October 9, 1891. J 



SCIENCE. 



207 



who had previously been engaged nn the German excavations at 

 Olympia. The remains uncovered at Tirjns consist of a citadel 

 and palaces almost identical in plan with those of Troy ; and these 

 features are repeated with some variations at Mycenas. It was at 

 this latter place, however, which Homer has celebrated as the 

 capital of Agamemnon's empire, that the greatest variety of re- 

 mains vvere found, and Dr. Schuchhardt has devoted nearly half of 

 this book to a description of them. There are at Mycente two 

 different binds of burial places, the bee-hive tombs outside the 

 citadel (so called from the form of the principal vaulted chamber), 

 and the shaft graves within the citadel, which are simple pits sunk 

 in the ground and covered by a slab. The bee-hive tombs, which 

 belong to the later ages of the Mycenffian civilization, have long 

 since been rifled of their contents; but the sliaft graves were found 

 to contain remnants of corpses, together with a great variety of 

 utensils, oruament-i, and weapons which reveal a high order of 

 workmanship and artistic skill. The shield of Achilles and other 

 works of art spoken of in the •' Iliad "' have been regarded as ex- 

 travagant creations of the poet's fancy; but here at Mycense we 

 find objects of precisely tl.iat characier — goblets, diadems, and 

 even shoulder-straps of gold, artistic pottery of various kinds, and 

 sword blades and daggers inlaid with figures of men and animals 

 made of gold, silver, and other rich material. Similar objects 

 have been found in various parts of tie Grecian mainland, and 

 on the islands of the .^gean, so that the civilization they be- 

 token muse have been widespread; but where its centre was 

 and what particular race were ils representatives are questions 

 still unsettled. The period of its prevalence is still more un- 

 certain, but is vaguely assigned to the interval between 1500 and 

 lOOU B.C. 



These questions, and others of equal importance, to which 

 Schliemann's-discoveries have given rise, have been discussed by 

 Dr. Schuchhardt in his concluding chapter, and by Mr. Leaf in his 

 introduction. We want to trace the connection of the Mycenaean 

 civilizalion with the nations of the east and with the later devel- 

 opments among the Greeks themselves, and also to find out the 

 relation between that civilization and the one presented in the 

 poems of Homer. The resemblances betu'een the life revealed to 

 us in the Mjcenasan remains and that depicted in the " Iliad " and 

 '' Odyssey " are numerous and obvious; but there are also discrep- 

 ancies which our present information does not allow us to account 

 for, and which seem to show that the poems date from a later age 

 than that of the Mycenaean prime. The most important of these 

 differences is in the mode of disposing of the bodies of the dead, 

 which at Mycense were buried, whereas in the "Iliad" and 

 " Odyssey " they are burnt on the funeral pyre. The figures por- 

 trayed on some of the ornaments and weapons at Mycense also 

 show a mode of dress quite different from that described by Ho- 

 mer; and it is evident that we must have further information 

 before the diiSculties thus presented can be cleai'ed up. Mean- 

 while, we cannot withhold our tribute of admiration and respect 

 for the man who lias taught us so much about the life and civili- 

 zation of those early ages. 



Stones for Building and Decoration. By George P. Merrill. 

 New York, "Wiley. 8°. $5. 



The author of this work is curator of geology in the United 

 States National Museum, and he has succeeded in treating the 

 subject in a way that will make the volume of especial interest to 

 architects and engineers without lessening its value to the student, 

 or, in fact, to any person interested, whether from an economic 

 or a purely scientific standpoint. Though the subject is presented 

 mainly from an American point of view, the volume includes de- 

 scriptions of all stones of importance found in the American mar- 

 ket, from whatever source they may come. 



The first chapter gives a brief but very interesting history of 

 stone-working in the United States. The succeeding chapters of 

 . Part I. are devoted to the geographical distribution and the chem- 

 ical and physical properties of such stones as are used for general 

 constructive and decorative purposes. 



A systematic description of the rocks, quarries, and quarry re- 

 gions is given in Part 11. Each variety of stone is taken up in 

 turn, its composition, origin, structure, and general adaptability 



for any form of work discussed, and the resources of each State 

 and Territory described. 



