166 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 162. 



hibited and described several skulls from 

 ancient graves in the Kekchi district of 

 Guatemala, brought by Mr. Dieseldorf. 

 They were deformed to an unusual degree, 

 to an extent, indeed, not equalled elsewhere 

 in America. The method of deformation 

 was like that of the Natchez Indians, the 

 forehead flattened and pushed back and 

 upward. Just this deformity is seen on 

 many of the Mayan art works, and instead 

 of being caricatures such are regarded 

 by Professor Virchow as actual imitations 

 of this custom of malformation. 



They were very fragile, indicating a high 

 antiquity, and the objects associated in the 

 tombs whence they were derived showed 

 them to be pre-Columbian in age. It will 

 be remembered that from these tumuli Mr. 

 Dieseldorf obtained some of the most artis- 

 tic pottery products known in America. 



NATIVE AMERICAN STRINGED INSTRUMENTS. 



This subject is again discussed in a brief 

 article by Professor Otis T. Mason in the 

 American Anthropologist for ]S"ovember last. 

 His conclusion is as follows : " After look- 

 ing over the musical collection of the 

 United States National Museum and such 

 literature as has been collected by the 

 Barean of American Ethnologj'^ I have come 

 to the conclusion that stringed musical in- 

 struments were not known to any of the 

 aborigines of the western hemisphere be- 

 fore Columbus." 



While the opinion of one so competent as 

 Professor Mason on this subject demands 

 the utmost respect, some of the examples 

 which I quoted in the American Antiquarian 

 (January, 1897) are not considered by him, 

 and seem to present a moderate amount of 

 evidence that the musical string was not 

 wholly unknown to the American race by 

 independent discovery. 



D. G. Brinton. 



XJniveesity of Pennsylvania. 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CEESIISTBY. 

 In a recent Comptes Rendus Moissan calls 

 attention to the fact that calcium carbid is 

 a powerful reducing agent, and hence, when 

 in a fused condition at a high temperature, 

 can furnish, by double decomposition, a 

 number of new compounds. When acting 

 on metallic oxids the metal may be ob- 

 tained in a free state, or if it is capable of 

 uniting with carbon a carbid is formed. 

 By this reaction Moissan has prepared 

 crystallized carbids of aluminum, manga- 

 nese, chromium, molj'bdenum, silicon, etc. 



According to the Journal de Fharmacie 

 et de Chimie, Dutremblay and Lugan expect 

 to make a commercial success of the man- 

 ufacture of oxygen by the manganate 

 method. The process consists of decom- 

 posing manganates of the alkalies by steam 

 at 500°, and then regenerating the man- 

 ganates by heating in a current of dry 

 air. This process was used by Tessie du 

 Motay some thirty years ago, but afterward 

 abandoned, owing to the caking of the 

 charge and evaporation of the soda, there 

 being great danger of explosions. It is 

 hoped these dangers have been now over- 

 come, and that the process will be a success. 



A CAREFUL study of the valence of 

 glucinum by Arthur Eosenheim and Paul 

 Woge appears in the Zeitschrift fiir Anor- 

 ganische Chemie. A considerable number of 

 double oxalates and tartrates of glucinum 

 and alkalies was prepared, and in all 

 glucinum shows analogy with the bivalent 

 and never with the trivalent metals. The 

 same is true in its molybdate and in the 

 double glucinum alkali sulfites. A more 

 exact proof of its bivalence was shown by 

 the determination of the molecular weight 

 of the chlorid by the boiling-point method, 

 pyridin being used as a solvent. The 

 molecular weight corresponded to the 

 formula GlCl^. The conclusion of the 

 authors is that glucinum is bivalent, and is 



