NOVEMBEK 25, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



741 



with carbon in the electric furnace, giving 

 calcium carbid. Moissan suggests that cal- 

 cium nitrid might possiblj'' have some in- 

 dustrial importance in the formation of 

 ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen. 



In the November number of the American 

 Chemical Journal Professor Mallet describes 

 an effort made to prepare what Sergius 

 Kern had announced in 1877 as a new 

 metal in platinum ore and named davyum. 

 The metal possessed peculiar interest from 

 its supposed atomic mass of 154, thus being 

 a representative of a hitherto unknown 

 group of platinum metals, lying intermediate 

 between the two groups ruthenium, rho- 

 dium, palladium and osmium, iridium, 

 platinum. Following Kern's directions and 

 using residues furnished by Mr. George 

 Matthey, of Johnson,' Matthey & Co., Pro- 

 fessor Mallet obtained a small residue, 

 which agreed very closely with Kern's de- 

 scription of davyum. A careful examina- 

 tion showed that it was not elementary, but 

 was composed of rhodium and iridium with 

 a trace of iron. Thus the existence of an 

 element davyum must be considered ex- 

 tremely doubtful. 



In the same journal Professor Keiser 

 makes a contribution to the literature of 

 the quantitative synthesis of water. In his 

 experiments the hydrogen, oxygen and 

 water formed were all weighed directly. 

 His results give for the ratio of atomic 

 mass of hydrogen to that of oxygen 15.874 

 when calculated from the ratio of hydrogen 

 to oxygen used, and 15.886 when calculated 

 from the ratio of hydrogen used to water 

 formed. The mean 15.88 is thus very close 

 to Professor Morley's figure of 15.879. 



J. L. H. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTEBOPOLOGY. 

 EGYPTIAN ORIGINS. 



A RUSH of papers has recently appeared 

 discussing the origin of the ancient Egyp- 



tians. Most of them were suggested by 

 De Morgan's work and excavations. A brief 

 review of these, by Henry de Morgan, is in 

 the ' Proceedings ' of the American Numis- 

 matic and Archseological Society (fortieth 

 meeting, 1898). Few of the writers alto- 

 gether subscribe to De Morgan's theory of 

 Asiatic origins. In L' Anthrojjologie (1898, 

 Nos. .S and 4) M. de Bissing, in a lengthy 

 critique, condemns it as hasty and un- 

 founded, claiming the elements of Egyptian 

 civilization to be distinctly African. The 

 distinguished Russian, Professor Anoutch- 

 ine, and Schweinfurth, the traveler, both 

 maintain that early Egyptian culture de- 

 scends directly from the local neolithic 

 period, and, while borrowing from Asia, 

 was in no fair sense derived from that con- 

 tinent. This, too, is the position of Dr. E. 

 Fraas, published in the Correspondemhlatt of 

 the German Anthropological SocietJ^ 



It is safe to conclude that De Morgan has 

 by no means convinced his most competent 

 critics. 



YUCATECAN EUIKS. 



The imposing ruins of a town known to 

 the Indians as Xkichmook lie in a rocky 

 valley about fifty miles east of Campeche. 

 An accurate and fully illustrated report 

 upon them by Mr. Edward H. Thompson is 

 given in Volume II., No. 3, of the Field 

 Columbian Museum publications. They 

 consist of ten separate edifices of cut stone, 

 mounds, terraces and reservoirs. Mural 

 paintings are frequent, but mostly oblit- 

 erated ; incised figures are comparatively 

 rare. Pottery is abundant, and also chipped 

 stone implements ; while polished stone ob- 

 jects are scarce. Obsidian is slightly repre- 

 sented, and metals were not exhumed. 



The principal structure, called ' the Pal- 

 ace,' is an edifice of note. It towers eighty 

 feet above the surrounding level, and its 

 massive walls loom up like the face of some 

 grim fortress. 



