April 27, 1S83.] 



SCIENCE. 



349 



another is apparently in tbe natural shape in wliich 

 it was found. 



It is worth recapitulating here, that native gold, 

 silver, copper, and iron, were all found on the altar of 

 the large mound in this group, and that all were 

 manufactured into ornaments simply by hammering. 



On the altar of another mound of the group were 

 several terra-cotta figurines of a character heretofore 

 unknown from the mounds. Unfortunately, these 

 objects, as well as others found on the altars, had 

 been more or less burnt; and many of them appear to 

 have been purposely broken before they were placed 

 on the altars. Many pieces of these images have been 

 united ; and enough has already been made out to show 

 their importance in the study of early American art. 

 The peculiar head-dresses, method of wearing the 

 hair, and the large button-like ear-ornaments, shown 

 on tliese luiman figures, are of particular intei'est. 

 The shape of the ear-ornaments leaves no doubt of the 

 character of the spool-shaped objects i^reviously re- 

 ferred to. On the same altar were two remarkable 

 dishes in the form of animals, carved from stone, 

 which have been nearly restored from a large number 

 of small fragments. With these were a serpent cut 

 out of mica, several hundred small quartz pebbles 

 from the river, and nearly three liundred astragali of 

 deer and elk. As but two of these bones could be 

 obtained from a single animal, and as there were but 

 one or two fragments of other bones, there must liave 

 been some special and important reason for collecting 

 so large a number of these particular bones. A finely 

 made bracelet of copper, and several otlier ornaments 

 of copper, a few pearls and shells and other ornaments, 

 were on this altar, witli two large masses of native 

 copper, and a mass of unworked meteoric iron. Many 

 fossil sliells were found on both altars. 



Harvard college observatory, Cambridge, Mass. 



Afitronomical photographs, — It is jjroposed to form, 

 at the observatory, a collection of photographs of 

 the heavenly bodies and of their spectra. Original 

 negatives would be particularly valuable. It may 

 happen that some such negatives, having slight im- 

 perfections which would limit their value for pur- 

 poses of engraving, could be spared for a colled ion, 

 and would be as important, considered as astronom- 

 ical observations, as others photographically more 

 perfect. In some cases, astronomers may be willing 

 to deposit negatives taken for a special purpose, and 

 no longer required for study, in a collection where 

 they would retain a permanenl value as parts of an 

 historical series. Where photography is regularly 

 employed in a continuous series of observations, it 

 is obvious that specimen negatives only can be spared 

 for a collection; but in such cases it is lioped that 

 some duplicates may be available, and that occasional 

 negatives may hereafter be taken for the purpose of 

 being added to the collection, to exhibit recent im- 

 provements or striking jshenomena. When negatives 

 cannot be fm'nished, glass positives, taken, if possible, 

 by direct printing, would be very useful. If tliese, 

 also, are not procuraole, photographic prints or en- 

 gravings would be desirable. 



The observatory already possesses many of the 

 early and historically important specimens which 

 would naturally form part of such a series. Among 

 these may be mentioned four series of daguerro- 

 types and photographs of various celestial objects, 

 taken at this observatory. These series were respec- 

 tively Tindertaken in 1850, 1857, 1869, and 1882. 



Copies of memoirs or communications relating to 

 the specimens sent, or to the general subject of as- 

 tronomical photography, would form aii interesting 



supplement to the collection. A part of the con- 

 templated scheme will involve the preparation of a 

 complete bibliography of the subject, including a 

 list of unj)ublished photograplis not hitherto men- 

 tioned in works to wliich reference may be made. 



The expense wliich may be incurred by contrib- 

 utors to the collection in the preparation and trans- 

 mission of specimens will be gladly repaid by the 

 observatory, wlien desired. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



— The titles of the papers read during the recent 

 session of the National academy of sciences at Wash- 

 ington, April 17 to 20, were: Joseph LeConte, On 

 the genesis of metalliferous veins (read by T. Sterry 

 Hunt); Elias Loomis, On barometric gradients (read 

 by Cleveland Abbe) ; Ira Remsen, On the nascent state 

 of oxygen ; E. D. Cope, On the structure of tlie skull in 

 the Hadrosauridae; G. W. Hill, Determination of the 

 inequalities of the moon's motion which are produced 

 by the figure of the eartli (a supplement to Delau- 

 ny's 'Theorie du mouvement de la lune'); T. Sterry 

 Hunt, Tlie decay of rocks geologically considered; 

 S. Weir Mitchell and E. T. Reichert, On the compo- 

 sition of the venom of serpents; Ira Remsen, On 

 changes in the properties of atoms and atomic groups 

 caused by changes in the position in a molecule : W. 

 Ferrel, Maxima and minima tide-predicting machine; 

 S. P. Langley, On the measurement of wave-lengths 

 of heat; Otto von Struve, On the great object-glass 

 made by Alvan Clark and Sons for the Pulkova ob- 

 servatory; S. P. Langley, On the spectrum of an 

 argand gas-burner; G. F. Barker, Efficiency of storage- 

 batteries; C. H. F. Peters, Photographs of the great 

 comet of 1SS2; H. A. Rowland, Progress in spectrum 

 photograpliy; A. W. Wright, Some experiments upon 

 a metliod of forming a visible image of tlie solar 

 corona; A. W. Wright, On the phospliorescence of 

 sulphate of quinine; Wolcott Gibbs, Further gener- 

 alizations regarding complex inorganic acids ; A. 

 Agassiz, The fauna of the Gulf of Mexico. 



The autumn session of the academy, for the read- 

 ing of scientific papers, will be held at New Haven in 

 November. 



— Special reports Nos. 56 and 57 of the U.S. de- 

 partment of agriculture for February and March, 

 1883, are entirely occupied with statistics. No. 56 

 opens with a report upon the numbers and values of 

 farm-animals in the several states and tei'ritories, 

 including a comparison with the corresponding sta- 

 tistics of last year. These show that there has been 

 a decided increase in the number, and in the average 

 price per head, of these animals. The statistics of 

 the cotton-crop point to a probable total movement 

 of not less than 7,000,000 bales, of unusually good 

 quality ; making the total crop nearly four per cent 

 larger than the great crop of 1880. The report con- 

 tains, also, a comparison of the prices of English 

 and American agricultural implements, an article on 