The diifeient methods of quarrying and working, the machines 

 and implements used in such processes, the weathering of build- 

 ing-stone, the selection of stone for building purposes, and the 

 methods employed for the ijrotection and preservation of stone 

 from the ravages of time, are treated of in Part III. Part IV. is 

 made up of appendices, including tables showing the qualities of 

 stone as indicated by their crushing strength, with ratio of ab- 

 sorption, and chemical composition; a table on the prices of stone 

 and the relative cost of dressing, and a list of some of the more 

 important stone buildings in the United States and the dates of 

 their erection. The volume concludes with a bibliography of 

 building-stone and a glossary of terms. It is Ulustrated with 

 eleven full page plates and several figures in the text. 



Mr. Merrill has made excellent use of the opportunities afforded 

 him by his position in the National Museum to gain a thorough 

 knowledge of his subject, and has given us a most exhaustive 

 and comprehensive treatise on an interesting topic. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 

 A NEW feature has just been introduced in the New England 

 Magazine. It is, " In a Corner at Dodsley's," a gossip about writers 

 and books, by Walter Blackburn Harte. 



— Macmillan & Co. have been appointed special agents in the 

 United States for the books published in London by George Bell 

 & Sons, including the well-known collection of standard literature 

 issued under the name of " Bohn's Libraries." 



— In St. Nicholas for October is a short letter from Meredith 

 Nugent explaining where grasshoppers and crickets tried to hide 

 their ears until Sir John Lubbock rummaged them out for us. It 

 would be a knowing boy indeed who would not be surprised to 

 find a grasshopper's ear on his fore leg. 



— Among the contents of the Engineering Magazine for Octo- 

 ber are the following: "Progress in Aerial Navigation," by O. 

 Chanute; "One View of the Keely Motor," by T. C. Smith; 

 "Railroad Building on the Texas Frontier," by G. W. Rafter; 

 "Marble Quarrying in the United States," by E. R. Morse; " The 

 Conditions Causing a Tornado," by Professor H. A. Hazen; and 

 " The Future of Our Wagon Roads," by W. Claypoole. 



— The October number of The Alienist and Neurologist 

 contains a paper on the subject of "Traumatic Neuroses and 

 Spinal Concussion," another on "The Insanity of Torquato 

 Tasso," an illustrated study of " Criminals and Their Cranial De- 

 velopment," " The Weight of the Brains of the Feeble-Minded," 

 and "A Study of the Heredity of Inebriety." The respective 

 writers are Guiseppe SeppUh, W. W. Ireland, G. Frank Lydston, 

 A. W. Wilmarth, and T. L. Wright. Besides there are the usual 

 selections, editorials, hospital notes, reviews, etc. 



— With the issue of the second number of the Journal of Com- 

 parative Neurology, the editor, C. L. Herrick, indicates the sphere 

 which it will attempt to occupy. The Journal offers to investiga- 

 tors an avenue for immediate publication with fuU illustration, 

 there being no restrictions as to size or frequency of the fascicules. 

 A feature is the list of current neurological literature, which it is 

 hoped may be made complete and accurate, and in connection 

 with this are given synopses of the more important papers. Criti- 

 cal estimates or reviews of such papers, however,°will usually be 

 offered only in connection with special resumes or digests of given 

 topics. While especially devoted to original investigation, each 

 volume will contain semi-popular, historical, and controversial 

 matter which may serve to adapt the results of the technical work 

 to the general reader. While it is inevitable that much of the 

 space will, for the present, be occupied with anatomical and mor- 

 phological matter, it is hoped to devote an increasing amount of 

 attention to physiological problems and to the accumulation of 

 data which may serve, in however indirect a way, as materials for 

 a comparative psychology. AH observers are invited to contribute 

 facts having any scientific bearing upon the nervous or psychical 

 activities of animals. It is the intention soon to inaugurate a 

 series of articles to constitute, when completed, a laboratory guide 

 to the study of the nervous system, to which the attention of 



