162 



POPtTLAB SCIEiTCE ITEWS. 



[NOVEMBKR, 1888. 



indication of the survival of this superstition is 

 seen by the following quotation from a Book on 

 Rules and Civilities of the year 1685: " If his lord- 

 ship chance to sneeze, you are not to brawl out, 

 ' God bless you,' but, pulling off your hat, bow to 

 him handsomely, and make the obsecration to 

 yourself." The custom among the Jews, when a 

 person indulges in a sneeze, is to ejaculate, " A 

 long life to you." In Italy they say " happiness," 

 and in Germany the people exclaim " gesundhit! " 

 ("health!"). We also find that this singular 

 superstition was very universal among the Greeks 

 and the Romans, and is often referred to by 

 classical authors. Aristotle, for instance, has 

 devoted one of his Problems to the question why 

 the custom of invoking Jupiter Stator was indulged 

 in as a safeguard against the dangers of a sneeze, 

 and tells us that his countrymen regarded the 

 sneeze as sacred. It seems that in Greece it has 

 always been considered an unlucky omen for any 

 one to sneeze at the commencement of an under- 

 taking; and a sneeze to the left was regarded as 

 unlucky, while to sneeze to the right was thought 

 a most lucky sign. Homer carries back this super- 

 stition to Olympus, and to the gods, who make the 

 vaults of heaven ring by invoking Jupiter when 

 one of their number indulges in the ominous act 

 of sneezing. 



Thus we see, that from primitive times, on 

 through successive stages of culture, to the present 

 age, can be traced this sneezing superstition with 

 its attendant joys and terrors. And though this 

 superstitious custom had its root deep in primeval 

 philosophy, and its real signification had long since 

 faded from men's minds, yet the old formula re- 

 mained, and was handed on; showing how slowly 

 and painfully humanity gives up old customs, even 

 though they have dwindled to mere survivals of 



primitive culture. 



— »— 



HOW A MOUND WAS BUILT. 



" While exploring mounds in Ohio this season, 

 under the direction of the National Bureau of 

 Ethnology," says Mr. Gerard Fowke in a paper 

 prepared for Science, " I used great care in the 

 examination of one mound in Pike County, in 

 order to ascertain, if possible, the exact method of 

 its construction. 



" The mound was built upon the site of a house, 

 which had probably been occupied by those whose 

 skeletons were found. The roof had been supported 

 by side-posts, and at intervals by additional inner 

 posts. The outer posts were arranged in pairs a 

 few inches apart, then an interval of about three 

 feet, then two more, and so on. They were all 

 about eight inches in diameter, and extended from 

 two and a half to three feet into the ground, except 

 one a few feet from the centre, which went down 

 fully five feet. All the holes were filled with the 

 loose dark dirt which results from decay of wood. 

 A few contained fragments of charcoal, burned 

 bones or stone, but no ashes ; nor was the surround- 

 ing earth at all burned. 



" Around the outside a trench from three to 

 four feet wide, and from eighteen to twenty inches 

 deep, had been dug, to carry away the water which 

 fell from the roof. Near the middle of this house, 

 which measured about forty feet from side to side, 

 a large fire had been kept burning for several 

 hours, the ashes being removed from time to time. 

 The ash-bed was elliptical in form, measuring 

 about thirteen feet from east to west, and five from 

 north to south. Under the centre of it was a hole, 

 ten inches across and a foot deep, filled with clean 

 ■white ashes in which was a little charcoal, packed 

 very hard. At the western end, on the south side 

 (or farthest from the centre of the house), was a 

 mass of burned animal bones, ashes, and charcoal. 



This was continuous with the ash-bed, though ap- 

 parently not a part of it. The bones were in small 

 pieces, and were, no doubt, the remains of a funeral 

 feast or offering. 



" After the fire died down, rude tools were used 

 to dig a grave at the middle of the house. It 

 measured ten feet in length, from east to west, by 

 a little more than six in breadth. The sides were 

 straight, slanting inward, with rounded corners. 

 The bottom was nearly level, fourteen inches deep, 

 but slightly lower at the centre. Over the bottom 

 ashes had been thinly sprinkled, and on these a 

 single thickness of bark had been laid. The sides 

 had been lined with wood or bark from two to four 

 inches thick. When this was done, two bodies 

 were placed side by side in the grave, both extended 

 at full length on the back, with heads directly 

 west. One, judging from the bones and condition 

 of the teeth, was a woman of considerable age. 

 She was placed in the middle of the grave. Her 

 right arm lay along the side, the left hand being 

 under the pelvic bones of the other skeleton. This 

 was apparently of a man not much, if any, past 

 maturity. The right arm lay across the stomach, 

 the left across the hips. This skeleton was five 

 feet ten inches in length ; the other, five feet four 

 inches. 



" The space between the first skeleton and the 

 south side of the grave was covered with the ashes 

 that had been removed from the fire. Beginning 

 at the feet in a thin layer, — a mere streak, — they 

 gradually increased in thickness toward the head, 

 where they were fully six inches thick. The head 

 was embedded in them. They extended to the end 

 of the grave, reaching across its entire width, and 

 coming almost but not quite in contact with the 

 other head. A considerable amount of the burned 

 bones lay in the south-western corner of the grave, 

 and the ashes along this part curved up over the 

 side until they merged into what remained of the 

 ash-bed. This had extended to the west slightly 

 beyond the end of the grave. 



