November 25, 1892. J 



SCIENCE. 



305 



Mr. Holmes picked the implement out of a bank, among hun- 

 dreds of other pebbles which surrounded it, he was attracted by 

 its resemblance to a palseoli^h. If I recall our conversation at the 

 time correctly, Holmes stated that although he believed the quartz 

 to be a natural form, it resembled somewhat such implements. 

 Certainly, then, this discovery is entitled to due consideration, 

 for although the implement has been condemned by some, has it 

 not received the appi'oval of others who are also authorities upon 

 the subject, anaong them Professors Putnam, Wright, Wilson, and 

 Dr. Abbott. 



Palseoliths have been found in the Columbian gravels at Tren- 

 ton by Dr. Abbott and his son, Richard Abbott, according to the 

 labels attached to the specimens preserved at the Peabody Mu- 

 seum, and presented by these gentlemen to that institution. 



Two other jialKoliths have been found in the Wilmington 

 gravels by different gentlemen and are now in the Peabody 

 Museum, Harvard University, together with the letters accom- 

 panying them. It has been suggested that they have been found 

 in a talus. Whether this be so or not remains to be determined. 

 I, some time ago, called attention to the fact that the old aqueous 

 deposits in the vicinity of Wilmingfon have evidently been sub- 

 jected to considerable disturbance (see remarks on a "Fallen 

 Forest and Peat Layer," Bull, of Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. II.), and 

 it may be that this took place in times comparatively recent. In 

 fact there is a probability that this may have been even after 

 " the ancient talus " at Trenton was deposited. I am predisposed 

 to this opinion from the fact that during the extraction of clay 

 from the pits at Richmond's brickyard (mouth of Naaman's Creek) 

 leaves of oak and sycamore trees were found beneath the brick 

 •clays of Lewis, and in other portions of these excavations the 

 more ancient and recent gravels were intermingled together 

 among the fallen forest layers. 



Implements have been found in the brick-clays just mentioned, 

 and these are at the Peabody Museum with the records of the 

 donors attached. 



Looking over the list of finds in supposed tertiary and post- 

 tertiary deposits, it appears that some class all of these as neo- 

 lithic implements, that is, judging by the character of the imple- 

 ments themselves. May it not be queried, is the neolithic classi- 

 fication of European countries applicable to certain finds on our 

 western continent ? for it seems that some of our ancient deposits 

 contain the handiwork of neolithic roan. The antiquity of cer- 

 tain deposits which seem to have yielded in the majority of cases 

 implements claimed to be of neolithic type is a question for the 

 geologist to decide, until then arguments upon this subject have 

 but little weight. Still, as we said in the beginning of this arti- 

 cle, they are interesting ; and, we may add, allow all concerned 

 to express their opinions. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



:*:♦* Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The loriier's name 

 is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



On request in advaiice., one hundred copies of the number containing his 

 communication will be furnished free to any correspondent. 



The editor willbe glad to publish any queries consonant loith the character 

 of the journal. 



Natural Implements. 



There are some things suggested by Dr. Brinton"s recent article 

 relating to early man in America, and three quotations may be 

 made bearing on the subject of supposed primitive human art. It 

 may be premised that no working archaeologist has failed to find 

 things of a puzzling character, those which he hesitates to retain 

 as being of human workmanship, and yet which he is not alto- 

 gether willing to cast aside. He accepts the fact, also, that many 

 articles were so nearly fitted for man's use naturally that he often 

 used them just as they were found. 



