Sept. 28, 1882] 



NA TURE 



53 1 



At a recent meeting of the Franklin Institute it was shown by 

 Mr. Grimshaw that the microscope maybe of gool service in 

 estimating the value of structural material--. It may determine 

 whether or not the material is good enough to warrant trial with 

 the testing machine. The author produced photographs of a 

 chip of timber from a highway bridge that was wrecked two 

 years ago, after a few days of service, through the strain caused 

 by an empty truck ; and the poor character of the wood was at 

 once apparent. Such micro-photographs of timber, in fact, 

 show that in the strong specimens, the concentric rings are close 

 in texture and of slight width, and the radial plates frequent, 

 wide, long, and thick, while the reverse is found in the poor 

 material. As a parallel in metal-work, Mr. Grimshaw exhibited 

 two portions of pure Lake copper, one an ordinary ingot, of 

 coarse and crystalline grain, dark red colour, and full of blow- 

 holes ; the ether, ca-t with proper precautions against oxidation, 

 the grain close and fine, the colour salmon, and no blowholes. 

 Tests of tensile strength of sheet and wire from these materials 

 strikingly confirmed the indications of the microscope. 



The Journal of the Franklin Institute fir September contains 

 a fine plate (produced by the phototype process invented by Mr. 

 Jacobi, ol .blentz), representing the great bell of 



Moscow, from a photograph recently taken by Mr. Nystrom, 

 who gives some interesting information about the largest ringing 

 bells in the wo rid. 



An attempt has been made by Signor Serpieri to connect, in 

 ah indirect v ay, two very dissimilar phenomena, viz., the attrac- 

 tion of the suuand moon, and the periodical revival of vulcanism 

 in its more common manifestations He finds support for his 

 view \Rtale 1st. Lombard., August 3) in a recent observation by 

 gallery (for the Channel tunnel) made 

 in the Rouen chalk, where it was noticed that the pits showed 

 oscillations of level quite concordant with the varying tide above, 

 the water al undant at high tide, and scanty at low tide ; which 

 is easily underst od (-ays M. Daubree), since all aquifen us 

 strata there pas, under the sea. Accepting this variation in the 

 water of terrestrial depths with the sea-level, and knowing, on 

 the other hand, that sea water has a principal part in the activity 

 proved by the nature of their products and the 

 immense quantity of aqueous vapour, which cause and maintain 

 eruptions), it is natural, Signor Serpieri says, to conclude that 

 the volcanic activity must present phases agreeing with those of 

 the tide, and thus there appears a certain connection with the 

 age and the position of the moon. Observations of a large 

 number of earthquakes should also present the relation in ques- 

 ti >n, as these are known to be mostly of volcanic origin, and to 

 preferably affect coast regions ; and M. Perry observed they 

 were more frequent at syzygies and perigee of the moon. Prof. 

 Bombicci has also observed in some parts of Italy a greater 

 frequency of earthquakes at times of heavy and prolonged rains, 

 which he regards as the exciting cause in such cases ; and pre- 

 cisely because not all seismic centres are fed with sea-water, it 

 is vain to expect that the luni-solar influence on earthquakes may 

 be always made out. Thus the anomalies recorded by Schmidt 

 and others may be explained. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rude Fox (Cants rudis) from Demerara, 

 presented by Mr. W. F. Bridges ; three Common Hedgehogs 

 (Erinactus ciirof.nts), British, presented by Mr. W. Bayes ; two 

 Chimachima Milvagos (Milvago chimachima) from Demerara, 

 presented by Mr. G. H. Hawtayne, C.M.Z.S. ; a Common Barn 

 Ow 1 (Strix flammea), British, presented by Mr. G. Paul ; a 

 Purple-headed Glossy Starling (Lamprocolius anralus) from West 

 Africa, presented by Mr. J. Biehl ; a Radiated Tortoise {Testude 

 radiata) from Madagascar, presented by Capt. R. Elwood ; a 

 Blue-crowned Hanging Parrakeet (Loriculus galgulus) from 



Ceylon, deposited ; a Polecat (Mustda putorius), British, a 

 Bengal Pitta (Pitta bcngalcnsis) from India, purchased; four 

 Banded Grass Finches (Pocphila cincta), bred in the Gardens. 



