3M 



NATURE 



[September 7, 191 1 



The famous Neanderthal remains were found in 1S57, 

 and are usually regarded as the first discovered remains 

 of that remarkable race of early Europeans now known 

 by the name of Neanderthal man (Homo primigenias. 

 Schwalbe). li will be thus seen that the Gibraltar cranium 

 was the first discovered trace of Neanderthal man, having 

 been found nine years before the type-specimen. 



The second letter is from Dr. Hugh Falconer to Mr. 

 George Busk. The date of the letter was certainly 1864; 

 Dr. Falconer and Mr. Busk were then preparing a report 

 on a large collection of fossil remains from caves at 

 Gibraltar for the British Association meeting at Bath in 

 that year. In this collection was the famous cranium. The 

 collection was made and sent home by Captain Brome, 

 who was in charge of the garrison prison. Unfortunately, 

 his scientific enthusiasm led to his dismissal from his 

 post and from the Services ; he had employed prisoners 

 to help him in the scientific investigations which led to 

 the discovery of the remarkable cave fauna of Gibraltar. 

 Mr. Busk took a leading part in obtaining from fellow men 

 of science financial sympathy on behalf of Captain 

 Brome. 



21 Park Crescent, 



August 27 (1S64). 

 " Mj Dear Busk, 



" A hint or two about the names which I have been 

 rubbing up for the Priscan Pithecoid skull, Homo var. 

 calpicus, from Calpe, the ancient name for the Rock of 

 Gibraltar. What say you? 



" For the characters of the face : as all the pros, orthos, 

 kntas, &c, are already engaged in conjunction with 

 gnathos, we must look elsewhere. B\efifna- — aspectus, 

 vultus for a foundation sound well and appropriate — e.g. 

 BAejieaicto " truculus oculis circumspicio." I am sure 

 Pithecoid must have looked terribly truculent. 



" Now for the combination. Pro-blcmmatous at a pinch 

 might do, but I doubt the soundness of the combination, 

 and I think a better might be agrioblemmatous, from 

 trypiov, wild or savage, and BVeuua. By this happy com- 

 bination you will unite the truculence of the eye and the 

 savagery of the face. Agrioblemmatous is really not a 

 bad idea — it points distinctly to a peculiar savage feature — ■ 



" Walk up! ladies and gentlemen. Walk up! and see 

 Professor Busk's Grand, Priscan, Pithecoid, Mesocephn- 

 lous ( !), Prognathous, Agrioblemmatous, Platycnemic, 

 wild I bun. 1 calpicus of Gibraltar; Sounds well, any- 

 how. 



" But mesocephalous is French-like — radically wrong. 



The temporal is a mesocephalous bone of the head ; but 



the skull itself cannot be mesocephalous, or a mid-headi .1 



portion ..I itself. Diacephalous is better than Broca's term. 



" Yours ever, 



" H. Falconer." 



The letter shows that the veteran Scot, the pioneer of 

 the Siwalik fauna, had a sense of humour, a facility in 

 coining names, and a very clear conception that Homo 

 calpicus was a very distinct variety of mankind. The 

 cranium was duly exhibited at the meeting of the British 

 Association at Bath in 1S69, but there is no record in the 

 report of what Mr. Husk said about the skull (except as to 

 where it was found and that it resembled the Neanderthal 

 specimen) nor of Dr. Falconer's taxonomic suggestions. 



A. Keith. 



Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. 



A New Mineral ? 



Wiiu may prove to be a new mineral has been obtained 



From Mi- Du Toits Tan Mine at Kimberley. The material 



i- in two forms: irregular pieces up to half a pound in 



weight, and small round pellets, which, collected togethei 



p, would be mistaken for mixed shot. Some speci- 



■ lull like lead on the outside, while others have 



'in.- |o polished nickel. The prevailing inside 



texture is spongy-looking. Under the microscope some of 



il..' surfao .... seen 1.. be pitted with holes when thi 



■ ii... reach, the surface < >n the other hand. 



om. of the larger pieces have wrinkled surfao nol 



pitted; others have bright surfaces intersected with tinv 



Man} ..f lie- specimens are covered with a blackish 



NO. 2184, VOL. 87] 



coating of about the thickness of paint. Ibis is probably 

 graphite ; it scrapes off easily enough. 



