238 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No, 371. 



per at the London Tuberculosis Congress upon 

 'The Communieability of Bovine Tuberculosis' 

 in"\'ite further experiments in this field before 

 any conclusions can be drawn that would modify 

 existing methods for dealing with the disease. 



The report of the library committee for 1901 

 of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 

 as abstracted in the Philadelphia Medical 

 Journal, shows 64,916 voliunes in the library, 

 including 1,070 duplicates. 4,079 volumes 

 have accumulated since July, when all dupli- 

 cates on hand were disposed of. In addition to 

 the volumes, there are in the library 58,395 un- 

 bound pamphlets, reports and transactions. 

 The library regularly receives 356 medical 

 periodicals, 86 of which are American, and 270 

 foreign. 2,212 inaugural dissertations have 

 been received during the year. 



At a meeting of the Eoyal Institute of Brit- 

 ish Architects on January 21, a paper on 'The 

 Recent Architectural Discoveries at Stone- 

 henge' was read by Mr. Detmar Blow, who, 

 with Dr. Gowland, superintended the excava- 

 tions which were made in October last for Sir 

 E. Antrobus. Mr. Blow, according to the report 

 in the London Times, pointed out that the 

 great monolith called the leaning-stone was 

 the largest in England, Cleopatra's needle ex- 

 cepted. It was one of the pillars of the high- 

 est trilithon, and stood behind the altar-stone 

 near which it leaned at an angle of 65 degrees. 

 Half-way up it had a fracture one third 

 across it; and the weight of stone above that 

 fracture was a dangerous strain on it. It had 

 now been brought to a vertical position. One 

 Roman coin and one George III. penny were 

 found quite near the surface. Numerous 

 chippings of the sarsen and blue stone of 

 which Stonehenge was built were discovered. 

 The flints found were used for the softer sar- 

 sen and blue stones, and the hand-hammers 

 and mauls for rough dressing. From this the 

 deduction had been made that the building 

 belonged to the Paleolithic period. All authori- 

 ties agreed that it was the work of a highly 

 civilized people. The construction was one 

 of a stone development and the surface of the 

 stone was finished much like that of granite. 

 The design of the pillars was in his opinion 

 evolved from the shapes of the flint instru- 



ments used by the workman, to which his hand 

 had grown accustomed. Each pillar had a bold 

 entasis in its elevation, and in its plan fore- 

 shadowed the column. With the aid of the 

 illustrations he described the method of rais- 

 ing the leaning stone and the sifting process, 

 the articles found being afterwards shown to 

 the audience. Stonehenge having been gen- 

 erally supposed to be of the bronze age, it was 

 with great joy that he lighted upon the stone 

 implements. It was, he believed, the only oc- 

 casion on which the implements were found 

 actually next to the stone building where they 

 were used. Sir Norman Lockyer, in opening 

 a discussion on the paper, said he believed 

 archeologists had come to the conclusion that, 

 from the evidence which had been obtained, 

 they were justified in assuming that the sarsen 

 stones were erected in the Palaeolithic times — 

 that was to say, before the age of bronze, or at 

 all events before bronze had been used for any 

 ordinary kind of work in that part of England. 

 Before the excavations were commenced Mr. 

 Penrose and himself had been occupying them- 

 selves with Stonehenge from a slightly differ- 

 ent point of view. They were very anxious 

 to determine its age, and it was found much 

 easier to get certain astronomical data from 

 Stonehenge owing to its position than from 

 other ancient monuments. He gave a number 

 of astronomical. data in support of his assump- 

 tion that Stonehenge was a solar temple and 

 one used for observation in the height of sum- 

 mer. Erom their observations they came to the 

 conclusion that the avenue which was asso- 

 ciated with the sarsen stones was laid down 

 about the year 1680 B. C. Such temples as 

 Stonehenge were erected in the very first blush 

 of civilization in order that the people should 

 be able to fix the time for performing agricul- 

 tural operations. He thought that Mr. Pen- 

 rose and himself had been able to show beyond 

 all doubt that we had in Stonehenge a temple 

 for observing the length of the year by observ- 

 ing the rising of the sun on the longest day of 

 the year, although in other parts of England 

 there were temples for observing the sim not 

 on June 21 but early in May and early in 

 August. 



The American Museum Journal reports 



