126 



SCIENCE. 



[K S. Vol. VII. Ko. 161. 



but united by identity of language. The 

 Bushmen and Hottentots in the far south 

 form a separate group, with individual 

 characteristics. But the whole race is dis- 

 tinguished from others by the combination 

 of a dark skin and crisped hair. 



ETHNOGRAPHY OF TUNIS. 



Few portions of northern Africa are as 

 interesting for the historian and ethnog- 

 rapher as Tunisia. There Carthage was 

 situated and extended her powerful sway 

 far inland, and thither Homer leads Ulysses 

 to find the lotos-eaters. 



The most thorough student of its ethnog- 

 raphy, both past and present, is Dr. L. 

 Bertholon, of the city of Tunis. He has 

 published a number of memoirs of marked 

 value, notably a resume of the anthropol- 

 ogy of Tunisia (1S96), and anthropological 

 exploration of Khumidria and the island of 

 Gerba, the latter being the scene of the 

 Homeric lotophagi (L' Anthropologie, 1897). 



In the Revue Tunisienne (October, 1897) 

 he sums up the evidence to show the Euro- 

 pean origin of certain elements of the 

 Berber population of north Africa, from 

 the ancient race of Europe represented by 

 the Cro Magnon type. In supporting this 

 thesis he calls to his aid both the survivals 

 of the type in the present population and 

 the information contained in Egyptian in- 

 scriptions and classical writers. 



THE CHULTUNES OF LABNA. 



Labna is one of the ruined cities of 

 Yucatan, and a chultun is the Maya name 

 for a peculiar kind of chamber, constructed 

 ten or fifteen feet below the surface and 

 communicating with it through a well-like 

 opening. They are common elsewhere in 

 Yucatan and were described by the traveler 

 Stephens in his familiar books. Some of 

 them have finely polished, stuccoed sides, 

 while others are roughly finished. Those 

 at Labna are described with care by Mr. 

 Edward H. Thompson in the ' Mempirs of 



Peabody Museum,' Vol. I., ISTo. 3 (Cam- 

 bridge, 1897). 



By some they have been considered gran- 

 aries, by others water reservoirs. Mr. 

 Thompson found in many of them human 

 bones, stone implements and pottery. Those 

 remains he inclines to believe are not indic- 

 ative of the original intention of the cham- 

 bers, but were, for some obscure reason,, 

 placed in the reservoirs when their original 

 purpose was abandoned. 



D. G. Beinton. 



University of Pennsylvania. 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 

 At the recent meeting of the American 

 Chemical Society in Washington attention 

 was called to the fact that much of the best 

 work now being done on atomic weight de- 

 terminations is by American chemists. In 

 this work Professor Richards, of Harvard ^ 

 stands in the front rank, and his latest 

 work is of great importance. In the Pro- 

 ceedings of the American Academy he has 

 published, in connection with Mr. A. S. 

 Cushman, a revision of the atomic weight 

 of nickel, and, in connection with Mr. Gr. P. 

 Baxter, a revision of the atomic weight of 

 cobalt. The atomic weights of these two- 

 metals are of unusual interest, because, ac- 

 cording to most determinations, that of co- 

 balt is greater than that of nickel, while 

 from its position in the periodic system the 

 reverse would seem to be demanded. The 

 late Professor Krilss attributed the dis- 

 crepancy to impurities in the metals used 

 by previous experimenters, and isolated 

 from them what he supposed to be a new 

 metal, 'gnomium,' whose existence has 

 never been confii-med. Professor Eichards' 

 results are of decided comparative value, 

 inasmuch as the same compound — the 

 bromid — was used of both metals, and the 

 analyses were carried out by exactly the 

 same process. The metals were most care- 

 fully purified, but little variation was found 



