596 



NATURE 



\_April 22, 1880 



Sir Henry Bessemer, F.R.S., has been presented with the 

 freedom and livery of the Turners' Company. 



Among Mr. Murray's list of announcements are : " The Cir- 

 cumnutation of Plants," by Charles Darwin; "The Life and 

 Discoveries of David Livingstone," by Dr. W. G. Blaikie ; 

 "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan," by Mi-s Bird; "Siberia in 

 Europe : a Naturalist's Visit to the Valley of the Petchora," by 

 Mr. H. Seebohm ; " Eastward Ho ! Journal of a Naturalist and 

 Botanist in the Forests and Swamps of New Guinea," by Mr. 

 F. W. Burbidge. 



The State of Connecticut has taken to heart the teachings of 

 science with regard to the prevalence of colour-blindness, and its 

 General Assembly has passed an Act authorising the State Board 

 of Health to prepare rules and regulations for the examination 

 and re-examination of railroad employes in regard to colour- 

 blindness and visual power, and prescribing the method in which, 

 and the intervals at which, such examinations shall be made. 

 The Board is annually, in the month of May, to recommend two 

 or more medical experts to make the necessary examinations 

 and the Governor, on or before July I following, is to appoint 

 two of these gentlemen, who will issue certificates. The Act 

 further makes provision for inflicting penalties on any railway 

 company employing a person who is not in possession of a regular 

 certificate of freedom from colour-blindness, or whose certificate 

 shall at any time have been revoked by the examiners. May we 

 hope that our new Government will impose some such sweeping 

 reform upon our reckless railway companies ? 



The American Art Rcviezv publishes an account by Mr. 

 F. W. Putnam of an attempt at archaeological imposture. In 

 the course of an excavation made in December last in a small 

 burial mound at Yalaha, Lake Harris (on the Ocklawaha), 

 Sumter County, Florida, there was found a little figure of 

 ordinary brick clay, identical in design with many of the 

 statuettes so common in the Egyptian tombs, and known under 

 the general name of Osirids. This little figure was sent to Mr. 

 F. W. Putnam for examination at the Peabody Muieum in 

 Cambridge, U.S., and after a careful study he has little hesita- 

 tion in saying that all the facts he has been able to gather bear 

 witness against its genuineness, in so far as attributing it to the 

 workmanship of the builders of the Florida mounds is concerned. 

 Nor can it be made a link in the chain of supposed evidence by 

 which it is sought to establish a belief in a connection of the 

 early nations of America with the people of Egypt. That the 

 discoverer is entirely clear of all attempt to impose on the public, 

 Mr. Putnam states, is self-evident, as he was suspicious of 

 the antiquity of the object the moment he took it from 

 the mound, and sent it to the Museum in order to have its 

 character determined, if possible. At the same time the finder 

 states that, so far as he observed, the mound had not been 

 disturbed before he commenced to dig. It would seem from 

 this as if a careful "plant" had been made for the purpose of 

 imposing on any one who might happen to open the mound, 

 which, from the large number of relic-hunters who annually visit 

 Florida, would probably be very soon. The front part of the 

 statuette has the appearance of having been cast in a mould 

 made by pressing an original Egyptian specimen in plaster, 

 face down, while the back of the figure shows signs of 

 having been cut with a knife when the clay was still sofl. 

 The freshness of the surface of the object tells perhaps more 

 than anything else against its antiquity. In fact to one used to 

 looking at and handling ancient pottery this little statue has the 

 appearance of having just been taken from a place where it had 

 been carefully kept from dirt and from hands since the moment 

 it was made. In connection with this "Osirid" from Florida, 

 it has been stated, Mr. Putnam says, that similar objects were 

 recently found in South America, and are now publicly exhibited 



in the National Museum at Buenos Ayres. This museum is said 

 to possess, "among the antiquities taken from tumuli in the 

 pampas, mummies, images, and sarcophagi, as fresh, and 

 decorated with as brilliant hieroglyphics, as any exhibited in the 

 famous galleries of the Louvre or other foreign museums con- 

 taining Egyptian collections." In the published reports of the 

 museum in question, so far as accessible, Mr. Putnam does not 

 find any 1 uch objects mentioned. He has therefore taken steps 

 to ascertain the trustworthiness of the report. In regard to the 

 antiquity of the mounds in Florida, Mr. Putnam states that 

 while many of the burial mounds are unquestionably very ancient, 

 it is particularly to Florida we turn to prove the continuance of 

 mound-building by some Indian tribes down to a time long after 

 the appearance of Europeans in that region. In support of this 

 statement we have historical evidence, and also the fact that in 

 many of the mounds in Florida there have been found objects of 

 European origin, such as glass beads, iron implements, glazed 

 pottery, and ornaments of brass, silver, and gold. 



A fish and Fishing Exhibition on an unusually large scale 

 was opened r at Berlin on Tuesday by the Crown Prince of 

 Germany. The exhibition seems to be admirably arranged, the 

 worst represented country being England. The correspondent 

 of the Daily News, animadverting on this, says : " It is a great 

 pity that England sends almost nothing. As far as I can hear, 

 the entire blame rests with the English Government, which 

 refused to give any support or encouragement to the affair. The 

 consequence is that out of the fifty-three whose names were 

 down as exhibitors only seventeen have appeared, which means 

 really that if Mr. Buckland had not sent a rather interesting col- 

 lection of casts and Messrs. Bartlett and Sons fair specimens of 

 rods and fishing-tackle, the English Department would have been 

 virtually empty. I believe this is the first time that England 

 has been last on the list in an International Exhibition, and I 

 could not help remarking that the Crown Prince was very much 

 surprised at this as he passed through the English Department. 

 Switzerland beats us entirely. The public here evidently expected 

 a great deal from England. However, they must console them- 

 selves with the very interesting collection which the United 

 States have sent over." 



A stalactite cave, with prehistoric animal remains, is stated 

 to have been discovered near Menhadu, on the Romano-Hun- 

 garian frontier. 



Prof. Prosdocismi, of the Este Museum, who discovered a 

 prehistoric cemetery on the slope of the hills overlooking that 

 town, has unearthed in the same vicinity eighty-two tombs, forty- 

 four of them violated apparently during the Roman period, the 

 rest untouched, with all their pottery and bronzes. The urns 

 are of three periods, some coloured black, with linear ornamen- 

 tation, others adorned with circles and wavy lines ; others witli 

 alternate bands of red and black. Some of the accessory vases 

 might serve as elegant models for modern potters. The bronze 

 ornaments are also very interesting, and a onze chest bears 

 three designs, comprising in all seventeen warriors and a priest, 

 seven animals (horses, oxen, stags, birds, and a dog), several 

 plants, and a kind of chariot with a man seated in it. The 

 Professor considers these the finest prehistoric remains in Italy. 

 Remains of lake-dwellings have been discovered in a peat-bog 

 near Milan, and in a street in Milan excavations for a house have 

 brought to light what are believed to be vestiges of the old 

 Roman theatre. 



In a paper read at the American Philosophical Society Mr. 

 Horatio Hale gave an interesting account of his acquaintance 

 with the various Indian tribes collected on the Canadian reserva- 

 tion at Brantford, east of London, Upper Canada ; of the most 

 distinguished surviving chief of the Six Nations, Sakayenkwaraton 

 (disappearing mist), known to the English as John S. (smoke) 



