NA TURE 



\yan. 1 1, 1872 



The King of Burmah has made special application to be favoured 

 with the holy beast. 



Ax earthquake took place at Valparaiso in the early part of 

 November (date not given) at 10.5 P.M. The shock was smart, 

 and apparently from E. to W. There was another slighter 

 shock shortly after midnight. 



On Oct. 10 an earthquake was felt at Salvador, also in Cen- 

 tral America, at 8.27 A.M. It was slight. Another was felt on 

 the 1 2th, at 11.36 P.M., lasting nineteen seconds, with a strong 

 shock. After the 12th were two slight shocks, it is to be sup- 

 posed conforming with those of Nicaragua. 



On Sept. 25 an earthquake was felt at Carrizal Bajo, in 

 North Chile, at 4.3 p.m., preceded by aloud noise. 



Three islands have lately been surveyed by the United 

 States Government in the North Pacific Ocean. They are 

 Ocean Island, in latitude 28" 25' N., longitude 178° 25' W. 

 Midway Island, or Brooks Island, in latitude 28° 15'N., longitude 

 178' 20' W. ; Pearl and Hermes Islands, latitude 27° 50' N., and 

 lontfitude 175° 50' N. They are all three coral islands, and 

 abound in turtle, and birds were found in great numbers. There 

 is but little guano and not much vegetation. 



In connection with the bad weather in November in the Bay 

 of Bengal, the telegraph lines were on the loth affected by earth- 

 lines on the east coist of India. At Madras these currents were 

 first noticed at 6 a.m., they abated at 4 p.m., and were strongest 

 in the lines forming a considerable angle with the magnetic me- 

 ridian. They were also observed in the Madras cable. In Cal- 

 cutta the currents were noticed at about 3 a.m. and ceased at 

 2 P.M. 



ANCIENT ROCK INSCRIPTIONS IN OHIO * 



SEVERAL diagrams were presented to the section representing 

 rock sculptures in Ohio, that are presumed to be ancient and 

 to have some significance. The largest is a tracing made by Dr. 

 J. H. Salisbury, of CleveLand, with the assistance of Mrs. Salis- 

 bury, from a mural face of conglomerate, near the famous " Black 

 Hand " in Licking County, Ohio. Once there was a space of ten 

 or twelve feet in height, by fifty or sixty feet in length, covered by 

 these inscriptions. Most of them have been obliterated by the 

 recent white settlers. 



In 1 86 1, Dr. Salisbury took copies from a space about eight by 

 fifteen feet, by laying a piece of coarse muslin over them, and 

 tracing sucli as remain uninjured, life size, on the cloth. In this 

 space there are found tobe twenty-three characters, most of which 

 are the arrow-head or bird-track character. These are all cut on 

 the edge of the strata, presenting a face nearly vertical, but a 

 little shelving outward, so as to be sheltered from the weather. 



Another copy of the remnants of similar inscriptions was taken 

 by Colonel Whittlesey and Mr. J. B. Comstock, in 1869, from 

 the "Turkey Foot Rock," at the rapids of the Maumee, near 

 Perrysburg. These are on a block of limestone, and in the course 

 of the twenty-five past years have been nearly destroyed by the 

 hand of man. What is left was taken by a tracing of the size of 

 nature. 



On the surface of a quarry of grindstone grit at Independence, 

 Cuyahoga County, Ohio, a large inscribed surface was uncovered 

 in 1854. Mr. B. Wood, Deacon Bicknell, and other citizens of 

 Independence, secured a block about six feet by four, and built it 

 into the north wall of a stone church they were then building. 

 Colonel Whittlesey presented a reduced sketch, one-fourth size of 

 nature, taken by Dr. Salisbury and Dr. J. M. Lewis, in 1S69, 

 which was made perfect by the assistance of a photographer. 

 Some of the figures sculptured on this slab are cut an inch to an 

 inch-and-a-half in the rock, and they were covered by soil a foot 

 to eighteen inches in thickness, on which large trees were grow- 

 ing. Like all of the others, they were made by a sharp-pointed 

 tool like a pick, but as yet no such tool has been found among 

 the relics of the mound-builders or of the Indians. The figures 



* Paper read before the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, Section of Archajology, by C. Whittlesey. Reprinted from tire 

 t NaUtralisi. 



are very curious. Among them is something like a trident, or 

 fish-spear, a serpent, a human hand, and a number of track-like 

 figures, which the people call buffalo-tracks, but which Dr. 

