Septembeu 14, 1S8.".] 



SCIENCE. 



369 



The kitchens of the east. 



BY E. S. MOKSB OF SALEM, MASS. 



The author, diirini; his travels in eastern Asia, hail 

 made some observations on the cooking-apparatus 

 there in common use. The Japanese largely employ 

 a mere fireplace, over which the vessels containing 

 food are suspended by hooks: they have, however, 

 two or three kinds of regular stoves of different 

 designs. In C'hin.a, stoves of a definite character are 

 in use: one was- found in (Canton which was very 

 elaborate; it was long, and had numerous openings. 

 In Singapore, there appears to be only one kind of 

 stove; and it is of decidedly primitive construction. 

 In fact, it is little more than a rough trough filled 

 with earth and sand, on which are laid rough stones 

 selected with reference to pots of various sizes; and 

 the fire is built among the stones. The kitchens in 

 which these constructions are found are invariably 

 very dark and dirty. In northern Java the author 

 found a stove made of arched clay, Jis half an 

 earthen pipe would be if cut through the axis of the 

 cylinder. This half-cylinder is set with the open 

 part down, and fire is built under its arch. Holes 

 are cut through the crown of the arch, to hold some 

 of the pots, while others are merely set upon the 

 surface. 



Methods of arro'w release. 



BY E. S. MORSE OF SALEM, .MASS. 



The author recited the rules at present applied 

 in the American system of archery; the bow being 

 drawn with the right arm, the arrow beins placed on 

 the left side of the bow, and three fingers being used 

 to hold the arrow. Among the Japanese, a different 

 system prevails: the arrow is placed on the right side 

 of the bow .OS it is held perpendicularly, and the draw- 

 ing of the bow is performed with only the thumb 

 and one finger on the shaft. China, Japan, and the 

 Corea are alike in this manner of drawing the bow. 

 Among Indian tribes, the methods of arrow-release 

 differ very widely. In general it may be stated that 

 our system of arrow-release (which the author des- 

 ignated as the Saxon melhoil) is substantially the 

 same as that of the majority of European races, 

 the modifications of the system among them not 

 being important. 



The Japanese use a glove with a heavy thumb, and 

 sometinjes a heavy ring on tlic thumb. Mr. Morse 

 exhibited the Japane.^e archery-glove. It has a till- 

 ing of wood and pitch in the thumb, which aids in 

 grasping the arrow. He considered this glove the 

 best of its kind. 



Our system of three-finger release is certainly as 

 good as any other, and probably is the best. With 

 this system our archers — for instance, some in 

 Ohio — are able to outshoot any Indian, tried by M 

 the usual tests. As to the methods of stringing the 

 bow, the author had not been able to find much 

 uniformity, A number of different modes were 

 exhibited. 



Vestiges of glacial man in central Minnesota. 



BY FR.VNC E. babbitt OF LITTLE FALLS, MIXN. 



In the absence of the author, this paper was read 

 by Mr. Upton. 



The field of the discoveries detailed in this paper 

 lies on the bank of the Mississippi river, in central 

 Minnesota, about one hundred miles north-west of St. 

 Paul, and within the township and village of Little 

 Falls, Morrison county. In his report for 1877, Prof. 

 N. H. Winchell, state geologist of Minnesota, de- 

 scribed certain rudely worked pieces of quartz dis- 

 covered by him in this locality. The author of this 

 paper describes a discovery of worked bits of quartz 

 in a much older stratum than the one explored by 

 Professor Winchell. 



Fragments of sharp, opaque quartz were found by 

 the .author in IS?!), in a gap or notch, cut by drain- 

 age, in an "ancient river-terrace, which has an eleva- 

 tion of twenty-five feet above the present river. The 

 gap had been deepened by use as a wagon-track, 

 which h.as latterly become a highway. Ultimately 

 the source of these fragments was traced, and found 

 in the form of a thin layer, situated from ten inches 

 to two feet above the point in the notch where Miss 

 Babbitt began her discoveries. 



The ancient terrace consists of stratified gravel and 

 sand. The layer of quarlz-chips extended in a nearly 

 horizontal plane into the terrace, and was partially 

 broken up on tlie edge where the gap, with its wagon- 

 road, had disturbed a portion. Both the inferior and 

 superior planes of the quartz-bearing stratum were 

 sharply defined : its thickness averaged a few inches, 

 varying a little with the size of included pieces. The 

 quartz-bed rested upon a few inches of sandy soil, 

 w^iicli ])assed downward into a coarse water-worn 

 gravel immediately overlying till. Above the quarlz- 

 bed, stratified gravel ami sand extend up to the sur- 

 f.ace of the terrace, which is twelve to fifteen feet 

 higher than the plane of t\\^ quartz. The pebbles of 

 the gravel lying directly on the quartz were small 

 well-roundi'd, and less ansular than those of the gravel 

 below. -These observations show that the (piartz- 

 chips were spread originally upon an ancient surface 

 that was afterward covered deeply by the modified 

 drift that forms the terrace. The quartz-chips and 

 implements discovered by Dr. Winchell were in the 

 upper stratum of the terrace-plain. The two sets of 

 objects cannot be synchronous in deposit: between 

 the periods when they were left there, an interv.al of 

 time nuist have passed sufficient for the deposit of 

 twelve or fifteen feet of modified drift. 



The specimens are mostly small, and very numer- 

 ous. Among them are some of a type unknown to 

 the author, of which the most finished have delicate, 

 fragile edges, formed by a single thin leaf of the 

 quartz prolonged beyond the mass of the object in 

 a series of minute, irregular notches. The speci- 

 mens of different types were found in groups, each 

 of its own type, in this deposit. Some arc thus de- 

 scribed: ' .\xe-like quartzes,' ' rasping-stones.' 'long 

 prong-shaped objects,' 'hammer-stones of different 

 shapes, sharp pieces adaptable as cutting-blades, and 



