NoVEJiBEE 29, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



121 



of the river Nile. He believes that he is able 

 approximately to trace their early wander- 

 ings and to some extent their admixtures, 

 by a comparison of skull forms. At this time, 

 when there is so little unanimity among cra- 

 niologists as to the value of their science in 

 ethnography, it seems rather daring to se- 

 lect it as the corner stone of any hypothesis 

 of ancient relationship ; and it may be re- 

 garded as very doubtful whether Prof Sergi 

 will find many to accept his conclusions. 



PREHISTOEIC TREPHINING IN RUSSIA. 



An article by General von Krahmer in 

 the Globus, Bd. LXVII., No. 11, describes 

 an amulet obtained in 1883 from a neolithic 

 burial in Eussia. It was of bone, and on ex- 

 amination proved to have been taken from 

 a human skull. Ten years later the archae- 

 ologist Bieljachewski, in exploring a deposit 

 on the banks of the Dnieper, exhumed a 

 human skull fi-om which just such a frag- 

 ment must have been removed. Careful 

 inspection showed that the trepanation had 

 been performed after death, the spot selected 

 being the right frontal bone. The instru- 

 ment must have had a sharp cutting edge, 

 but a lack of skill is manifested in the use of 

 it. The skull belonged to a comparatively 

 young person, probably a woman. From ob- 

 jects collected in its immediate vicinity, it 

 may be assigned to the twelfth century. 



Such examples are extremely rare in 

 Eussia. Among the crania at the anthro- 

 pological museum in Moscow there is but 

 one which shows ancient trepanation ; but 

 it is catalogued as from the Caucasus. 

 However, the evidence brought forward by 

 General von Krahmer, showing that this 

 operation was occasionally practiced in 

 order to obtain amulets from the parietes 

 of the skull, is valuable as illustrating a 

 primitive superstition which prevailed in 

 several widely separated tribes. 



D. G. Beinton. 



Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



CUBBEKT NOTES ON PHYSIOGRAPHY (XIX.). 

 A LIMESTONE DESERT IN THE ALPS. 



Much has been written about the barren 

 and weathered limestone areas known as 

 Lapies, Lapiaz, or Karrenfelder, in the 

 Alps. An interesting and well-illustrated 

 account of the peculiar rock forms occur- 

 ring on one of these areas, the ' Desert of 

 of Plate,' in the Alps of Savoy, is lately 

 presented by E. Chaix, of the Geneva 

 cantonal school of horticulture (La topo- 

 graphie du desert de Plate, Le Globe, 

 Geneve, xxxiv, 1895, 67-108, excellent 

 plates, map, 1:5,000). The desert occurs 

 at an elevation of from 1,900 to 2,000 

 meters, an inextricable chaos of angular 

 limestone ledges, a labyrinth of curiously 

 sculptured rocks and deep worn crevasses. 

 The surface chisellings are in the form of 

 little troughs, varying in size in different 

 strata, but always leading down the slope 

 of the rock ; these are ascribed to post- 

 glacial wasting and washing. The ci'evasses, 

 or open joints, are of older diastrophic 

 origin but of modern weathering; they in- 

 tersect successive strata, varying in width 

 of opening as they pass from one bed to 

 another, sometimes single and simple, 

 sometimes very confused in their arrange- 

 ment. A good review of previous writings 

 on this subject is included in the essay. 



MORAINIC AMPHITHEATER OF IVREA. 



Besides the existing lakes enclosed by 

 moraines at the Italian base of the Alps, 

 there are certain extinct lakes — now alluvial 

 plains— similarly enclosed ; that of Ivrea, 

 where the valley of the Dora Baltea opens 

 from the mountains upon the great fluvia- 

 tile plain, being the most remarkable. Agos- 

 tini describes this great amphitheater in 

 connection with its peat deposits (Le tor- 

 biere dell' Anfiteatro morenico d' Ivrea. 

 Eev. geogr. ital., ii, 1895, 278-294, map). 

 The best peat is found in the comparatively 

 small basins that occur in the irregular 