" As the earth removed from the grave had been 

 thrown out on every side, the bodies were in a hole 

 that was nearly two feet deep. The next step was 

 to cover them. There was no sign of bark, cloth, 

 or any other protecting material above them. They 

 were covered with a black sandy earth, which must 

 have been brought from the creek not far distant. 

 This was piled over them while wet, or at least 

 damp enough to pack firmly, as it required the 

 pick to loosen it, and, besides, was steeper on the 

 sides than dry dirt would have been. It reached 

 just beyond the grave on every side, and was about 

 five and a half feet high, or as high as it could be 

 conveniently piled. 



" So far, all was plain enough: but now another 

 question presented itself that puzzled me not a little; 

 and that was, what became of the house? That 

 there had been one, the arrangement of the numer- 

 ous post-holes plainly showed; but the large earth- 

 mound above the tumulus, or grave, was perfectly 

 solid above the original surface, giving not the 

 slightest evidence that the posts or any part of the 

 house had ever reached up into it. I incline to 

 the opinion that the great fire near the middle of the 

 house had been made from the timbers composing 

 it; that the upper timbers had been torn down, and 

 the posts cut off at the surface, the whole being a 

 kind of votive offering to the dead. At any rate, 

 it is plain that a house stood there until the time 

 the mound was built; audit was not there after- 

 wards. 



" For the purpose of covering the grave, sand 

 was brought from a ridge a short distance away. 

 There was no stratification, either horizontal or 

 curving. Earth had been piled up, first around the 

 black mass forming the grave-mound, and then 



different parties had deposited their loads at con- 

 venient places, until the mound assumed its 

 final conical arrangement. The lenticular masses 

 through almost the whole mound' showed that the 

 earth had been carried in skins or small baskets. 

 The completed mound was thirteen feet high and 

 about one hundred feet in diameter. 



" Two and a half feet above the original surface 

 was an extended skeleton, head west. It lay just 

 east of the black earth over the grave. Sixteen 

 feet south of the grave, on the original surface, and 

 within the outer row of post-holes, were two skele- 

 tons extended, heads nearly west. It would seem 

 that the flesh was removed before burial, as the 

 bones were covered with a dull-red substance, 

 which showed a waxy texture when worked with a 

 knife-blade. 



" No relics of any description were found with 

 any of the skeletons; but a fine copper bracelet 

 was picked up in a position that showed it was 

 dropped accidentally." 



SCIENTIFIC BREVITIES. 



Mutilated Chkysalides. — A correspondent 

 of an exchange gives an account of how a chrysa- 

 lis of the ^lonarch butterfly developed while pierced 

 by a pin, the imago appearing in due time. He 

 also pierced some chrysalides of the cabbage but- 

 terfly (Pieris rapce), and they also brought forth 

 perfect insects. One of these insects, when liatched, 

 had the pin through the thorax, as if transfixed in 

 the perfect state. Of course, they are badly de- 

 formed; but it goes to prove that injuries may be 

 inflicted upon the chrysalides without preventing 

 their development. 



Deviation of the Penddldm. — A simple 

 method of rendering visible the deviation of the 

 Foucault pendulum has recently been devised by 

 Mr. Campbell. The bob of the pendulum is re- 

 placed by a permanent magnet of a cylindrical 

 form, placed with its axis coinciding in direction 

 with the suspending wire. On a point vertically 

 beneath the centre of suspension is swung horizon- 

 tally a light bar of some magnetic material, carry- 

 ing a mirror, from which is reflected a beam of 

 light. On putting the pendulum in vibration in 

 the vertical plane which contains the bar, the latter 

 follows the deviation of the pendulum, which is 

 thus rendered very visible by the corresponding 

 reflection of the luminous beam. 



Iodide of Starch. — After working upon cholic 

 acid, and more particularly upon an iodized com- 

 pound of this acid which behaves in a manner 

 analogous to the iodide of starch, F. Mylius re- 

 investigated the latter compound, arriving at the 

 very unexpected conclusion that pure iodine does 

 not color starch blue; to obtain this coloration the 

 presence of hydriodic acid or of a soluble iodide is 

 necessary. The blue products known as iodide of 

 starch should be compounds of four molecules 

 iodide of starch with one molecule of hydriodic 

 acid or of a soluble iodide. 



Two New Vegetadle Perfumes are said to 

 have lately become articles of commerce. One of 

 these is a kind of xylopia from the province of 

 Chirigui, in Costa Rica. The odor closely resem- 

 bles that of Canaga odorat a, and the flowers are 

 now used, like those of that plant, in the manufac- 

 ture of ylang-ylang. The other is named ouco, and 

 is the highly odoriferous blossom of a kind of aca- 

 cia-tree which is found in Central Africa, and 

 which Serpa Pinto was the first to describe. The 

 ouco flowers are brought down the Cubangin River 

 for sale. They cover the trees on which they 

 grow with such profusion, that they fill the atmos- 

 phere with the overpowering richness of their 

 scent. 



