372 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 925 



Professor Warren K. Moorehead, curator 

 of the department of archeology, Phillips 

 Academy, Andover, Mass., reports that the 

 survey of which he had charge finished its 

 first year in Maine September 8. There were 

 on the expedition at various times from eight 

 to twelve men and nearly all of the Penob- 

 scot valley was examined and mapped. A 

 great deal of work was carried on at Passa- 

 dumkeag, 40 miles above Bangor, and at Lake 

 Alamoosook, 5 miles south of Bucksport. At 

 Passadumkeag one undisturbed cemetery was 

 entirely dug out and at Alamoosook two ceme- 

 teries, and at Orland a fourth was found. In 

 these four cemeteries were 170 graves and 

 from these about 800 stone objects were re- 

 covered. These graves contained large quan- 

 tities of red ochre — not the small particles 

 often encountered in exploration in the west 

 and south — biit quarts, or in several instances 

 more than a peck of bright pigment. The ob- 

 jects found in the graves vary from one or two 

 to nineteen in number, and comprise the true 

 gouge, various modified forms of gouges, 

 stone celts and hatchets (usually squared) and 

 long tapering and fluted gouges. There were 

 also some unknown forms, particularly at 

 Passadumkeag, where long oval stones were 

 found. These are perforated, and several ex- 

 ceed a foot in length. The absence of grooved 

 axes, of pottery and bone and shell objects, of 

 pipes, etc., indicates the presence of a culture 

 different from that of the Algonkin. Save in 

 one instance, there were no human bones dis- 

 covered, and the graves are so old that the 

 stone objects themselves have frequently be- 

 gun to disintegrate. Mr. Charles 0. Wil- 

 loughby, twenty years ago, opened three 

 burial places in southern Maine and met with 

 similar conditions. Professor Putnam and 

 Mr. Willoughby considered the graves ex- 

 tremely old. The name " the red paint peo- 

 ple " has been applied to this culture, tempo- 

 rarily. 



The National Bureau of Standards in its 

 general investigation of structural materials 

 is engaged, among other things, in the deter- 

 mination of the physical properties of con- 

 crete. At the suggestion of engineers and 



others, the Bureau of Standards is investi- 

 gating the cause of cracking in concrete struc- 

 tures, where the necessity for expansion and 

 contraction joints is questioned. For this 

 purpose, reference marks were placed last week 

 on some of the typical old and new concrete 

 work in Wayne County, Michigan, also at 

 Greenwich, Connecticut. Measurements will 

 be taken from time to time during the sum- 

 mer and winter to determine the expansion or 

 contraction in the concrete caused by tempera- 

 ture variations and the changes of volume 

 which take place during the hardening of the 

 concrete. Similar reference marks are being 

 placed on the lock walls of the Panama Canal 

 and various other structures. 



The United States has held first place 

 among the coal-producing countries of the 

 world since 1899, when this country sup- 

 planted Great Britain. In 1911 the total 

 world's production of coal amounted to ap- 

 proximately 1,302,500,000 short tons, of 

 which the United States contributed 496,- 

 221,168 tons, or 38.1 per cent, according to the 

 United States Geological Survey. In the 12 

 years from 1899 to 1911 the production of the 

 United States has increased over 250 per cent. ; 

 from 1899 to 1911 Great Britain has increased 

 its output about 50 per cent., from 198,146,- 

 731 to 304,521,195 tons. The United States 

 in 1911 produced almost 500,000,000 tons, or 

 63 per cent, more than Great Britain in 1911; 

 Germany's production of coal and lignite in 

 1899 was 93,640,500 short tons ; in 1911 it was 

 258,223,763 tons, an increase of over 175 per 

 cent. The combined production of Great 

 Britain and Germany in 1911 was 562,744,958 

 short tons, which exceeded the output of the 

 United States by only 66,500,000 tons, or 13.2 

 per cent. These three countries, United 

 States, Great Britain and Germany, produce 

 more than 80 per cent, of the world's total 

 supply of coal. 



Secretary Wilson, of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, has decided to establish 

 an experiment station on the Manti National 

 Forest near Ephraim, Utah, for the study of 

 grazing and water protection problems. In 

 fact bids for the construction of the necessary 



