346 



NATURE 



l^Feb. lo, il 



health, and creative energy (Schliemann's " Ilios,"p. 348). Mr. 

 Edward Thomas [ibid.) believes it to have arisen from the con- 

 ception of the sun as a rolling wheel. The Chaldean sun 

 symbol was first a circle, then a circle with an inscribed cross. 

 The symbol of the sun-god at Sippara is a small circle with four 

 triangular rays, the four angles between being occupied by 

 radiatinj lin.s, and the whole circumscribed by a larger circle. 

 The same symliol occurs repeatedly upon the shell gorgets of 

 the mound-builders (.Seconf Annual Report of the U.S. Bureiu 

 of Ethnology, plates liii., Iviii., and lix.). The peculiar figure 

 repeated upon the fafatie of the "House of the Nuns" at 

 U.tmal see us to be a conventiDnalised circle and cross with rays. 

 The Moqni symbol for the sun is a Greek cross with a small 

 circle at the centra, in which are three marks to indicate the eyes 

 and mouth of a face (First .\nnual Report of the U.S. Bureau 

 of Ethnology, p. 371). It is nesdless to multiply examples: 

 the important question is. How has the cross come to be a 

 symbol of the sun ? If anyone will observe carefully a lamp, 

 or other bright light, with partially closed eyes, the answer will 

 be obvious. The rays which appear to proceed from the lumin- 

 ous point always form a cross of some kind. A little experi- 

 menting will show that this appearance is due to reflection from 

 the eyelashes and edges of the eyelids. The same experiment 

 may be tried with the sun itself: if observed when considerably 

 above the horizon, squinting will ba unavoidable. If the head 

 is erect, the downward arm of the cross will be much the 

 st''ongest, and the upward arm may be obsolete ; but if the head 

 is thrown back, the arms will b; nearly equal. The evolution 

 of the sun symbol seems to have been as follows : He was first 

 represented by a circle or disk as he appears when near the 

 horizon ; observations made when he was shining brightly re- 

 vealed the crossed rays. This led to a combination of the circle 

 and cross. If this hypothesis be correct, the svastika was 

 originally neither a rolling wheel, nor, as Burnouf supposes, the 

 crossed sticks from which our ancestors elicited fire ; but it is 

 a modification of the circle and inscribed cross. 



It is not claimed that the cross has in every case originated in 

 this way ; but since sun-worship is known to have been an 

 almoU universal form of primitive religion, and since the un- 

 scientific observer would be sure to regard the crossed rays as 

 an es ential part of the sun, this hypothesis furnishes a reason- 

 able explanation of the universality of the symbol. Anything 

 bearing the cross would be regarded as sacred ; hence the 

 Egyptian worship of the scarab, as noticed by Mr. R. G. Hali- 

 burton (Nature, vol. xxxiv. p. 610), and the spider-gorgets of 

 the mound-builders (Second Annual Report of the U.S. Bureau 

 of Ethnology, plate Ixi. ). Not the least remarkable feature of 

 the subject is the fact that the most ancient and universal symbil 

 of the physical sun should, for entirely independent reasons, 

 continue in use as the sign of "the Sun of righteousness " and 

 "the Light of the world." Charles R. Dryer 



Fort Wayne, Ind., U..S. A., January 12 



Clausius's Formula 



In the report of our preliminary communication to the Royal 



Society, reported in your issue of the 13th inst. (p. 262), we give 



Clausius's formula intended to express the relation between the 



gaseous and liquid states of matter .as 



RT 



v-a T(e'-h8)"' 

 We should have mentioned that this formula has been amended 

 by Clausius to 



RT <- 



f-a 0(e.-hi3)^' 

 where = a'X"b. As is a function of T, it is evident that 

 this latest form also is not in agreement with the simple relation 

 pointed out by us for ethyl ether, 



p = b-Y ~ a. 



