Febeuaey 21, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



277 



"break that let the waters enter here, it else 

 seems impossible that this stream could have 

 cut through such rocky masses by a gorge 

 so narrow, and leaving so little sign of 

 abrasion on the perpendicular cliffs" (p. 32). 

 If there were really reason to regard this 

 ^ap as the result of a convulsion of nature 

 it would deserve to be carefully described ; 

 and such a rarity would become a mecca 

 for geologists and geographers; but as there 

 appears to be no sufficient ground for think- 

 ing it different in origin from the hundred 

 other water gaps of the Appalachians, the 

 people of Alabama ought to have a reason- 

 able explanation of its method of production. 



MASSANUTTEN MOUNTAIN, VIRGINIA. 



A PEELiMiNAEY accouut of this peculiar 

 sandstone mountain, rising from the lime- 

 stone floor of Shenandoah Valley, is 

 given by A. C. Spencer (Johns Hopkins 

 Univ. Circ, No. 121, Oct., 1895, 13, 14). 

 The mountain is of complicated synclinal 

 structure, the resistent sandstone which 

 forms its rim being bent into the form of a 

 long, narrow, deep and wrinkled trough, 

 whose bottom dips 1,000 feet or more be- 

 neath the surrounding valley floor. The 

 greater part of the crest line of the mountain 

 represents the much dissected Cretaceous 

 peneplain of the Appalachian province; but 

 certain points rise to greater elevations by 

 as much as 500 or more feet. Passage 

 creek, draining the northern portion of the 

 valley enclosed by the mountain rim, is 

 peculiar in cutting its outlet gap at the apex 

 of the syncline, instead of to one side, as is 

 commonly the case in Pennsylvania. 



W. M. Davis. 

 Harvard University. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 ETHNOGRAPHIC SURVEYS. 



It has been already mentioned in these 

 notes (see Science, Feb. 10, 1893,) that an 



ethnographic survey of Great Britain and 

 Ireland had been instituted under the aus- 

 pices of the British Association for the Ad- 

 , vancement of Science. Already two prelimi- 

 nary reports have been made, and quite 

 lately the Honorable Secretary of the Com- 

 mittee, Mr. E. Sidney Hartland, has pub- 

 lished some explanatory notes about the plan, 

 in the 'Transactions of the British and Glou- 

 cestershire Archseological Society.' These 

 are very useful and suggestive, and together 

 with the forms of schedule prepared by the 

 Committee should be secured by students 

 of ethnography as showing the well-ma- 

 tured methods of investigation decided 

 upon by the high authorities in charge of 

 the survey. They may be had bj' address- 

 ing ' the Secretary of the Ethnographic 

 Survey, British Association, Burlington 

 House, London, W.' 



the early use of metals in EUROPE. 



Dr. Julius N"aue, the well known editor 

 of the Prdhistorisehe Blatter in Munich, con- 

 tributes to the ' Revue Archseologique ' an in- 

 structive article on the Hallstatt Epoch in 

 Bavaria and the Palatinate, principally 

 from his own researches. 



His epoch is that of ' the first age of iron ' 

 and begins about 800 B. C. At its begin- 

 ning bronze was much more abundant than 

 iron, and the forms given it were graceful. 

 The bodies were generally incinerated and 

 placed in stone tombs. Long, leaf-shaped 

 swords of iron were laid with the warriors, 

 and ornamented vases of pottery beside 

 them. Knives, daggers, pins, lance points 

 and ornaments of both metals are common. 

 The ethnographic conclusion is that these 

 were Celtic tribes, probably the Licatii, of 

 Latin authors. In agriculture they were 

 skilled and in commerce had established 

 distant relations. 



Their contemporaries in the Upper Pala- 

 tinate were less advanced, being addicted 

 to human sacrifices and more warlike. 



