546 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 199. 



tive copper were found in one, with frag- 

 ments of bone. In others the bones had 

 entirely disappeared. There was no pot- 

 tery, but well-made, polished and chipped 

 stone implements (as arrow-points, knives, 

 celts, gouges and pendants) were abundant. 

 Iron pyrites for ' firestones ' and red ochre 

 for paint were quite common. 



Both Dr. Willoughby and Professor Put- 

 nam (who contributes a prefatory note) ex- 

 press a doubt that these were Algonquian 

 graves. They suggest the Beothucs of ISTew- 

 foundland as their possible constructors. 



GEOGRAPHY AND ANTHROPOLOGY. 



This autumn the Geographical Institute 

 of Brussels, a branch of the ' Universite 

 Nouvelle,' begins its courses of instruction. 

 It offers a three years' course in geography 

 and expects to grant a diploma. 



It is interesting to note the position as- 

 signed to anthropology in this course. In 

 the first year it divides with biology one 

 hour a week ; in the second and third year 

 it has one hour a week to itself, and in the 

 third year ethnography has also an hour ; 

 these out of about fifteen instruction hours 

 weekly. The professor of this course is 

 not named in the preliminary announce- 

 ment. 



This is perhaps as much as can be ex- 

 pected at present ; but it seems still remote 

 from the definition of geography given by 

 Dr. Hugh R. Mill some years ago — 'the 

 description of the earth in relation to 

 man.' 



D. G. Eeinton. 



University of Pennsylvania. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 A national physical laboeatoey foe geeat 



BEITAIN. 



The report of the committee appointed by the 

 Treasury to consider the desirability of estab- 

 lishing a national physical laboratory was issued 

 on October 4th. The Treasury minute appoint- 



ing the committee was dated August 3, 1897, 

 and was as follows : 



To consider and report upon the desirability of es- 

 tablishing a national pliysical laboratory for the test- 

 ing and verification of instruments for physical inves- 

 tigation ; for the construction and preservation of 

 standards of measurement, and for the systematic 

 determination of physical constants and numerical 

 data useful for scientific and industrial purposes ; and 

 to report "whether the work of such an institution, if 

 established, could be associated with any testing or 

 standardizing work already performed wholly or 

 partly at the public cost. 



The committee consisted of Lord Rayleigh 

 (chairman). Sir Courtenay Boyle, Sir Andrew 

 Noble, Sh' John Wolfe Barry and Messrs. W. 

 C. Roberts-Austen, Robert Chalmers, A. W. 

 Riicker, Alexander Siemens and T. E. Thorpe. 



The committee review the existing institu- 

 tions in Great Britain and state : 



After consideration of the evidence the committee 

 have come to the conclusion that an institution should 

 be established for standardizing and verifying instru- 

 ments, for testing materials, and for the determina- 

 tion of physical constants. Work useful both to 

 science and industry could therein be performed for 

 which no adequate provision is at present made, 

 either in this country or at the Bureau International 

 des Poids et Mesures. Such work could not, or, at all 

 events, in all probability would not, be undertaken 

 by individual workers or by institutions primarily 

 devoted to education. In the opinion of the commit- 

 tee the proposed institution should be established at 

 the national expense on lines similar to, though not 

 at present on the scale of, the Physikalisoh-technisohe 

 Keichsanstalt. 



The conclusions of the committee are as 

 follows : 



1. That a public institution should be founded for 

 standardizing and verifying instruments, for testing 

 materials, and for the determination of physical con- 

 stants. 



2. That the institution should be established by 

 extending the Kew Observatory in the Old Deer Park, 

 Eichmond, and that the scheme should include the 

 improvement of the existing buildings, and the erec- 

 tion of new buildings at some distance from the pres- 

 ent observatory. 



3. That the Royal Society should be invited to con- 

 trol the proposed institution, and to nominate a gov- 

 erning body, on which commercial interests should 

 he represented, the choice of the members of such 

 body not being confined to Fellows of the Society. 



