November ii, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



277 



At the same meeting Mr. George H. Becker of the U. S. Geol . 

 Survey presented a similar mortar found under Table Mountain 

 some years befoi'e by Mr. Neale, a mining engineer. Mr. Neale 

 signed an affidavit detailing the particulars, and his remembrance 

 of the situation was so minute that there could be no question of 

 the undisturbed character of the deposits. Mr. Becker well re- 

 marks that Mr. Neale's judgment as mining-engineer concerning 

 the undisturbed character of the deposit is the highest evidence 

 that can possibly be obtained, for that is a point to which the 

 miner's attention is constantly directed, on account of the danger 

 attending the opening of any old excavation. 



The third new evidence offered was that of Mr. Clarence King, 

 who had just presented to the Smithsonian Institution a fragment 

 of a pestle which he had taken with his own hands, in the vicinity 

 of the two previous places m^ptioned, from the undisturbed 

 gravel beds underlying Table Mountain. I need not say that Mr. 

 Becker and Mr. King are two geologists of the very highest 

 standing in the country, and that they both have unusual famil- 

 iarity with the phenomena of that region, and they both, together 

 with Professor Marsh, Professor Putnam, and W. H. Dall, express 

 their unqualified belief in reference to the Calaveras skull that it 

 was found in place in the gravel beneath this same stream of 

 lava. 



But I have already made my communication too long. I trust, 

 however, upon your forbearance in publishijig it, since the facts 

 are too numerous to be compressed into less space of description, 

 and a volume would be required to give all the evidence in detail. 

 In my book upon ' ' Man and the Glacial Period " I was called 

 upon to discuss a very broad subject in a very small volume, and 

 so could not enter into details. I endeavored, however, to limit 

 myself to facts of which there was abundant proof, if they should 

 ever be called in question. And I would repeat that I am glad of 

 the revival of interest in the subject which will be created by the 

 expression of such doubts as still remain in Dr. Brinton's mind. 

 I have no question but full discussion will dispel the uncertainty 

 that may exist. G. Frederick Wright. 



Oberlin, Ohio, Nov. 1, 1892. 



The Rattlesnake of the Bottom-Lands of Mississippi. 



On August 8, 1891, I received, in a box whose base was about 

 two feet square and whose height was about one foot, a rattle- 

 snake which had been sent by express from Greenville, Miss. 

 The snake was of a stout build, fierce looking and ready to rattle 

 and strike," Through this wooden box had been bored a number 

 of auger holes to supply the serpent with air; these had so weak- 

 ened the box as to cause a split that afforded some chance of es- 

 cape. 



I thought from its appearance the snake was about four feet 

 long ; but after death actual measurement showed four feet five 

 inches in length and eight inches in circumference at the largest 

 part of the body. I had made a longer box with glass top and 

 with a sliding door; through this without much difficulty the 

 snake was transferred from the old box. 



The color was an alternation of black spots and light brown 

 ground. The black spots were larger than those of the Moun- 

 tain Rattler, while the brown was not so bright. This snake had 

 only three rattles when I received it; a careful examination 

 showed that some of the rings had been broken off. I afterwards 

 learned that eight of them were broken off in the express car 

 between Greenville and Winona on the Georgia Pacific road. If 

 this information be correct, the snake had at that time eleven 

 rattles. 



When I was endeavoring to make the snake go out of the old 

 box into the new, the glass of the latter was at the side. The 

 snake showed evidence of great irritation and anger; it rattled 

 almost incessantly. Some children were a few feet in front of 

 the glass ; at the instant of passing into the new box it struck at 

 the childi'en with all its force, striking against the glass and spat- 

 tering against it some white, thick, frothy liquid. The snake 

 evidently did not understand glass, not having lived before in a 

 box or house provided with that article. Twice afterwards, when 

 it had been angered, it struck at persons standing a little way in 



front of the glass; after this it refused to strike, seeming to under- 

 stand that the glass presented a barrier too great for its strength. 

