610 
NATURE 
. 
[ Oct. 21, 1886 | 
idea of a future state and also of punishment for one offender, 
the niggardly man. When an old man came near death he 
was placed upon a litter, and carried round to see the old 
scenes amid which he had passed his life—his canoe, the sea, 
and all the old familiar subjects, and then he was taken back 
to wait his time. After death he was placed in a sitting 
posture and taken into the public square, with his weapons by 
his side, and before him the people placed offerings of their 
valuable goods and money. 
Notes on Photographs of Mummies of Ancient Egyptian Kin2s 
recently Unrolled, by Sir William Dawson, F.R.S.—The photo- 
graphs representing the mummies of Seti L, Rameses II., and 
Rameses III. were communicated by Dr. Schweinfurth, of 
Cairo. They are of great interest as enabling us to see the actual 
features of these ancient Egyptian kings, and to compare them 
with their representations on the monuments and with modern 
Egypians. It appears that the features of Seti are scarcely of 
Egyptian type, as represented either by the monuments of the 
older dynasties or by the present Egyptians; though, as Dr. 
Schweinfurth shows in a drawing accompanying the photo- 
graphs, a similar style of countenance still exists among the 
Copts. It also appears that the features of Rameses II. strongly 
resemble those of his father, and are very like those of some of 
his statues. Both Seti and Rameses have narrow and somewhat 
retreating foreheads, and strongly developed jaws, indicating 
men of action rather than of thought ; and both were men of 
great stature and bodily vigour, and seem to have lived to 
advanced ages. 
Prehistoric Man in Manitoba, by Mr. C. N. Bell, F.R.G.S. 
(Winnipeg, Canada).—The author announced the existence in 
the Canadian North-West of sepulchral mounds, and pointed 
out the hitherto unknown fact that there is a continuous line of 
mounds from the mound-centres of the Mississippi River, down 
the Red River, to Lake Winnipeg. Human remains, much 
decayed, were found in the mounds, all buried by being placed 
on the surface under heaps of earth in which patches of charcoal 
and ashes frequently occurred, though no remains of funeral 
feasts, as bones, &c., were met with. Indians, when first met 
with, buried weapons with their warriors, but none were found 
in these mounds, though implements and ornaments of shell, 
bone, and stone were common, as well as pottery, which latter 
was unknown to the Indians of North-West Canada on the 
arrival of white emigrants. One mound had a floor of burnt 
clay and boulders, similar to the sacrificial mounds and altars of 
Ohio. Ornaments were found made of sea-shells, which must 
have been carried 1200 miles from their native waters. These 
mounds, from Lake Winnipeg to the Gulf of Mexico, were of 
the same character, and very likely were made by one race, 
though the whites found great diversity of mortuary customs 
prevailing among the Indian tribes inhabiting that great tract of 
country. 
Notes on a Tau Cross on the Badge of a Medicine-Man of 
the Queen Charlotte Isles, by R. G. Haliburton.—Mr. Hali- 
burton said this badge was noteworthy, as Queen Charlotte 
Isles form one of the most isolated groups of the Northern 
Pacific. They lie off the west coast of British Columbia. This 
symbol was used by the Indians on large sheets of copper, to 
which they assigned a high value, and each of which they 
called a Zau. The connection of that name with the symbol 
is warld-wide. Our f is simply the tau symbol, and is called 
tee or tau. The medicine-men represent the tau sometimes on 
the forehead. ‘The ancients used to mark the captives who 
were to be saved with a tau or cross; Ezekiel refers to this, 
and the word he uses for ‘‘the sign” to be marked on the 
foreheads of them that are to be saved really is the ‘‘tau” or 
‘*cross.”” No one has divined why the scarad was so sacred. 
Ife was led to a solution by seeing an exaggerated ¢aw cross 
on the back of a scarab. On looking into the Egyptian name 
for the scarab he found it to be ove, and that the sutures on the 
beetle form a tau cross. But the same name is applied to the 
same beetle by our peasantry—tor-beetle or dor-beetle. Wilkin- 
son represents a god with a scarab for a head, one of the names 
of which was Zore. The use of the prehistoric or pre-Christian 
cross is world-wide. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE 
OxrorD.—This term begins under a new official régime. 
Prof. Jowett, Master of Balliol, retires from the Vice-Chancellor- 
Benzoic Compounds, 
Chemistry, and Dr. Watts a course of Organic Chemistry. 
