December 23, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



901 



In his inaugural dissertation at Freiberg, 

 Th. Lehmann finds that the distillation of 

 fish remains under pressure gives rise to an 

 oil which in its constituents shows a very 

 close resemblance to petroleum, and hence 

 the conclusion is drawn that petroleum de- 

 posits have arisen from the remains of sea 

 animals. There is, however, in this work 

 little advance on that of Engler. The well 

 recognized fact that petroleum could have 

 been formed in this way by no means 

 proves that all petroleum has this origin, 

 or that some or much has not been formed 

 according to the theory of Mendeleef from 

 the action of water upon metallic carbids in 

 the deeper layers of the earth's crust. 



J. L. H. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 RUSSIAN ETHNOGRAPHY. 



An unusually interesting article is that 

 on the ethnography of the Slavic stock, by 

 Professor W. Z. Eipley, in the Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly for October last. He finds a 

 remarkably uniform type of head form 

 among the Russians due, he believes, to the 

 uniformity of their environment. Two 

 contrasted psychical types, however, coexist 

 throughout the Slavic nations — the one tall, 

 blonde, long-skulled ; the other of medium 

 stature, swarthy, broad-skulled. Which 

 represents the primitive Slavic type? Des- 

 perate contests, in which much ink has 

 been shed, have been fought over this point 

 by the learned of Europe. Professor Ripley 

 does not shout in a clarion voice with either 

 combatant, but ' rather inclines to believe' 

 that more can be said in favor of the latter. 

 ' The Slaves penetrated Russia from the 

 southwest,' driving before them a primitive 

 people ethnically allied to the Finns, hence 

 of north Asiatic origin. 



argentine ethnography. 

 Under the title Etnografia Argentina, Sr. 

 Felix F. Outes has published a supplement 



to his work on the Querandi Indians, men- 

 tioned in these notes (October 7, 1898). 

 He repeats and defends his opinion that 

 they belonged to the Guaycuru stock of the 

 Chaco. His arguments do not seem to me 

 convincing. The Querandi proper names 

 appear to belong to an Aucanian dialect, 

 and when they were driven from the coast 

 they fled to the Ranqueles, who are a known 

 branch of the Aucanian family. 



In an article in the Bollettino della Societa 

 Geografiea Italiana, 1897, Sr. Guido Bog- 

 giani copies and describes the singular rock 

 inscriptions at the ' Gorgo das Pedras,' not 

 far from Corumba, State of Matto Grosso. 

 They are alleged to be extremelj' ancient, 

 the modern Indians denying knowledge of 

 their origin or meaning. They present fa- 

 miliar types of aboriginal petrographs, hu- 

 man foot-prints, bird foot-prints and the 

 signs for man, etc. 



THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



The second report of the Committee on 

 the Ethnological Survey of Canada, pre- 

 sented to the British Association last Au- 

 gust, has been issued. It contains a brief 

 ofl&cial report of progress and an Appendix 

 including ' Haida Stories and Beliefs,' by 

 Professor C. Hill-Tout, and ' Customs and 

 Habits of Earliest Settlers of Canada,' by 

 Mr. B. Suite. The Association now makes 

 an appropriation for this work and it is 

 progressing more rapidly. 



Both the papers in the Appendix are val- 

 uable original contributions, though one 

 cannot but regret to see that Professor Hill- 

 Tout is engaged in discovering tlie affinities 

 between the Salish dialects of British Colum- 

 bia and the Polynesian languages. That is 

 a step twenty years backward in linguistic 

 science. Mr. Suite's picture of the early 

 settlers and their mode of life is vivid and 

 striking. 



D. G. Beinton. 



University of Pennsylvania. 



