SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 52. 



conclusion, and repeats it with added evi- 

 dence in the Internationales Archiv fiir 

 Ethnographie (Bd. VIII., Heft. III., 1895). 

 The cradle of Mayan culture, he maintains, 

 was south of the peninsula of Yucatan and 

 in the interior. The subject which leads 

 up to his statement is offered by the decora- 

 tions on some ancient earthenware vases 

 from Guatemala, which are described and 

 portrayed. 



Basing an article on a similar series of 

 pottery from the same district, Dr. E . Seler, 

 in the Verhandlungen of the Museum of 

 Ethnography of Berlin, points out that 

 throughout western Guatemala, Quirgua 

 probably included, the fictile art and the 

 decorative designs have such close analo- 

 gies that all this territory must have been 

 under the immediate influence of the cul- 

 tured nation whose highest products we see 

 in the remains at Copan. The question 

 now presents itself, was it about Copan, in 

 the extreme east of the Mayan territory, or 

 about Palenque and Ococingo, in its western 

 extremity, that this culture had its origin ? 



ANCIENT MEXICAN HIGHWAYS. 



In a lecture delivered last August before 

 the German Anthropological Society (re- 

 ported in the Correspondenz-blatt, Septem- 

 ber), Baron von Brackel described several 

 highways constructed by the ancient in- 

 habitants in western Michoacan. They 

 are six or seven feet wide, laid with unhewn 

 large stones, the surface slightly shelving 

 so as to shed the water freely, protected by 

 stone facing, both above and below, where 

 there is danger of the banks giving way. 

 Their direction is almost rectilinear, and 

 evidently the deep ravines and water courses 

 were crossed by hanging bridges, as the 

 road continues either side of them. The 

 paving was so thoroughly done that many 

 miles of it are in perfect condition. 



Althoxigh in many parts the stones have 

 been taken away for modern constructions. 



the speaker believed that it would not be 

 difBcult to trace out and map the whole 

 system of these highways. As far as he 

 had accomplished this, they appear to center 

 toward some distant point, which he thinks 

 may be the Bay of Maruata, on the Pacific 

 coast. The vicinity of Coalcoman, where 

 these highways are especially noticeable, is 

 rich in copper and other minerals, and the 

 idea suggests itself that these paved paths 

 were built to facilitate the transportation 

 of such materials to the seashore. 



D. G. Beinton. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



HARVARD COLLEGE OBSEEVATOEY. 



Peof. E. C. Pickeeing announces in circular 

 No. 3, the discovery of a new variable star 

 of the Algol type. The star B. D. + 17° 

 4367, magn. 9.1, whose approximate position 

 for 1900 is in R. A. 20'' 33™.!, December + 17° 

 56', appears to be a variable star of the Algol 

 tpye. On July 18, 1895, Miss Lousia D. Wells 

 found that no trace of this star appeared on the 

 photograph I 4359, taken with the 8 inch 

 Draper telescope on September 26, 1891, ex- 

 posure 16 m. On 71 other plates taken from 

 June 30, 1890, to October 5, 1895, the star ap- 

 pears of its normal brightness. On December 

 12, 1895, at 10'' 42"' Greenwich Mean Time, 

 Prof. Arthur Searle, who had watched this star 

 on several nights, found it more than a magni- 

 tude fainter than usual. During the next half 

 hour it diminished about half a magnitude 

 more. Meanwhile, a photograph taken with 

 the 8 inch Draper telescope, I 14036, confirmed 

 the diminution in light. Unfortunately, at 11'' 

 15"' G. M. T., clouds covered the region, and 

 the star, although carefully looked for, was not 

 seen again that evening. The change in bright- 

 ness appears to be rapid and the range of vari- 

 ation to be large, exceeding two magnitudes. 

 The nearest bright star is B. D. -|- 17° 4370, 

 magn. 7.0, which follows 14« and is south V. 

 The variability of B. D. + 17° 4370 has been 

 suspected by Espin (Englisli Mechanic, Vol. 

 LXII., 334) and also independently by Mrs. 

 Fleming in 1890. 