The specific gravity is on the whole something higher 

 than 07, but by exactly how much higher it is difficult to 

 say, on account of the porosity of the material. 1 he 

 hardness ranges high, varying from about 6 on a fractured 

 face and on the duller outside surfaces to upwards of 9 

 on some of the bright surfaces. It is attracted by the 

 magnet to a moderate extent — some pieces very feebly, [I 

 is very brittle, and on fracture gives off a strong smell of 

 carbide. 



Mr. W. Versfeld, Government analyst, Cape Town, 

 makes out the following analysis :— 



Iron 



Silicon 

 Carbon 



7 '-39 

 2003 



S. 4 i 



99-83 



This composition corresponds approximately with the 

 symbol Fe,jSi 7 C 7 . It appears that in chemical properties 

 this mineral is one of the most refractory of substances. 

 The mineral acids, aqua regia, fused potassium bisulphate, 

 have only a slight action upon it. Roasting at a very 

 high temperature causes no change except a slight tarnish- 

 ing. Fusion with sodic peroxide, however, causes a ready 

 oxidation. Prof. Schwarz, to whom the material was sub- 

 mitted, has taken a great interest in the find, and calls 

 it, therefore, very aptly, a ferriferous carborundum. 



Unfortunately, none of the material has yet been found 

 in situ (nor is it very likely to be, seeing that the supply 

 has now nearly ceased) ; all of it, so far, has been picked 

 out at Pulsator by the manager, Mr. J. Stewart, in 

 separating the blue-ground for diamonds. Schwarz points 

 out quite truly that in the absence of a specimen in the 

 blue-ground matrix the history of the material is incom- 

 plete. Nevertheless, it seemed advisable to put the facts, 

 so far as they are known, on record. 



With regard to the origin of the material, Prof. Schwarz 

 writes as follows ; — " Dr. P. A. Wagner states in his 

 paper on ' Kimberlite Occurrences in the Pretoria District 

 (Trans. Geol. Survey of S. Africa, vol. xiv., p. 62, on n, 

 that on melting up blue-ground in .1 crucible, metaliS 

 globules of iron were obtained usually enclosed in the 

 olivines crystallised from the fused mas*. Mr. Thornton 

 Murray examined the largest of these globules and found 

 it to consist of a perlitic grey cast-iron enclosing flakes of 

 graphite ; it weighed one gram, but the average globules 

 were smaller. The new mineral from Du Toits Pan Mine 

 is pro!. ably of the same nature produced naturally; some 

 local source of heat, frictional or chemical, due to combus- 

 tion of gas or otherwise, may have raised a portion of the 

 blue-ground to fusion point, and thus produced the globules 

 and masses by reduction of the ilmenite or even the silicates 

 of iron. The refractory nature of the material renders it 

 possible that it formed as an original constituent of the 

 blue-ground, but the subsequent hydration of the olivine 

 rock to the serpentine breccia would probably have acted 

 more upon the substance than is apparent in the actual 

 specimens. Re-fusion of the hydrated rock seems therefore 

 a more probable explanation." J. R. Sutton. 



Kimberley, August 14. 



A Miniature Rainbow. 



Just about three o'clock this afternoon (I had a few 

 . -in.. 1 ■ previously asked the time at the village post office) 

 I witnessed a remarkable and very beautiful phenomenon? 

 Coming through a woodland wall;. I was caught by a 

 heavy downpour of rain. As it was passing away, the sun 

 shone down from .1 suddenly clear sky over the tops of 

 the trees behind and to the right. Instantly against a 

 screen of dark alder foliage on the left in front, and 

 distant not more than three vards from where 1 stood, a 

 perfect miniature rainbow was formed, its highest part 

 lioing just about level witli my eyes. It appeared broader 

 than an ordinary rainbow, and much the greater portion 

 was of on.- deep violet colour, the remaining colours 

 forming merely a narrow border above. Wry vivid at 

 first, it quicklv faded awav. as the shower came to an tend. 



Kilderrv, Londonderry, ^ugusl 28. W. F. Hart. 



