December 6, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



777 



were originally not festal, but divinatory. Our 

 ordinary checker board represents in its origin 

 the conception of the universe common to nearly 

 all tribes in a primitive condition. The numbers 

 of our cards can be traced back to certain 

 numerical categories and relations which pro- 

 foundly affected the personal and social life of 

 early tribes and peoples. The diversions of chil- 

 dren are survivals of divinatory rites on which 

 depended at one time the actions of mighty 

 states. The magical implement which beyond 

 any other was popular in early divination was 

 the arrow ; and the author, in a masterly man- 

 ner and with rare insight, traces its later de- 

 velopment under many transformations down 

 to our cards of the present day. He shows that 

 such evolution was not a transfer from one 

 nation to another, but independent, though 

 closely parallel, in Asia and America ; and thus 

 adds one more proof of the universal oneness 

 of human intelligence. This volume will cer- 

 tainly mark an epoch in the proper understand- 

 ing of what games are in the domain of anthro- 

 pologic science. D. G. Brinton. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 



THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, 

 DECEMBER. 



The number opens with an article by B. O. 

 Peirce and R. W. Willson on the temperature 

 variation of the thermal conductivities of marble 

 and slate. This is an advance publication of 

 the methods and results of an investigation 

 carried on under the auspices of the Rumford 

 Committee of the American Academy of Arts 

 and Sciences. The important result is arrived 

 at that, in the case of the slabs of marble experi- 

 mented upon, the conductivity remains sensibly 

 constant throughout the whole range of tempera- 

 ture employed, say from about 40° to above 

 300°. In the case of slate there was found an 

 apparent increase of conductivity of about 30 per 

 cent, between 70° and 300°. E. Cutter describes 

 a practical method of obtaining the keynote of 

 an auditorium. The stratigraphy of the Kansas 

 coal measures is discussed at length by E. 

 Haworth ; the article is illustrated by a map of 

 the eastern part of the State and two vertical 

 sections, one a detailed section of the diamond 



drill core obtained from the Topeka well, and 

 the other a general section of the coal measures. 

 E. H. Mudge discusses the post-glacial sub- 

 mergence in its relation to central Michigan. 

 W. H. Weed and L. V. Pirsson describe certain 

 igneous rocks of Yogo Peak in the Little Belt 

 Mountains, Montana. They show that Yogo 

 Peak is composed of a core or stock of massive, 

 granular, igneous rock, and that this rock is 

 composed chiefly of augite and orthoclase. The 

 mass shows a progressive differentiation along 

 its east and west axis, with a continual increase 

 in the ferro-magnesian elements over the felds- 

 pathic ones. The resultant rock types are 

 classified into three groups : syenite, where 

 feldspar exceeds augite ; yogoite, where they 

 are practically equal, and shonkinite, where the 

 augite dominates, the latter being similar to a 

 rock type previously described. 



S. L. Penfield gives directions in regard to the 

 practical use of Retgers liquid to separate min- 

 erals of high specific gravitj'. This liquid con- 

 sists of a mixture of silver and thallium nitrates 

 fusing at 75° C. and having a specific gravity 

 above 4.5. W. M. Foote gives a preliminary 

 account of a new mineral named northupite ; 

 this is a chloro-carbonate of sodium and mag- 

 nesium, and occurs in isometric octahedrons at 

 Borax Lake, California. O. C. Marsh discusses 

 at length the ' Affinities and Classification of the 

 Dinosaurian Reptiles.' This article is accom- 

 panied by a large plate giving figures (restora- 

 tions) of twelve typical dinosaurs, eight Ameri- 

 can and four foreign species. J. B. Woodworth 

 describes some reptilian foot prints in the sand- 

 stone of Avondale, New Jersey. A brief com- 

 munication by Alexander Agassiz, among the 

 notes and abstracts which close the number, 

 gives some preliminary results of observations 

 of temperature made at great depths in one of 

 the Lake Superior copper mines. The deepest 

 point at which the temperature was taken was 

 4,580 feet and the temperature was only 79° F. 

 Taking a depth of 105 feet as that unaffected 

 by local temperatures, a column of 4,475 feet of 

 rock is obtained with a difference of tempera- 

 ture of only 20°, or an average increase at the 

 remarkably low rate of 1° F. for 223.7 feet of 

 descent. The usual rate is about 1° F. to fifty 

 feet. 