Practical instruction is given by the above, and by Messrs. 
Baker and Marsh. 
lectures on Inorganic Chemistry for the Preliminary Examina- 
tion. 
and Balliol Laboratories. 
Hexapod Arthropoda. 
tive Anatomy. 
course on the same subject. 
Comparative Embryology. 
the Osteology, Odontography, ‘and Distribution of Mammals. 
Practical instruction is given by Prof. Moseley, Mr. Spencer, 
and Mr. Robertson. 
Respiration, and Bodily Motion. 
logy; and Mr. Hatchett Jackson on Elementary Physiology. 
Practical classes are conducted by Messrs. Dixey and Gotch. 
and Peripheral Neryous System, and Digestive System. 
also gives demonstrations on Topographical Anatomy, and has 
a daily class for Dissection. 
den on Vegetable Morphology and Physiology. 
on Minerals occurring in Lodes. 4 
Clarendon Laboratory, has been elected a Fellow of Merton 
College. 
a Fellow of Balliol College. 
cludes his notes on British Rubi, and Messrs. Roy and Bisset 
contribute the second and concluding part of their notes on 
Japanese Desmids (illustrated)—The number for September 
ship, and Dr. Bellamy, the President of St. John’s College, 
succeeds to his place. 
office have seen several important reforms in which he bore a 
prominent part. 
in Honour Classical Moderations, the disestablishment of the 
Examination in the Rudiments of Faith and Religion, the esta- 
blishment of a University course for medical students, and the 
abolition of Pass Classical Moderations in favour of Preliminary 
Examinations for students of law, natural seience, and mathe- 
matics. 
the necessary steps to complete the legislation are already 
taken, and the Statute will doubtless pass Convocation during — 
the present term, 
The Master of Balliol’s four years of 
Among them we may mention the alteration 
The last reform, indeed, has not yet become law ; but 
Scholarships in Natural Science are announced this term for : 
competition at Balliol, Trinity, and Christ Church. 
The following scheme of lectures in Natural Science is 
announced for the present term :— 
Physics. —Prof. Clifton lectures on General Electricity, and 
Mr. Selby on Electrostatics treated Mathematically. Practical — 
instruction in Physics is given in the Clarendon Laboratory by 
Prof. Clifton and Messrs. Walker and selby. 
At Christ Church, Mr. Baynes lectures on Fourier’s Theorem, 
At Balliol, Mr. Dixon lectures on Elementary Light and Heat. 
Chemistry.—Prof. Odling lectures at the Museum on the 
Mr. Fisher gives a course of Inorganic 
At Christ Church, Mr. Vernon Harcourt gives a course of 
Practical instruction is also given at the Christ Church ~ 
Animal Morphology. — Prof. Westwood lectures on the 
Prof. Moseley lectures on Compara- — 
Mr. Baldwin Spencer gives an elementary 
Mr. Hatchett Jackson lectures on 
Mr. Barclay Thompson lectures on 
Physiolozy.—Prof. Burdon-Sanderson lectures on Circulation, — 
Mr. Dixey lectures on Histo- 
Human Anatomy.—Mr. A. Thomson lectures on the Central 
He 
1h qe. 
Medicine.—Dr. Darbishire gives demonstrations at the Rad- 
cliffe Infrmary, in Physical Diagnosis and Regional Anatomy, 
and Mr. Winkfield gives demonstrations in Surgical Diagnosis. 
Botany.—Prof. Bayley Balfour lectures at the Botanic Gar- 
Mineralogy.—Prof. Story-Maskelyne lectures at the Museum 
Geology.—Prof. Prestwich lectures at the Museum on the ~ 
Principles of Geology. 
Anthropology.—Dr. Tylor lectures on the Development of — 
Culture, Sign Reading, &c. 
Mr. A. L. Selby, B.A., Demonstrator of Physics in the 
Mr. H. B. Dixon, M.A., of Trinity College, has been elected 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
In the ¥ournal of Betany for August Mr. J. G. Baker con- 
commences with an interesting and important paper by Mr. G, 
Massee, on the structure and functions of the subterranean 
parts of Zathrea squamaria, L. (also illustrated). He regards 
the plant as of saprophytic rather than parasitic habit, the 
disks or haustoria on which its parasitism depends being fre- 
quently entirely absent from old plants. In some instances, 
but’ not all, the roots are covered with the mycelium of a 
fungus similar to that described by Kamienski in the case of 
ee ee ee 
