:6o 



NATURE 



[June 15, 1882 



some years past has devastated some of the plantations in 

 Ceylon, the experiment was made of introducing the red ants, 

 who feed greedily on the coccus. But the remedy threatened to 

 be attended with some inconvenience, for the Malabar coolies, 

 with bare and oiled skins, were so frequently and fiercely 

 assaulted by the ants as to endanger their stay on the 

 estates." 



The Rhuc Scientifujue, one of the most influential scientific 

 periodicals in France, has been purchased by a company for 

 the purpose of extending its publication and improving its 

 programme. 



On Tuesday evening Mr. Keane exhibited at the Anthro- 

 pological Institute, on behalf of the finder, Mr. M. S. 

 Valentine, of Richmond, Virginia, some very remarkable 

 stone objects recently discovered by that archaeologist in the 

 neighbourhood of Mount Pisgah, North Carolina. In the 

 course of his remarks Mr. Keane explained that these were 

 merely a few typical specimens selected from an extensive col- 

 lection of over 2000 articles, pirtly in stcne and partly in 

 micaceous clay found in this upland region, between the 

 Alleghany and Blue Mountains, during the years 1879-82. 

 The material of the stone objects is almost exclusively steatite, 

 or soap-stone, which abounds in the district, and which might 

 almost seem to have been sculptured with metal instruments, so 

 perfect is the w orkmanship. The objects themselves are abso- 

 lutely of a unique type, consisting partly of human and animal 

 figures, either in the round or in various degrees of relief, partly 

 of household utensils, such as cups, mugs, basins, dishes, and 

 the like, partly of purely fancy, and other miscellaneous articles, 

 illustrating the tastes, usages, and culture of the unknown people 

 by whom they have been executed. Collectively they present, 

 Mr. Keane maintains, a unique school of art developed at some 

 remote period in a region where the presence of civilised men 

 had not hitherto been even suspected. The human type, which 

 presents great uniformity, while still by no means conventional, 

 is distinctly non-Indian, according to Mr. Keane, but whether 

 Mongolic or Caucasic it would at present be fpremature to 

 decide. All are represented as fully clothed, not in the hairy 

 blanket of the Red Man, but in a close-fitting well-made 

 dress somewhat after the modern " united garment " fashion. 

 Some are seated in armchairs exactly resembling those known 

 as " Ingestre Chairs," while others are mounted on the ani- 

 mals, which they had domesticated. These animals themselves 

 are stated to be marvellously executed. Some of them repre- 

 sent the bear, the prairie dog, and other quadruped-, as well as 

 birds of North America. But others seem to represent types of 

 the Old World, such as the two-humped Baktrian camel, the 

 rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and European dog. There are also 

 some specimens obviously executed since the appearance of the 

 white man, as shown by the horse with his rider, firearms, shoes, 

 &c. The material of all these has a much fresher look than the 

 others, and is of much ruder workmanship, as if they were the 

 work of the present race of Indians. These races are undoubt- 

 edly of the pure Indian ty| e, Mr. Keane stated, and recognised 

 themselves as intruders in this region, where they had certainly 

 been preceded by more civilised peoples, such as the Mound- 

 builders and others, of whom they had traditions, and whom 

 they had extirpated long before the arrival of the Europeans. 

 Am' ngst these extinct peoples were the' Allegs or Alleghewis, 

 who^e name survives in the "Alleghany Mountains." These 

 Alleghewis are said to have been a different race from the 

 Indian, and it is possible, Mr. Keane thoaght, that in their new 

 homes in the Alleghany uplands they may have continued or 

 developed the culture of which we have met remarkable evi- 

 dence in these stone objects. It is evident, however, that before 

 any conclusions can be built on this interesting find, the con- 



ditions under which it was found must be carefully sifted by 

 archaeological specialists. 



The Municipal Council of Paris has voted the funds for exe- 

 cuting six aeronautical ascents on the occasion of the festivities 

 of July 14 next. Two of these balloons will be connected by a 

 telephone wire in order to keep up constant verbal communica- 

 tions. These two connected balloons will ascend from the Place 

 duTrone. It is hoped that by sending up balloons so connected 

 many interesting observations can be made for the velocity of 

 sounds at different altitudes, the differences of temperature of 

 velocity of wind and of direction, &c, as well as differences 

 of electrical tension. 



During -the progress of some excavations on Lord Norman- 

 ton's estate, near Crowland, Peterborough, the workmen have 

 exposed about three acres of a subterranean forest 10 feet below 

 the surface. Some of the trees are in an admirable state of pre- 

 servation, and one gigantic oak measures 18 yards in length. 

 The trees are in such a condition that oak can be distinguished 

 from elm, while a kind of fir tree seems to be most abundant, 

 the wood of which is so hard that the trees can be drawn out of 

 the clay in their entirety. The surrounding clay contains large 

 quantities cf the remains of lower animal life. 



The working of subterranean telegraphic lines is stated to be 

 unsatisfactory in France and in Germany as well, and it is 

 doubted whether the process shall be continued in France, 

 although credits have been voted by the French Parliament for 

 a sum of several millions of francs. These circumstances ought 

 to be carefully investigated, as it is contemplated, we under- 

 stand, to introduce the continental subterraneous method into 

 this country. 



M. Cochery, the French Minister of Postal Telegraphy, has 

 decided that the electrical laboratory established with the proceeds 

 of the late Electrical Exhibition will be placed in the Bois de 

 Boulogne. The reason alleged is the necessity of avoiding the 

 shaking of the ground by the passing of carriages so frequent in 

 Paris. The establishment w ill be open to the public under cer- 

 tain limitations and regulations, which will be printed in the 

 Journal Offidel. The development of the institution will be 

 only gradual, the profits realised amounting to only 300,000 

 francs, and the total sum required to 1,000,000 franc-. 



The works of the French Company for the Channel Tunnel 

 are progressing favourably. A number of workmen are engaged 

 in mounting the engine designed by Col. Beaumont, which is 

 placed in the lower gallery, and will be in working order in a 

 few weeks. The boring will be executed under the supervision 

 of an English foreman, who conducted the excavation of the first 

 500 metres on the English s'de. 



From the Report of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, it seems 

 evident that it is in a fair way of becoming one of the first 

 libraries in the kingdom ; the avowed aim of its tuistees is to 

 make it for Glasgow what the British Museum Library is for 

 London. It contains already 40,000 volumes, a large proportion 

 of which are scientific. The number of works taken out during 

 the year in " Art, Science, and Natural History " (a curious 

 classification), bore a large proportion to those on other subjects. 



Mr. Joseph Simmons, the balloonist, made a journey on 

 Saturday in his balloon the Colonel from Maldon in Essex, 

 across the Channel to beyond Arras in France, a distance of 170 

 miles, in one hour and three-quarters. 



A peculiar and interesting auroral phenomenon, witnessed 

 from the steamship Atlantic off the Newfoundland coast, on 



