494 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 17. 



■Weight of infants. — Biedert has studied some- 

 what the weight of suclcing children, and gives a 

 few tables of the weight of four children. He 

 especially insists upon the importance, in weighing 

 babies, of selecting a particular time of the day, and 

 recommends two hours after the first feeding in 

 the morning. By weighing twice after a meal, at 

 different intervals, there is shown to be a loss. 

 From a limited number of observations he obtained 

 the following average losses during periods of ten 

 minutes for different ages: first half of the first 

 month, 3.3 grms. ; second month, 5.9 ; third month, 

 7.7; fourth month, 8.3; fifth month (one child only), 

 8.1. These are the rates of loss from excretion of all 

 kinds. The other principal point of Biedert's arti- 

 cle is, that, with care in weighing, the accidental 

 variations may be nearly all eliminated, leaving only 

 those due to illnesses. In part second the growth of 

 children witli minimal nourishment is discussed from 

 a medical stand-point. — (Jahrb. kinderheilkunde, 

 xix. 275.) c. s. M. [1006 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Ruins and graves in Greenland. — H. Eink, re- 

 viewing the later Danish explorations in Greenland, 

 says that in the southern district of Julianshaab 

 there are about one hundred localities showing old 

 Scandinavian ruins, the largest and most conspicu- 

 ous containing as many as thirty ruined buildings, 

 consisting of stone walls of houses, shelter-walls, 

 etc. 



A number of Eskimo graves have been examined; 

 and it was found, that, wliere stones were convenient 

 to the dwellings, low mounds were erected. When 

 these were absent, low hillocks, or elevated localities 

 at greater distance, were selected for the burial of 

 the dead. Near Narkerdluk, graves were found on a 

 hill 440 feet high, and these could only be reached 

 by climbing a very steep trail. Tliey are usually 

 single, though frequently two bodies are found in 

 one. The graves are formed by placing stones in the 

 form of a rectangle ; and- bodies are often found 

 'doubled up.' In a tomb measuring four feet long, 

 two feet broad, and two feet in height, were found 

 the skulls of thirteen adults and two cliildren. One 

 grave contained two bodies, across and on top of 

 whicli lay a third. The most remarkable discovery, 

 however, is the existence of apparent cenotaph 

 tombs carefully constructed and covered, and in 

 which the usual number and variety of trinkets 

 were found lying upon the floor or in burial-vessels, 

 but no indications of a body. The author inquires 

 if these tombs can have been erected to the memory 

 of persons who had disappeared mysteriously. — 

 {Peterm. mitth., xxix. iv.) j. w. P. [1007 



Researches in Yucatan. — At a meeting of the 

 SocielcS de g^ographie, M. 'Desirg Cbarnay read an 

 account of his recent voyage to Yucatan and the 

 country of the Lacandons. His mission was to study 

 the documents, vases, temples, palaces, and inscrip- 

 tions, in order to throw light on the age and origin 

 of American civilization. The paper is, to a large 

 extent, historical and geographical, but contains valu- 

 able accounts of the ruins of Ak^ and Chichen-Itza. 

 Interesting descriptions are given of the large and 

 ornate edifices devoted to tbe national ball-play, 

 which edifices are believed to have been consecrated 

 to the great civilizer, Cuculcan, the same as the Mex- 

 ican Quetzalcoatl. The chief discovery mentioned 

 is of the ruins of a city on the left bank of the 

 river Usumasinta, in an unclassified region between 

 Guatemala and the two Mexican states of Chiapas 

 and Tabasco. These ruins greatly resemble those of 



Palenque, and were named Lorillard City in gratitude 

 to Mr. Lorillard of New 'i.'ork, who had generously 

 contributed to the expenses of the expedition. — 

 {Compte rendu soc. geog., no. 21.) j. w. p. [1008 



Cossacks. — F. v. Stein fui'nishes a valuable paper 

 on the history, culture, and distribution of the Cos- 

 sacks, with a chart showing areas occupied by the 

 several ethnic divisions. — [Peterm. mitlhelL, no. 71.) 

 J. w. p. [1009 



The Solomon-islanders. — Mr. H. B. Guppy 

 has recently visited St. Cristoval in H. M. S. Lark, 

 and gives the results of his studies of the natives. 

 " The average height of a man is about five feet three 

 inches; span of extended arms, four to five inches 

 more than the height of body; both sexes robust 

 and well proportioned, with some exceptions; skin 

 varies from very dark brown to dark copper, the elder- 

 ly adults being darker skinned than the youth, from- 

 causes partly climatic, partly physiological. Some 

 individuals are of a pale, sickly hue, owing to their 

 being covered from head to foot with an inveterate 

 form of body-ringworm, — a scaly skin-eruption which 

 affects in a greater or less degree quite two-fifths of 

 the natives of this part of the group. In its most 

 aggravated condition, this parasitical disease impli- 

 cates the skin to such a degree that the rapid desic- 

 cation and desquamation of the epidermal cells lead 

 to a partial decoloration of the deeper parts of the 

 cuticle. The hair is black, frizzled, and bushy 

 among the younger adults, with a tendency to 

 arrange itself into corkscrew-like spirals among the 

 middle-aged men. Straight-haired natives are some- 

 times found. Hairiness varies much with individ- 

 uals, but the surfaces of the body and limbs are 

 generally free from hair. Skull, raesocephalic; index 

 from .73 to .83, mean between .74 to .77; facial 

 angle 85° to 90°; nose straight, coarse, sliort, with 

 wide nostrils and depressed bridge." — (Nature, April 

 26.) J. w. P. [1010 



American bibliography. — Dr. Daniel G. Brin- 

 ton thus calls attention to a work by Don Diego 

 Barros Arana, published last summer in Santiago de 

 Chile, entitled "Bibliography of anonymous and 

 pseudonymous works on the history, geography, and 

 literature of America." " The compiler is an expert 

 bibliographer, and, in this quarto volume of 171 pages, 

 traces to their authors 507 books on America, pub- 

 lished anonymously or under false names. Their 

 dates of issue vary all the way from 1493 to the Cen- 

 tennial exhibition in 1876. Seilor Arana adds very 

 instructive and often copious notes on the wi-iters 

 of these productions, and on their value or lack of 

 value." Mr. Brinton adds further notes on the cata- 

 logues of Messrs. Kobert Clarke, Henry Harrisse, 

 Felix C. T. Lobron, Josepli Labin, James C. Pilling, 

 Julius Platzmann, and C. H. Berendt — (Proc. 

 numism. antiq. soc. Philad., April 5.) o. T. si. [1011 



EGYPTOLOGY. 



Pithom. — In letters under dates March 12, 18, and 

 26, M. Naville tells of furtlier discoveries at Pithorn. 

 The name of the nome in which Pithom is situated is 

 found to be An ; this was placed too far south by 

 Brugsch. The following are part of the treasm-es 

 from Pithom : a seated statue, in black granite, of 

 the high priest of Succoth ; a fragment bearing the 

 two cartouches of Ramses II., and the name Succoth ; 

 a tablet of black stone with the inscription recording 

 " the foundation of the city of Arsinoe, at some dis- 

 tance from Pithom, by King Ptolemy Philadelphus. 

 The day before, the workmen had found the base of 

 a standing statue with two cartouches, one giving' 



