82 



NA TURE 



[Ma.y 23, 1907 



be transferred to a site where its spliere of activity 

 can be extended. 



The volume ' before us contains, therefore, some 

 of the results of observations which can be carried 

 out under such restricted conditions. Of these may 

 be mentioned an excellent series of observations of 

 the culmination of the moon and the crater 

 Mosting A. The determination of the latitude of the 

 observatory was also undertaken. The result 

 obtained, namely, 50° 5' i6".02, was in complete 

 agreement with the value obtained by Prof. E. von 

 Oppolzer from observations made in the period 1889 

 to 1899. Other work here described refers to the 

 observations of Jupiter's satellites, Nova Persei, 

 shooting stars, &c. 



The appendix contains, further, a series of useful 

 papers by Prof. Weinek. These, for the most part, 

 deal with some graphical explanations of the theory 

 of the sextant, precession, planet-transits across the 

 sun's disc, cometary orbit determinations, &c. 



October 24, 1901, being the 300th anniversary of 

 the death of Tycho Brahe, some very interesting 

 historical notes are given relating to his two years' 

 activity (1599-1601) in Prague. The reader may be 

 reminded that this celebrated Danish astronomer died 

 in Prague, and in the Teynkirche there a hand- 

 some gravestone marks his resting-place. 



During his lifetime Tycho Brahe had five different 

 observatories, and these were situated (a) on the 

 island of Hveen (Uranienberg), (6) in Wandsbeck, \c) 

 in Benatek, (d) in Prague (Ferdinandeum), and (c) in 

 Prague (Curtius's House). These are shown in the 

 accompanying illustration, which is taken from one 

 of several of the fine reproductions inserted in this 

 volume. 



Others to which reference mav be made are a fine 

 coloured reproduction, in colours, of Tycho Brahe 

 from an oil painting in the Prague Observatory; 

 the Belvedere of Ferdinand I. (Ferdinandeum), where 

 he observed; the Teynkirche, where he was buried; 

 his two sextants, and other interesting reproductions 

 of the Prague of to-day. 



The volume concludes with a useful summary of 

 the chief lunar maps and photographic moon atlases, 

 commencing with Lohrmann (1824) and finishing 

 with W. Pickering's atlas which was published in 1903. 



D' 



THE DISCOVERY OF STONE IMPLEMENTS 

 OF PALEOLITHIC TYPE IN VEDDAH 



CA VES. 

 |RS. F. AND P. SARA.SIN recently made an 

 expedition to Ceylon for the express purpose of 

 investigating the caves now and in past times in- 

 habited by the Veddahs, to see whether any stone 

 implements could be discovered. Their earlier re- 

 searches proved the \'eddahs to belong to a lower and 

 older type than the other inhabitants of Ceylon, and 

 it is conceded that they inust represent the few rem- 

 nants of the aborigines who were met with by the 

 Sinhalese on their first arrival, and by whom they 

 were called Yakas, according to the "tradition pre- 

 served in the Mahawansa. Presumably, these autoch- 

 thones were at that time living in their Stone age; but 

 no record of Veddah stone implements occurs in an- 

 thropological literature. From an article in the 

 Ceylon Observer of April 22, written by these inde- 

 fatig;ible travellers, we find that on this, their fourth, 

 expedition into the Veddah country they were lucky 

 enough to find a cave near the village of Nilgala, 

 which until very recently was inhabited by Veddahs, 

 the soil of which contained in great abundance stone 

 implements of a very rough kind. Further investi- 



1 " Astronomische Beobachtuneen an der k.k. Sternwarte zu Prae, in den 

 lahren 1900-1904." Auf iiffentHche Kosten herausEeeeben von Prof. Dr. L. 

 Weinek. (Prag : K.U.K. Hof buchdruckerei A. Haase, 1907.) 



NO. i960. VOL. 76] 



gationsi of some other caves, one near Kattragam, 

 the other near Kalodai, led to an identical result. 

 They also succeeded in discovering upon the hilltops 

 of the country of Upper Uva the same rough stone 

 implements in great quantities and still well preserved. 

 Not only the autochthony of the ^'eddahs can be 

 regarded as a proved fact, but also their former distri- 

 bution over probably the whole island, including the 

 low country as well as the mountainous districts. 



The shape of the chips, knives, lance points, 

 scrapers, and fragments of bone awls enables this 

 stone-industry to be described as analogous to that of 

 the Madelaine period of the PaliEolithic age. "Yet," 

 as the cousins Sarasin remark, " this industry is to be 

 denoted as a special Fades Veddaica, inasmuch as 

 white quartz (mainly of an ice-like transparency) fur- 

 nished the principal part of the material." Besides 

 this, they also found a red, yellow, and black variety 

 of quartz (jasper) employed in great profusion, which 

 contrasted strangely witfi the monotonous grey gneiss 

 of the caves themselves. On the whole, these imple- 

 ments are of small size, suited to small hands, and 

 therefore emploj-ed by a small race of men. The stone 

 hammers which were used to strike chips off the cores 

 are of a remarkably small size. The Sarasins con- 

 clude their article with these words: — "We, further.. 

 more, may already venture to say that the second main- 

 period of the Stone age, the Neolithic one — viz. that 

 characterised by the polished stone axe — is entirely 

 wanting in the island of Ceylon, the Veddahs having 

 made the step directly from the Older Stone Age into 

 the Modern Age of Iron, which was brought them by 

 the Sinhalese, or perhaps by another people of the 

 Indian continent." 



It is believed by some in Ceylon that there are only, 

 some hundred Veddahs existing, and Dr. Sarasin in- 

 formed a Ccvloii Observer representative that there 

 are but a small number of Veddahs of pure blood to be 

 found, perhaps only about fifty or sixty. These chiefly 

 occur in Nilgala, Bibile, and the Putipola hill in Moli- 

 gala, where there .are only three small communities 

 of the purest blood. Most of them build small, primi- 

 tive huts, while some live in the open, sometimes in 

 caves, but not always ; those who have families build 

 huts. Their own language is lost ; being a small 

 tribe surrounded by thousands of Sinhalese they have 

 learnt a simple dialect of Sinhalese. They have no 

 knowledge of their history. There is no chief, but the 

 oldest man is called the speaker ; he has, however, no 

 privileges, and is not empowered to issue orders. 

 They no longer know how to make stone implements, 

 and now buy iron from the Sinhalese. Dried flesh and 

 forest fruit are eaten. They have no religious cere- 

 monies, but some believe in ghosts, whom they call 

 yakas, though others disbelieve in their existence, 

 idolatry is not practised, nor do they worship stones 

 or trees, or pray to them; indeed, the majority deny 

 that they know anything about them. The Veddahs 

 are strictly moral, there are no thieves among them, 

 thev never take alcohol, and thev never tell lies. 



A. C. H. 



AN ITALIAN MONUMENT TO LINNMUS AT 



THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH 



CENTURY. 



IN these days, when all the world of science unites 

 in celebrating the memory and glory of the great 

 .Swedish naturalist, it is interesting to recall from the 

 utter oblivion in which it has remained until now the 

 monument and inscription dedijcated to Linnd in 

 Naples at the end of the eighteenth century, pre- 

 sumably in 1778, the year of Linn^'s death. 



The monument, which probably consisted only of 

 the marble inscription, was not a public monument, 



