63 7 = SCIEN GE 
| 
|Saint Germain-en-Laye,” p. 157, 
te of Opinion in France on this 
aghly impartial fashion: ‘‘ The 
; ff the cave men) is doubtful; at 
m dilege of some few tribes. The 
;covered in the quaternary beds 
been introduced there through 
of burrowing animals;” and in a 
note, giving a bibliography of authorities, upon this diffi- 
cult question of quaternary pottery one can always fall 
back upon later disturbunce of the beds, as do MM. de 
Mortillet and Cartailhac, who deny formally the existence 
of pottery in the age of the reindeer.” 
I think these citations are ample to show that all do 
not concede that paleo'ithic man made pottery. 
; Henry W. Haynes. 
Boston. 
Mr. MacDougal and Poisoning from Cypripedium spectabile. 
In Bulletin No. 9, Minnesota Botanical Studies, are 
several interesting papers; and Mr. ID. T. MacDougal’s 
paper ‘‘On the Poisonous Influence of Cypripedium 
spectabile and Cypripedium pubescens” is of special in- 
terest because there is conclusive evidence that at least 
one of these plants is poisonous to some people. Both 
of these species are common in parts of Minnesota and 
Wisconsin, and I remember at least one case of supposed 
poisoning from the Large White Lady’s Slipper. Some 
twenty years ago this species was common in rich moist 
woods in the coulés and ravines near springs and in the 
marshes of western Wisconsin. Children used to collect 
this species in large quantities, and on one occasion a 
young man collected a large quantity of the flowers, fol- 
lowed by a swollen face. It is solong ago, however, and 
as I could scarcely have been more than ten or eleven 
years old, I do not remember more than the collecting of 
the flowers and that his swollen face was attributed to 
this plant. It may have been from Poison Ivy, which is 
common in this region, but the person insisted he was 
poisoned by this Lady’s Slipper. Mr. MacDougal gives 
the following interesting experiment, which leaves no 
doubt as to the poisonous character of the plant to some 
persons at least: ‘‘The author, while in the field at 
Twin Lakes, near Minneapolis, September 7, 1893, met 
with several well grown plants of C. spectabile, with newly 
formed seed pods. A robust specimen was broken off 
near the base of the stem, and the leaves were brushed 
lightly across the biceps muscle of the bared left arm. A 
slight tingling sensation was felt at the time, and four- 
teen hours later the arm was greatly swollen from the 
shoulder to the finger tips.” He finds two kinds of hairs, 
one glandular, the other pointed. The poisonous effects 
may be due to the piercing of the skin by the pointed 
hair and the consequent action of the acid contents, or 
the surface irritation by the contents of the glandular 
hairs. Seventeen other plants found in Minnesota are 
enumerated which are poisonous to the touch, and some of 
these are common weeds like Cocklebur (NXanthium 
canadense), Horse Weed or Fleabane (477geren canadense) 
and White Spurge (Zuphoxbia corollata). The writer of 
this note is extremely sensitive to the action of Poisonous 
Ivy (Rhus vernix), but Primula obconica, which is said to be 
poisonous to some people, had no effect nor did it have 
any effect on several students working in the botanical 
laboratory on whom the experiment was tried. I know of 
one person who is systematically poisoned when he picks 
up wild grass. When questioned he stated that Poison 
Ivy was not seen by him. This matter of poisoning to 
the touch by different plants is largely a matter of indi- 
viduality and condition of the system. Previous to 1886 
I could pick and cut Poison Ivy with impunity, but in the 
‘named JV. odorata var. minor, were also this species. 
Me | oa : a 
Vol. XXIII. No. 58 
“spring of that year I was poisoned, and ever since I have 
been sensitive to its action. I may state that at thetime 
I was subject to a slight bilious attack. I was perspiring 
very freely. Iam certain that I touched my eyelids and 
face; had I not done so I would have been free from its — 
effects. : L. H. PamMMeEv. 
Towa Agricultural Coliege, Ames, Iowa. q. 
A Miniature Water Lily. 
I Have been shown Mr. H. B. Ayres’s note in the last ce 
number of Sczence, in which he credits me with having ~ 
found Wymphea odorata var. minor on the Moose River, 
near James Bay, in 1885. Though I ascended the Moose 
of the Severn River, which runs into Hudson Bay, I did 
collect a Wymphea which I took to be WV. odorata var. 
M107. 
fed them as Castalia pygmea, Salisb. (Vymphaa pygm@a 
Oit.=M. fetragona, Georgi). Dr. Britton wrote ‘me at) 7 
that time: ‘‘ The plant may be at once distinguished from 
the eastern JV. odorata var. minor, by the oblong leaves, 
sometimes nearly twice as long as broad, with narrow, 
acutish lobes and the flowers still smaller, with seven to 
eight rayed stigma.” The specimens in the herbarium of | 
this department were then examined, and it was found that 
specimens collected by Dr. Robt. Bell, in 1879, on the ~ 
Mesinabic River—a branch of the Moose River—and — 
Mr. Wm. McInnis, of the Geological Survey Depart-\ — 
ment of Canada, reports a small Wjmphea as being 
abundant in some of the small lakes east of the Rainey ~ 
Lake, almost due north of Red Lake. It seems to me 
probable that both these and the Red Lake and Turtle 
Lake plants are Castalia pygme@a and not Mymphea 
(Castalia) odorata var, minor. Jass-M. MaAcoun> 
Geological Survey Department, Ottawa. 
The Swastika Cross. 
THE display of relics.in the anthropological building of 
the Columbian Exposition, collected by Mr. Warren K_ t 
Moorehead from a cluster of mounds near Chillicothe, 
Ohio, contained, among many other very interesting 
objects, a large number of Swastika crosses made from 
thin strips of copper. The occurrence of copper orna- 
ments of that shape so perfectly wrought, and in such ~ 
numbers, occasioned much surprise, and attracted great — 
attention. A communication which I made to the Wea 
York Independent of Nov. 16, describing these objects, — 
has brought to me two interesting communications from 
widely separated portions of the globe giving valuable 
information concerning the wide-spread use of this 
symbol. 
' Mr. John Thorgeirson, writing from Bannacks, Mon- 
tana, tells me that an ancient MS., owned by his grand-_ 
father, in which there were many runic characters, 
represented Thor’s hammer as of the form of the Swastika 
cross. -It is interesting to note, also, that before 
Christianity had wholly subdued the Northmen the sign 
of the cross and of Thor’s hammer, when made before 
partaking of festive draughts, were sometimes confounded, © 
greatly to the misunderstanding of spectators. z 
Another communication from Rey. F. H. Chalfant, 
missionary at Shantung, China, informs me that the 
same symbol is among the mystic Chinese characters, to 
wit, ““wan’” (-'), and is a favorite ornament with th 
Chinese. = b 
This occurrence of so peculiar a symbol in countries so 
widely separated as Scandinavia, China, and the Mississippi a 
Valley is certainly suggestive either of an original con- — 
