JULY 2, 1897. ] 
North or Central America in pre-Colum- 
bian times, so far as we know. About a 
hundred years ago the English deported a 
large number of them from the island of St. 
Vincent to the island of Ruatan, in the 
bay of Honduras. In the century which 
has since elapsed they have spread exten- 
sively over Central America, retaining 
largely their language and traits. 
An interesting sketch of them is given 
by Dr. Carl Sapper, in the ‘ Internationales 
Archiy fur Ethnographie,’ Bd. X. The 
changes in their dialect by loss of forms 
and the introduction of new words from 
various European tongues are numerous, 
but its affinity to the Carib of the islands is 
unmistakable. Their arts also are South 
American. 
The latter feature is further illustrated 
by an article from the pen of the editor of 
the Archiv, Dr. J. D. E. Schmeltz, on the 
utensils of the Caribs of Surinam, Dutch 
Guiana. It has an especial interest as 
tracing the development of the bird-motive 
in Caribbean art products. Several colored 
plates explain to the eye the descriptions 
in the text. 
THE ANTHROPOZOIC FORMATION. 
THE strata in geologic deposits which in- 
clude the remains of man are called ‘the 
anthropozoic formation.’ To divide this 
accurately, with reference to sequence of 
time, on the one hand, and development of 
culture, on the other, isa leading task of the 
anthropologist. Professor Woldrich, of 
Prague, has proposed a scheme for the area 
of central Europe, which is published in the 
‘Centralblatt fir Anthropologie, ’ 1897, 
Heft 2. It is useful as a general standard 
and it merits an epitomized reproduction 
here. 
The Anthropozoic Formation. 
I. The Diluvial Epoch. 
A. Paleolithic period. 
1. Preglacial. 
SCIENCE. 
25 
2. Glacial and Interglacial. 
3. Post-glacial. 
B. Mesolithic period. 
II. The Alluvial Epoch. 
C. Neolithic period. 
1. Old or atrymolithic (no bored 
stones). 
2. Middle or trymolithie (bored 
stones begin). 
3. Late, with the stones dressed to 
art shapes. 
D. Metallic Period. 
1. Bronze age. 
2. Iron age. 
3. Protohistoric age. 
4, Historic age. 
The author adds numerous examples of 
these several divisions from the layers of 
central Europe, and further specifications of 
their characteristics. He dismisses the 
‘hiatus’ between the paleolithic and neo- 
lithic maintained by some archeologists, 
believing the development to have been 
gradual and uniform. 
D. G. Briyton. 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
THE statement is frequently found in the 
text-books that when platinum-silver al- 
loys are treated with nitric acid a consid- 
erable quantity (5-9%) of platinum fol- 
lows the silver into solution. In the Pro- 
ceedings of the Chemical Society Mr. John 
Spiller gives the results of experiments on 
such alloys, containing from 0.25 to 12% 
platinum. In dilute nitric acid (1.2 sp. gr.) 
only about 0.25% of platinum was dis- 
solved; with ordinary concentrated acid 
(1.42 sp. gr.) the maximum platinum dis- 
solved was 1.25% and the average 1%. It 
thus appears that the ordinary statement is 
incorrect. 
PROFESSOR RAMSAY recently read a paper 
before the Royal Society, detailing a series 
of experiments which show that helium 