William Ramsay 

 Januar)- 20 Svuney Vou.ng 



Notes on Certain Traits of Infant Navajos 

 As we know, the Navajos are an American tribe of Indians, 

 scattered for the most part over the Territorie; of New Mexico 

 and Arizona. Quite a number of them live with their families, 



in the curious little habitations they erect, about the frontier 

 military station of Fort Wingate, New Mexico. It is in this 

 latter place that I have had the opportunity, for over two years 

 past, of studying many of their ways and customs. And it was 

 here, too, that, a few days ago, I went out among them with a 

 photographic camera, armed with an English instantaneous 

 shutter, with the view of taking a few pictures of them while 

 they were actively engaged in some of their very interesting 



tory plates, the Indians became quite restive, as they rather 

 object to that sort of a thing ; and, as if by common consent, 

 they gradually disappeared, a few at a time making for one of 

 their low, conical-shaped mud huts, where they entered through 

 the single small door at its side. In less than half an hour there 

 were none of them to be seen outside at all, and, knowing full 

 well that they would not appear again so long as I remained 

 upon the ground, I shouldered my instrument and prepared to 

 come away. At the time, I was standing between two of their 

 huts, situated some three hundred yards apart, with a well- 

 be Hen, though narrow footpath passing from one to the other. 

 There w;re no trees within a quarter of a mile, the plain being 

 sparsely covered with sage-brush, the plant- being from 2 to 

 3 feet high. Just then one of their babies toldled out of the 

 doorway of the upper hut ; the child could not have been over 

 ten months old, and wore only a very dirty little shirt, which 

 came about half way down to its knees. It looked mire like 

 an infant Eskimo than any child, not white, that I know 

 anything about ; and it started right down the path with a very 

 unsteady baby- waddle, making for the lower hut, where I 

 imagine its mother had taken refuge from my mercile s camera. 

 I had often longed for a good picture of a Navaio baby in its 

 native plains, and here was an opportunity not to be lost. So, 

 stepping a few feet out of the way, in an instant I had my 

 instrument in position, focused on the path, and, with instanta- 

 neous snap ready, I stood quietly for my subject to pass. On 

 he toddled, until he came within about 30 feet of me, where he 

 suddenly stopped, and, to my surprise, seemed to fully take in 

 the situation. 



At this stage, I feel quite sure that one of our b.abies, espe- 

 cially at this tender age, would have begun to cry, and more 

 than likely retr.iced its steps to the hut from wlience it had 

 issued. Not so, however, this infant Navajo ; and, mark the 

 ditference. He steadily watched my every movement, and was 

 evidently determined to reach the lower hut. Very cautiously 

 leaving the path on the side furthest from me, he was, in the 

 next instant, behind one of the sage-brushes, which was some- 

 thing over a foot taller than the baby. From this position he 

 peered through the leafless twigs at me, to see what I would do 

 about it. A little annoyed at this turn in affairs, I threw the 

 focusmg-cloth over my head, and turned the instrument on him. 

 Taking advantage of this temporary concealment of my head, 

 he ran, thoroughly baby-fashion, to the next l<rJo;r brush, a 

 distance of some 10 feet, where, hiding as before, he crouched 

 down, and stared at me like a young lynx through the twigs. 

 He now looked, for all the world, the young Indian cub at biy, 

 with all the native instincts of his ancestors on the alert, and 

 making use of all the strategy his baby mind could muster. It 

 wa- a wonderfully interesting picture to study ; but, fearing that 

 I would lose a permanent memento of it, I turned to lift my 

 instrument, with the view of taking a much nearer position, 

 when, again f.icing the brush where I had last seen the baby, it 

 was, to my great surprise, not there, but had scampered to the 

 next lower one, in the direction of the hut for which it was 

 bound. A full-grown buck of the tribe could not have possibly 

 managed this last movement any better. As it ran to the still 

 next lower brush, I was astonished beyond measure (for, I take 

 it, I am a good stalker myself) how it took advantage of every- 

 thing that lay in the short intervening distance, and how, after it 

 arrived at the brush, it immediately took a position on the opposite 

 side of it, from where it could make another quick start, and yet 

 not lose sight of my movements. And, mind you, all this from a 

 baby only ten months old at the most. As it was rapidly gaining 

 its point and approaching the lower hut, in sheer desperation 

 I ran up on its last place of concealment, holding my camera in 

 such a way that I could immediately place the tripod in position, 

 which I succeeded in doing, with the lens levelled directly at its 

 head, and not 3 feet from it. It now sto >d up to the full extent 

 of its baby height, and, giving vent to a genuine infantile bawl, 

 it made a break for the final point of its destination, for there 



