380 
tact with the Romans; and thinks that a very doubtful 
answer must be given to the question, “ Have there been 
found in Cornwall any interments which can with some 
certainty be said to have preceded the practice of crema- 
tion?” 
Mr. Borlase entirely dissents from the opinion that 
articles interred with the deceased had reference to any 
view of utility in the next world, or, in other words, that 
they are the result of a matured belief in a future state ; 
but guards himself from being supposed to assert that 
such a belief was non-existent in the days of the barrows. 
The large sepulchral urns are of two kinds. 1. Vase- 
shaped vessels from 10 to 20 inches high, ribbed round 
the upper part, sometimes ornamented with small inden- 
tations, but never with the chevron pattern. 2. Barrel- 
shaped vessels from 8 to 13'5 inches high, invariably orna- 
mented with the chevron pattern. 
Vessels differing from the foregoing in size only, and 
ranging from 4°5 to 6 inches in height, are very frequently 
found in Cornish barrows, and sometimes in close proxi- 
mity to the large ones. 
Mr, Borlase has compiled, from county historie s, papers 
read to various societies, manuscripts of older antiquaries 
—especially Dr. Borlase—and his own note-book, a de- 
tailed account of explorations and discoveries in the 
Cornish tumuli, made at different periods, from Norden’s 
account in 1584, of “an auntient buriall at Withiell,” to 
his own researches at Pradannack in November 1871. 
It may be doubted whether any part of his inte- 
resting volume exceeds this in value; and we indulge 
the hope that others—not antiquaries only—may fol- 
low his example, and collect and record the researches 
that have been made in the departments to which 
they specially devote themselves, in the counties in 
which they reside. We should greatly like to linger 
over this chapter, but both time and space forbid us to 
do more—and this we do most cordially—than congratu- 
late the author on the successes which have attended his 
explorations. 
He devotes his last chapter to “ The Age of the Monu- 
ments,” and thinks that his discoveries justify the conclu- 
sion that some, at least, of the most typical of the inter- 
ments might b2 brought within historic times, and 
assigned to the early centuries of the Christian era. 
The facts which seem chiefly to delight him are those 
he discovered in 1863, on Morvah Hill, and of which 
he gives, as “most worthy,” the following “second 
notice”; — 
“Here was an instance of an interment in a cairn, 
where the body had been burnt on a central natural work 
surrounded by the usual ring of stones, the ashes placed 
in an urn of the usual chevron pattern, accompanied by 
the usual limpet and flint, protected by the usual Kist- 
Vaen, and finally covered in by the usual pile of stones, 
The whole arrangement, in short, being one of the most 
typical examples of the generality of barrows opened in 
the district. But here, in the very Kist itself, what 
should appear but late Roman coins of the third century ! 
What is the most natural inference, then? That the 
coins must be thrown out of the question, because of the 
flint chip? or the whole structure referred at once to the 
Stone Age, thousands of years B.C., because it is encircled 
by large stones, or because the pottery is rude, and its 
ornamentation not curvilinear? Is it not rather the only 
fair course to admit at once that this interment, although 
NATURE 
eet ; 
“ 
(Mar. 20, 1873 
possessing every characteristic of the so-called Stone 
Age, was placed here not earlier than the third century, 
A.D., that is, at the time when the coin was struck ?” (pp. 
263-4). 
Being ignorant, perhaps, of some of the facts of the case, 
we do not presume to say that the author has not correctly 
interpreted his case, but as he seems resolved to ignore 
the question of secondary interments, which have un- 
doubtedly taken place in many instances, and for aught 
that appears, may have occurred at Morvah, we hold 
non proven to be at present the only safe verdict, 
We cannot take leave of Mr. Borlase’s work without 
thanking him for the numerous well-executed illustrations 
with which it is enriched, and congratulating the pub- 
lisher on the manner in which it has been got up. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 
by his correspondents. No notice is taken of anonymous ‘ 
communications. ] : : 
New Experiments on Abiogenesis 
HAvIinG occupied myself for some time past with an experi- | 
mental study of abiogenesis, I have followed with much interest 
the controversies on that question in recent numbers of NATURE, 
and beg leave therefore to state to the readers of this journal the 
results of my experiments, which form in my opinion a not un- 
important contribution to the solution of the interesting pro- 
blem. Fae 
I fully agree with Prof. Burdon Sanderson in the confirmation 
of Dr. Bastian’s statements regarding the well-known turnip-and- j 
cheese experiments. A turnip decoction of the specific gravity ; 
I ‘O1I—1 ‘016, filtered and boiled with cheese (0'25—0'5 grm. to 
50 c.c.), filtered again and neutralised, then boiled for 10 minutes 
and hermetically sealed, is after 2—3 days’ exposure to a tempe- 
rature of 30° C. swarming with Bacterium termo. It is how- 
ever to be remarked that a too great concentration of the solu- 
tion hinders the evolution of the Bacteria; the volume of the 
liquid employed should therefore not be too small, otherwise the 
boiling for 10 minutes will render the solution too much concen- 
trated. Perhaps the negative results recorded by some experi- 
menters are to be explained in this way. : 
Both turnip-decoction and cheese are a mish-mash of substances 
for a great part ill-defined and imperfectly known. It would be 
desirable to substitute for these materials some other mixture of 
better defined ingredients. 
Instead of cheese can be used peptone (0°2 grm. to 50 c.c.) 
with the same result. The peptone is obtained by digestion 
of egg-albumen with artificial gastric juice, subsequently isolated ; 
and purified by repeated precipitation with alcohol. 
In searching for a substitute for the turnip-decoction . 
I found it available not to use the hermetically sealed 
vessels, but to experiment with free admittance of air. The 
recent explorations of Cohn, Burdon Sanderson, and Rind- 
fleisch have shown that the germs of Bacteria are but sparingly « 
present in common air, but notwithstanding it is a matter of 
course that in these experiments no other but perfectly filtered 
air can be admitted. After many trials the following mode of 
experiment was finally adopted. 
I prepared a solution of the mineral salts, that are according 
to Cohn indispensable to the nutrition of Bacteria, viz. I grm, 
potassium nitrate, I grm, magnesium sulphate, 0°2 grm. calcium 
phosphate to 500 c.c. distilled water. (This mixture does not 
quite agree with the solution employed by Cohn, For various 
reasons, which will be stated elsewhere in a more extensive 
report of my experiments, I preferred this modification.) In 
100 c.c. of this liquid were dissolved 2°5 grms. grape-sugar and 
0'4grm. peptone. About 50 c.c. of this solution was poured 
into a glass flask holding about 10ooc.c. The mouth of this 
flask was beforehand polished flat, and a layer of hot molten 
asphalt laid on the flat brim, The liquid in the flask was then 
boiled for ten minutes over an ordinary Argand burner. The 
excessive frothing of the boiling liquid is easily prevented 
using a small flame, and carefully regulating it when the froth is 
on the point of coming up, yet without allowing the liquid to 