UNWRITTEN HISTORY, AND HOW TO 



READ IT 1 



II. 



DUT the flint arrow-heads and scrapers, and the use of stone 

 -*-' for battle-axes, car. y us back to a still earlier chapter of 

 unwritten history, when, for w ant of knowledge of bronze or any 

 other serviceable metal, our predecessors, like many a savage 

 people of recent or comparatively recent timis, had to make 

 use of such materials as readily came to their hands — like stone, 

 wood, and bone — for all ordinary appliances. With relics of 

 this period, which, so far as those made in stone are concerned, 

 are aim st imperishable, the soil of this country in many districts 

 abounds. We also find the tools and weapons of this Stone 

 Age in many of the grave-mounds or barrows and beneaih lhe 

 floors of some of our caverns. It is by means of these relics 

 that the history of this period is to be read, but here also much 

 is to be learnt from the early lake-habitations of southern 

 Europe and from the habits of savages in other lands who are 

 unacquainted with the u e of metal. It is indeed somewhat 

 remakable that those in so low a -tage of civilisation should 

 have been able to furnish themselves with so many and such 

 1 erfect applicances made of stone. Not only do we find 

 hatchets and adzes of flint and other hard stone;, with their 

 edges carefully ground, but chisels, and even gouges or hollowed 

 chisels ( hough these are rare in Brita'n), drills or awls, hammers 

 knives, saws, and scraping tools of various kinds. One of the 

 most common of these is made from a flat splinter, or flake of 

 Bint, trimmed at the end to a semicircular scraping edge. We 

 still find such tools in use for the purpose of preparing skins ; 

 and we have corroborative evidence of their having been in use in 

 old time, f r sine such purp ise, in the fact that the semicircular 

 edge is often worn away and rounded in precisely the way that 

 would result from its being used to scrape a soft but gritty 

 substance, such as leather exposed to dust and dirt. Though 

 lably formed the principal clothing, the presence of 

 spindle-whorls— the small fly-wheels by which spinning by hand 

 in— in some settlements of the Stone Period, proves 

 that the art of spinning was not unknown, and indeed charred 

 fragments of woven linen cloth have been found in some of the 

 lake dw ellings of this age. The stone-using people of that time 

 cultivated wheat, barley, and millet for their bread, which they 

 ground into e use 1 ur by means of rubbing-stones; they 

 flavoured their cakes with carraway and poppy seeds, and laid 

 up stcres of nuts and walnuts, leech-mast and acorns, apples 

 and pears for winter use, and ate all the common wild fruits in 

 their seasons. 



All this we learn fiom the clarred remains left at the bottom 

 of the lakes where the pile-dwellings were burnt down. The 

 bones thrown away show that not only did they hunt wild 

 animals of the country, but that they had oxen, sheep, and g( ate, 

 and probably also pigs, as domesticated animals, and the dog 

 was already their faithful mpanion. Their weapons for the 

 chase weie arrows and spears tipped with flint — the former of 

 which, being cheaper than metal and also liable to be lost, 

 remained in use even when bronze was known. They al-o 

 possibly made u«e of the sling. Their axes, like modern toma- 

 hawks, seem to have been used both for peaceful and warlike 

 purposes, but in this country at least it is doubtful whether any 

 of the stone battle-axes with a hole for the haft belong to an 

 earlier date than the simplest of the bronze daggers. From an 

 examination of the skulls and 1 ones found in the graves of the 

 Stone and Bronze Periods «e are able to form an idea of the size 

 of the men of those days, and of the differences between them. 

 From the objects buried with them we can even form some idea 

 of their religious beliefs and hope of a future state. I must 

 not, however, dwell on the details of these chapters in lhe 

 unwritten history of man in Britain. I may, however, observe 

 that though we may fix within some centuries the date when 

 bronze began to be employed for cutling-tools, and stone in 

 consequence began to fall in disuse, we are as yet at a loss to 

 say at how early an epoch the use of the stone hatchets with 



1 A lecture to the working classes, delivered at the meeting of the British 

 Assoc'atim f >r the advancement of science, held at Southampton, August, 

 i3S2, by T hn Lvans, D.C.L., LL.D.. F.R.S., &c. Revised by the Author. 

 Continued from p. 5 l6 - 