An article, entitled " Observations on Stone-Chipping," by 

 Oecrge E. Sellers of Illinois, prepared at Dr. Rau's request, was 

 published in the Smithsonian Report for 1885, and is well worth 

 reading. The various artificial processes are described, and some 

 of the natural ones. He says: "The river-drift or gravel bars, 



when subjected to the grinding and crushing action of drift-logs 

 or rolling bowlders, would furnish many suggestive forms and 

 shapes that a little ingenuity would apply, and out of which 

 would naturally grow the art of flaking. The streets of Paducah, 

 Ky. , are paved with partly rounded, angular, silicious gravel, 

 mostly of jasper. Seeing heaps of this ready for spreading, I was 

 struck by the many forms, mostly highly water-polished, that if 

 found on a flaking ground would pass for refuse flakes and rub- 

 bish left by the workmen. On inquiry, I was informed that 

 this coarse gravel was from banks on the Tennessee River, above 

 the ordinary overflows. I selected many forms that any archae- 

 ologist would pronounce to be the work of man." 



He observed that a heavy wagon, driven over these, produced 

 no effect on the surface gravel, but did on those lower down. 

 " Many of the fresh fractures presented the form and appearance 

 of genuine cores, and would be mistaken for the work of man." 

 This led him to make an experiment by pressure, in a vessel. 

 " On emptying the cylinder, the result was many representations 

 of the rude implements found in the drift." 



The second quotation is from a paper read by Dr. D. S. Kel- 

 logg of Plattsburgh, N. Y., at the New York meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1887, 

 and entitled '■Aboriginal Dwelling Sites in the Champlain Val- 

 ley." "The material of which the chipped implements were 

 made is found throughout this whole region. The so-called flint 

 is abundant in the limestone of the locality. On Butler's Island 

 in Lake Champlain detached pieces of the dark and striated flint, 

 a foot or more in diameter, are so driven against each other by 

 the action of the waves that their surfaces resemble the rough- 

 ened surfaces of ordinary flint hammers." 



The third quotation relates to the same lake, and will be found 

 in the " Jesuit Relation " of 1668. The French had come within 

 two miles of the Ticonderoga River. " Here we halted, without 

 knowing why. until we observed our savages gathering from the 

 shore pieces of flint, nearly all out in shape." Then follows an 

 Indian superstition connected with this customary gathering. 

 " The occasion for this ridiculous story is the fact that the lake is 

 often swept by severe storms, which cause high waves, particu- 

 larly in the bay where Sieur Corlart, of whom we have spoken, 

 perished, and when the wind comes from across the lake it easts 

 upon the shore quantities of flint ready to strike fire." 



There is one supposed trace of eai-ly man in New York that 

 seems injudiciously used. Near the summit of the Lake Ridge, 

 in the town of Gaines, was a spring, and in sinking a well on the 

 spot traces of fire were found at the depth of eighteen feet. It is 

 assumed that a fire was built on the beach when the lake was re- 

 ceding, and that it was buried in some way by the waters below 

 it, under nearly twenty feet of soil. How this curious geological 

 action was brought about is not explained. To produce such a 

 deposit the waters should have risen above the fire, not fallen 

 away from it. The probable solution might be that a fire was 

 built in a ravine by a stream; that the ravine was filled in, turn- 

 ing the stream into a spring; and that other natural processes fol- 

 lowed. That the lake could have buried the fireplace thus deep 

 is clearly impossible. The depth by itself, however, is nothing 

 very rare; but a field archseologist soon learns to distrust evi- 

 dence of this nature. In some cases known to the writer, early 

 villages and lodges, standing on open ground exposed to the 

 wind, were buried in the sand, and the forest grew over them. 

 The forest was cleared away all around, and the wind, with a 

 wider sweep, carried the sand away again. 



W. M. Beauchamp. 



Baldwinsville, Nov. 4. 



Jealousy of a Dog. 



In an article in Science of Oct. 28, Mr. Stevenson remarks 

 upon the jealousy of infants. Would you not place an infant of 

 ten months upon a higher standard of development than a dog ? 

 Yet dogs are jealous. My brother owned one, a well-grown, 

 bright fellow, who was usually upon excellent terms with my 

 kitten hut showed jealousy if the kitten was petted in his pres- 

 ence. On one occasion I held the kitten in my arms and pur- 



