562 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 825 



was published in Appalachia for 1910, but 

 a more complete report will be given in a 

 forthcoming Yolume of the " Smithsonian 

 Miscellaneous Collections," part of the ex- 

 pense of the work having been provided for 

 by a grant from the Hodgkins Fund. 



At the recent Harvard-Boston Aviation 

 Meet Professor R. W. Willson established 

 what is likely to become a standard method 

 for determining the maximum height reached 

 by an aeroplane in flight. A thermograph, 

 which had been used at Blue Hill Observa- 

 tory for obtaining the temperature encoun- 

 tered by a sounding balloon, and a water 

 barometer were attached to the aeroplane. 

 The atmospheric pressure prevailing at the 

 highest point reached by the aviator was 

 later corrected for the temperature recorded 

 by the thermograph, and. the actual height 

 computed with the aid of the usual tables. As 

 a check upon this height, simultaneous ob- 

 servations of angular altitude were made by 

 means of transit instruments, one at each end 

 of a measured base line, and the height com- 

 puted from the triangle thus obtained. As 

 the method gives two independent determina- 

 tions of height, the desired accuracy is at- 

 tained. 



In an article in " Umschau " by Dr. Karl 

 Stoeckel, attention is called to the fact that 

 ultra-violet light, like the rays of radium, de- 

 compose water into hydrogen and hydrogen 

 dioxide, without evolution of oxygen. It is 

 believed that the ultra-violet rays of sunlight 

 which fall upon the water vapor suspended 

 in the lower strata of the earth's atmosphere 

 decomposes a small part of it to produce 

 hydrogen, which rises to great heights, and 

 hydrogen dioxide, which has been found in 

 small quantities in rain-water. From spec- 

 troscopic observations of high, luminous 

 meteors. Professor Pickering has shown that 

 hydrogen is undoubtedly present. Moreover, 

 Professor J. Hann has calculated that 99.5 

 per cent, by volume of the atmosphere at a 

 height of 62 miles is hydrogen. A slightly 

 larger proportion, 99.84 per cent., is obtained 

 by Dr. W. I. Humphreys, of the United States 



Weather Bureau, in a recent research. It is 

 not improbable that these facts will help to 

 solve the problem of the upper inversion, as 

 well as that of the slow desiccation of the 

 earth. Andrew H. Palmer 



Blue Hill Observatoby, 

 Hyde Pabk, Mass., 

 September 28, 1910 



PVBLICATIOVS ON THE INDIANS OF THE 

 NORTHERN PLAINS 



For several years the department of anthro- 

 pology of the American Museum of Natural 

 History has been engaged with a cultural sur- 

 vey of the Indian tribes occupying the north- 

 ern plains : viz., the Sarcee, Northern Sho- 

 shone, Blackfoot, Crow, Gros Ventre, Assini- 

 boine, Hidatsa, Mandan, Dakota, Plains Cree 

 and Plains Ojibway. Though far from com- 

 plete practically all of these tribes have been 

 visited and systematic continuous investiga- 

 tion inaugurated for the next five or more 

 years as the case may demand. The formu- 

 lated results are now appearing in the " An- 

 thropological Papers " of the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, seven papers having 

 been issued to date, four of which were previ- 

 ously reviewed in Science, October 16, 1908. 

 The three to be discussed here are : The North- 

 ern Shoshone, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, pp. 165-306, Plate 

 I. and 20 text figures, January, 1909, and The 

 Assiniboine, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, pp. 1-270, Plates 

 I.-III., and 17 text figures, November, 1909, 

 both by Eobert H. Lowie; The Material Cul- 

 ture of the Blackfoot Indians, by Clark Wiss- 

 ler, pp. 1-176, Plates I.-VIIL, and 103 text 

 figures, March, 1910. 



The Northern Shoshone.— In 1906 Dr. 

 Robert H. Lowie began an investigation of 

 the northern Shoshone, or Snake Indians. 

 His results, as published, show that in eco- 

 nomic life these Indians manifest predomi- 

 natingly the traits of the plateau area west of 

 the Great Divide, especially in the use of 

 seed-grains and fish, the buffalo being little 

 more than an incident in whose pursuit they 

 made occasional journeys into the Missouri 

 basin, a practise no doubt greatly stimulated 

 by the acquisition of horses. In costume, 



