse was given in 

 the year 1333, which in uninterrupted succession for six-and- 

 twenty years shook the surface of the earth even to the western 

 shores of Europe. From the very beginning the air partook of the 

 terrestrial concussion. Atmospherical waters overflowed the land, 

 or its plants and animals perished under the scorching heat." 

 (Hecker's " Epidemics of the Middle Ages," trans. Babington.) 



Particular mention is made of the fearful natural calamities 

 then visited upon China, which seems to have suffered more 

 than any other place recorded. Now this points to the special 

 activity of subterranean forces on the Pacific sea-board ; and, con- 

 sequently, British Columbia is not unlikely to have come in for 

 a heavy share of the physical disturbances of that period. If so, 

 is it not very probable that as strong an impression would bo made 

 upon the plants and animals of that part of the globe as upon 

 those of other countries that are mentioned ? Now trees are the 

 only beings at present living which could possibly have been con- 

 temporary with these calamities ; and, as it is not difficult to 

 determine their age approximately, it would be very interesting 

 to carry out investigations in other instances,' and thus ascertain 

 if nature has recorded in the giants of the forest some impress of 

 events which were fraught with such dire consequences to the 

 human race. Henry J. Colbourn. 



Woolhampton, Reading, April 4. 



Carib Pottery. 

 Last year in St. Kitts, in a cliff fresh cut by a wash, a gentle- 

 man found what were apparently the contents of a Carib grave- 

 fragments of pottery, two complete utensils, and pieces of 

 human bones. The whole is now in the possession of Dr. 

 W. J. Branch. 



NO. 1382, VOL. 53] 



This is the first discovery, as far as I can ascertain, of eitln 

 bones or pottery in the Leeward Islands, though Carib pottei \ 

 is common in some of the Windward Islands. Since then, 

 however, I have found a kitchen-midden, and procured plenty 

 of small fragments, along with crab-claws, broken shells, fish- 

 bones, &c. 



The human bones above mentioned are the shafts, without 

 the ends, of a femur, tibia, and fibula, a fifth metatarsal, a 

 phalanx of the thumb, and several chips of the other fibula and 



Fig. I. I-k;. 2. 



tibia. The tibia is curious as being very flat— almost two- 

 sided, the interosseous border being merely a ridge on the outer 

 surface. 



The pottery consists of an oval bowl (Fig. i), which the finder 

 unhappilybroke,a small plate (Fig. 2), and a number of fragments. 

 The bowl is mended so as to be now entire ; it measures 9J in. 

 by 6 in. and 3I in. in depth ; and was probably made in St. 

 Kitts, where there is no good clay, for it is of a coarse dark earth, 

 soft and badly baked. The plate, size 8 in. by 7 in., is nearly 

 complete ; it is of the same material, and is ornamented with'an 



Fig. 3. 



incised line winding round and ending in the curious spirally 

 curved handle ; there is a small perforated knob on the outside 

 opposite the handle, apparently for a string to hang up the 

 vessel. About fourteen of the fragments have been pieced 

 together, making part of a large jar. From this I have restored the 

 jarasin thesketch(Fig. 3). The dimensions were: — Diameter at 

 brim 13 J in., diameter at bulge \o\ in., depth 12J in. It is of 

 the red Nevis clay, apparently turned on a lathe, and well 

 baked. The pattern is in white lines, and fired. 



St. Kitts, W. I., March 30. C. W. Branch. 



The New Education Bill and Local Museums. 



I DESIRE to call the immediate attention of those 

 solicitous for the progress and improvement of local museums 

 to the opportunity afforded by the Education Bill now before 

 Parliament for obtaining some public recognition of their value 

 in any scheme for the encouragement of secondary education. 

 By some County Councils the Technical Instruction Act has 

 been construed as permitting grants being made from the 

 " Customs and Excise " funds to local museums, but other 

 Councils have not so acted, and it is very desirable that this 

 point should be definitely settled. All that would be required 

 is the insertion in Section 12 (page 8 of the Bill as printed), and 

 perhaps best at the end of Clause 2, of words giving power to 

 the "Education Authority" to aid in the estabhshment and 

 maintenance of museums, whether the property of a public 

 body or a private society, provided that such museums are 

 devoted to the instruction of the public, and are, of course, 

 under such regulations and control as might be deemed 

 necessary. 



There can be little doubt, I think, of the valuable services 

 which well-arranged local museums could afford to the work of 

 technical instruction, more particularly in calling forth and 

 encouraging a taste for natural science studies. But the great 



