Decbmbbe 27, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



901 



presence and every bone were noted as soon as 

 taken from their sites. In this manner he ex- 

 amined twenty -nine caves, six of which yielded 

 valuable results. 



His conclusion from this arduous and ex- 

 tended investigation is that there is no trace of 

 any older or more primitive human visitors to 

 the peninsula than the Mayas in about the 

 stage of culture in which they first became 

 known to the Spaniards. 



The animal bones and shells which the expe- 

 dition brought back were examined by special- 

 ists and all proved to belong to existing species. 

 Like the remains of man, there was nothing in 

 them to hint at a great antiquity. This fact, 

 however, suggests that the caves themselves 

 must be of quite modern formation; so, perhaps, 

 the expedition was after all looking in places 

 where it is not possible to find the relics of 

 ' palaeolithic ' man if they actually are in the 

 peninsula. "We cannot, therefore, unreservedly 

 accept the author's dictum (p. 177), 'no earlier 

 inhabitant had preceded the builders of the 

 ruined cities in Yucatan.' 



The narrative portion of the volume are 

 pleasantly composed, enlivened not only by an 

 ever-present enthusiasm for the main object, 

 but touched in frequent passages with a quick 

 appreciation of the strange and the beautiful in 

 nature and the odd and humorous in life. 

 Whether archfeologist or not, the reader will 

 pass agreeable hours over Mr. Mercer's pages. 



Some little criticism must be added on the 

 author's capricious orthography of Maya words. 

 The recognized authority is the dictionary of 

 Pio Perez. That work admits no s in the Maya 

 alphabet ; but Mr. Mercer employes it freely, as 

 aitz for tzitz, spukil for xpukil, sac for zac, thus 

 confounding three different sounds in one. At 

 other times his forms are incorrect, as tzat-un- 

 tzat for zataan zat, coyok for oooch, etc. This 

 occurs also in the Spanish, where he gives volan 

 for volante, the name of a vehicle. The trans- 

 lations of some of the Maya terms are dubious, 

 iDut for these he does not assume responsibility. 



These, however, are slight blemishes, and the 

 book, with its handsome illustrations, excellent 

 paper and attractive account of travel and ex- 

 ploration, is sure to entertain and instruct every 

 reader. D. G. Beinton. 



Chemical Experiments Prepared to Accompany 

 Bemsen's '■Introduction to tjie Study of Chem- 

 istry. By Ira Eemsen * and Wya'tt W. 

 Randall. New York, Henry Holt & Co. 

 1895. Price 50 cents. 



In this edition of Prof Eemsen' s laboratory 

 manual a number of new experiments have been 

 introduced, and the course of study as now ar- 

 ranged covers pretty fully the ground ovitlined 

 by the Committee on Secondary School Studies 

 of the National Educational Association. Like 

 all of Prof. Eemsen' s text-books this one is 

 characterized by clearness and precision of state- 

 ment. The directions for each of the laboratory 

 experiments are carefully worded, and it is diffi- 

 cult to see how students in following them could 

 possibly fail in getting good results. 



The course begins with experiments which 

 show the difference between chemical and phys- 

 ical phenomena, then the characteristic proper- 

 ties of chemical compounds as distinguished 

 from mechanical mixtures are studied, and 

 this leads on to a systematic study of the 

 preparation and properties of the more 

 important non-metallic and metallic ele- 

 ments. At the end of the book there is a 

 brief introduction to the methods of qualitative 

 analysis. Two quantitative experiments re- 

 quiring the student to work with accurate 

 weighing and measuring instruments are given; 

 one of these is the determination of the per- 

 centage of oxygen in potassium chlorate, 

 the other the determination of the equivalent 

 of zinc. Nothing serves so well 'as a few ex- 

 periments of this kind to impress upon students 

 the significance of the fundamental laws of 

 chemistry. Nearly every one of the laboratory 

 directions is followed by a series of questions, 

 the object of which is to make students think 

 about their work, and to lead them on to draw 

 conclusions from the results that thej^ have 

 obtained. There are no blank pages in the 

 book, and it is expected that a full record of 

 each experiment and the conclusions that have 

 been drawn from it be kept by the student in 

 a separate note-book, and that this note-book 

 be submitted to the teacher from time to time 

 for revision. Another excellent feature is that 

 at the beginning of the directions for each ex- 

 periment there is a list of all the apparatus and 

 chemicals required for the work. , 



