June 23, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



973 



tions may be established by comparing bouil- 

 lon thus provided with varying amounts of 

 soil with equivalent portions of bouillon, to 

 which varying amounts of standard acid had 

 been added. 



Instead of employing ammonifying bacteria 

 for estimating the acid present in soil samples, 

 nitrogen-fixing species of the Azotobacter 

 group could be used. It is well known that 

 Azotobacter will grow by preference in neutral 

 or slightly alkaline media; hence, mannite 

 solutions could be made up and portions of it 

 treated with varying amounts of soil as de- 

 scribed above. After sterilization and cool- 

 ing, the several portions could be inoculated 

 from some pure culture of Azotobacter. At 

 the end of a given length of time, the total 

 nitrogen present could be determined and the 

 amounts fixed used as a guide in measuring 

 the retarding efPect of the acid present in the 

 soil sample. In the same way, nitrifying or 

 other bacteria could be utilized for the quanti- 

 tative estimation of soil acidity. It is ex- 

 pected that the data accumulated by us will 

 be available for publication at an early date. 

 Jacob G. Lipman 



Edtgees College, 

 New Brunswick, N. J. 



AN INTERESTING OLD WT3AVING TECHNIC 



On a recent expedition of the American 

 Museum to the Pima-speaking tribes of 

 southern Arizona there was found the rem- 

 nant of an old technic in basket-work which 

 has almost entirely disappeared from this 

 people. 



It is a crude wrapping of a pliable binding 

 element over stiff slats which are arranged in 

 parallels — a wrapped weaving and found with 

 three variations. 



It appears on a few old house doors, shelves, 

 cradles and cages in the out-of-the-way vil- 

 lages where the people have stiU preserved the 

 early mode of construction and it seems the 

 simplest way of uniting stiff slat-like strips 

 by means of a soft pliable binding element. 



This binding element was formerly of 

 thong or native string — ^both occasionally met 

 with now — ^but more recently it is of White 



man's rope, strips of cloth or even wire. The 

 slats are generally the smooth, light ribs of 

 the giant cactus Saguara. These are placed 

 in a parallel series, while in the simplest 

 forms of wrapping the binding element passes 

 forward over two slats on the outside, back- 

 ward over one on the inside and then repeats 

 the process, thus forming a simple wrapped 

 weaving. When greater strength is needed an 

 extra slat is placed perpendicularly across the 

 parallel series and bound to them by each 

 wrap of the binding element, which in more 

 frequent varieties gives an extra turn about 

 each slat. This last technic is known as lat- 

 tice wrapped weaving. 



The possible evolution of the last crude 

 basket technic from the simple process of the 

 tying of twigs and fibers in their latticed 

 house construction is interesting; as well as 

 a similar development of the wrapped weav- 

 ing from the plain bindings on one type of 

 their cradles. 



Indeed the thought suggests itself, might it 

 not be possible that this crude wrapped weav- 

 ing, because of its great simplicity, was one 

 of the earliest to develop, especially in re- 

 gions as destitute of suitable basket material 

 as the desert country of the Pima? May not 

 this technic hold a place with the others 

 which lay claim to be the earliest technics — 

 plaiting, with its over and under passing 

 strips; wicker, with its interlacing twigs; 

 wattling, with its twining elements? 



Lattice wrapping repeats itself among the 

 wild tribes in a number of the Malaysian Is- 

 lands in crude traps and baskets, and on the 

 Lower Congo in more refined basket work. 

 Could its distribution through the desert re- 

 gion of America during early times be more 

 closely traced, no doubt, we would find it a 

 frequent technic, for it appears as far south 

 as Mexico in the wagon box of the old ox- 

 cart. A close surface of the same technic 

 also exists to the north among the Pomo, the 

 Nez Perce, the Makah and on some of the old 

 Salish blankets. 



Mary IiOis Kissell 

 American Museitm, 

 New Tobk 