 The head of the snake trembled from the effects of the blow 

 against the glass. A match struck and lighted in front of the 

 glass seemed to irritate and anger it more than anything else. 



I took the precaution to have in the cage a wooden saucer. In 

 this I blew at various times water and sweet milk. I put into 

 the box living frogs, rats, mice, young flying squirrels, chickens, 

 etc. I also offered to it frequently fresh butchers meat ; but it 

 refused all food; it evidently had no appreciation whatever of 

 any attention or effort to be kind. A young chicken was bitten 

 by it and was dead in twenty seconds; it fell instantly on being 

 struck by the serpent's tooth. Two toads at different times died 

 in the box after remaining therein about six days each. Several 

 times I poured clean water into the box and on the snake ; this 

 made it move restlessly; it pushed its nose tremulously against 

 the glass, and, slid it along the glass as if trying to break the glass 

 or find an opening for escape. It seemed to reject water as in- 

 dignantly as it did food. When lying in the box it seemed to be 

 the perfect expression of sullen disdain. 



During October it shed its skin partially. The work of shed- 

 ding began in the night but it was never perfectly done, parts of 

 the old skin adhering to the sides of the body. During its con- 

 finement a new rattle was formed between the former rattles and 

 the body proper, showing thereby that the terminal rattle of the 

 rattlesnake is the oldest. 



As time went on the snake became poorer, but the skin was so 

 thick and scaly that the ribs were not visible, and when it was 

 irritated the body was distended to its full former size, either by 

 the drawing and rigidity of the muscles or by inflation. Without 

 food, without water, confined in a box and subject to some con- 

 siderable variations of temperature, it lived from August 8, 1891, 

 to April 15, 1893, eight months and seven days. During the 

 winter the room in which it was kept often grew cold, but I 

 never allowed it to be cold enough for water to freeze. When in 

 the cold, it coiled closely and seemed torpid; but, on my moving 

 the box into a warm room, it would very slowly uncoil and 

 stretch itself in its box almost straight. 



I have heard many extravagant stories about the length of 

 time a rattlesnake could live without food, but I was not prepared 

 to believe that it could live as long as eight months and seven 

 days, until the fact was demonstrated as I have narrated above. 

 Mr. W. W. Stone, the Auditor of Mississippi, who sent this snake 

 to me, informed me it was without food at least a week before I 

 received it. In feats of fasting this animal excels Dr. Tanner 

 and all other human aspirants for that kind of distinction so far 

 as to make their boasts futile. R W. Jones. 



University of Mississippi, 



Preliminary Note on Sleep. 



That there is a relative anaemia of the brain during sleep is 

 well established, but the hypotheses advanced to account for this 

 or any other of the sleep phenomena are unsatisfactory. In 

 "Comparative Physiology and Psychology," 1884, I treated the 

 subject briefly, and since then have been gradually accumulating 

 and arranging data for a theory which I have finally adopted, and 

 which appears to me to be fairly complete as enabling the major 

 phenomena to be accounted for. 



Briefly stated, where there is physiological waste there is, nor- 

 mally, repair, and the activities of the brain demonstrably are 

 kept up by renewed nutrition derived from a blood supply ad- 

 justed to the ordinary needs. When there is cerebral anaemia, 

 as in chlorosis, then there is increased desire to sleep, the brain 

 does not receive the necessary quantity to compensate waste, and 

 it rests, just as any commercial activity will cease with with- 

 drawal of means to continue it. Those who are familiar with 

 my nutrient reflex theory, mentioned in the book referred to 

 (Professor C. K. Mills of the Pennsylvania University, and Pro- 

 fessor C. L. Herrick of the Denison, Ohio, University, have writ- 

 ten approvingly thereon), will understand that with cessation of 

 sensory stimulation there will be less blood attracted to the brain 

 and other nerve-centres, the heart-beats lessen in Tigor and num- 