 Salisbury regards as a closer representation of a human foot 

 covered by a shoe-pack or moccasin. Another figure somewhat 

 resembles the section of a bell with its clapper. 



Near the west line of Belmont County, Ohio, Mr. James \V. 

 Ward, then of Cincinnati, now of New York, in 1859 took a 

 sketch of two large isolated sandstone rocks, on which are groups 

 of figures similar to those already noticed. Here are the bird- 

 track characters, the serpent, the moccasin or buffalo-tracks, and 

 some anomalous figures. These are plainly cut, with a pick, into 

 the surface of the rock, which, like the Independence stone, is 

 substantially imperishable. Here we have also the representation 

 of the human foot, and the foot of a bear. Another figure, which 

 appears to be the foot of some animal with four clumpy toes. 

 Prof. Cope thinks may be the foretrack of a Menopome. One 

 peculiarity of these sculptured human feet is a monstrously en- 

 larged great-toe joint, even greater than is produced by the modern 

 process of shoe-pinching. This has been observed in other ancient 

 carvings of the human foot upon the rocks near St. Louis, Mis- 

 souri. These feet range in size from seven to fifteen inches in 

 length. Of all these representations, the bear's foot is closest to 

 nature. The bird-track, so called, presents six varieties, some of 

 which are anatomically correct. The human hand is more perfect 

 than the foot. 



Dr. Salisljury finds, on comparison of these syinbolical figures 

 with tlie Oriental sign-writing, or hieroglyphical alphabets, that 

 there are many characters in common. Some Soo years before 

 Christ, the Chinese had a bird-track character in their syllable 

 alphabet. The serpent is a symbol so common among the early 

 nations, and has a significance so various, that very little use can 

 be made of it in the comparison. 



These inscriptions differ materially from those made by the 

 modem red man. He is unable to read that class of them which 

 appears to be ancient. 



Lieut. Whipple has mentioned in the " Government Report ot 

 the Pacific Railroad Surveys," an instance of the bird-track 

 character inscribed upon the rocks of Arizona. Prof. Kerr, of 

 North Carolina, states that he has noticed similar characters cut 

 in the rocks of one of the passes of the Black Mountains, at the 

 head of the Tennessee river. 



These facts indicate wide-spread universality in the use of this 

 style of inscription, and they indicate something higher than the 

 present symbolical or picture writing of the North American 

 Indians. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



MoiitJily Microscopical Journal, January. — " The markings on 

 the Battledore scales of some of the Lepidoptera." By John 

 Anthony, M.D., &c. In this paper the author contributes the 

 result of his observations on the plumules of /'c)/iw«w<?//w.-i/iU7.r, 

 from which he is led to the conclusion that the markmgs on the 

 ribs of the scales are elevations, very much resembling in shape 

 the vegetable glands on the petal of Anagallis, that is, the eleva- 

 tions have a base, a column, and a rounded head, or capital ; the 

 form being very much like that of an ordinary collar->tud. The 

 methods employed during observation are detailed in the p.iper, 

 which is illustrated by two plates. — "The Nerves of Capillary 

 Vessels and their probable action in health and disease." By 

 Dr. Lionel S. Beale, F. RS., This paper is divided into two 

 parts, the anatomical investigation, and probable mode of action. 

 The fir..>t part, containing the results of anatomical investigation 

 alone, is published in the current number of the journal. The 

 sections of this paper are, " Structure of Capillaries," "Nuclei 

 or Masses of Bioplasm of Capillaries," "Nerve Fibres," ** Ar- 

 rangement of the Nerve Fibres distributed to the Capillaries," 

 "Central Origin and Peripheral Connections of Nerve Fibres 

 distributed to the Capillaries," and the " Method of Demonstra- 

 tion." Such an important contribution to microsCDj^ic anatomy 

 could not be abstracted within the limits of this notice with 

 justice to the author and his subject. W^e therefore commend it 

 to the notice of all interested therein, with the assurance that they 

 will find much matter for reflection. — On a New Micrometric 

 Goniometer Eye-piece for the Microscope. By f. P. Southworth. 

 The eye-piece micrometer here described is obtained by photo- 

 graphic reduction from heavy India-ink lines drawn on a white 

 Bristol board. In the micrometer the lines are n^ of an inch 

 apart, and jet black, whilst the spaces between them are trans- 



