JfLY 31, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



151 



of gain aud the metabolism of the food given. 

 From the results so far attained with thirty-five 

 animals fed in series of five each, it would ap- 

 pear that there is a definite relation between the 

 amount of lime and magnesia that enters into 

 the animal organism. In the case of added 

 lime, especially with the calcium phosphate, 

 there is an increase in the rate of gain with 

 a reduction of the amount of food required 

 per pound of increase. A very small addition 

 of a magnesium salt also appears advantageous 

 when fed with a lime compound, though the 

 point of benefit is easily passed. Where the 

 magnesium is given regularly in any excess 

 the gain in weight is reduced to a minimum. 

 Though the health of the animal may be ap- 

 parently unaffected and the coat noticeably 

 smooth and glossy, there is but little gain in 

 weight from the food consumed. Another in- 

 stance of the action of magnesia may be here 

 noted. In fattening beef cattle for market 

 they are fed large quantities of grain and oc- 

 casionally become surfeited or, as it is termed, 

 get ' off feed ' for several days. By giving 

 an animal in such cases magnesium sulphate 

 it is quickly brought back to its regular ration. 

 In human medicine calcined magnesia is given 

 when the system has become overcharged with 

 food as in some cases of dyspepsia and gout. 

 As the concentrated feeds such as grains are 

 rich in magnesia as compared with lime, while 

 in the growing plant the opposite is true, it 

 seems reasonable to suppose that magnesia 

 operates favorably in the assimilation of food 

 materials when present in the proper propor- 

 tion, especially in heavy feeding. The results 

 from the presence of lime and magnesia in 

 the animal body in excessive amounts may be 

 somewhat understood from their well-known 

 physiological tendencies, i. e., the lime com- 

 pounds are constipating, while the magnesium 

 salts are laxative in their nature. 



From the effect of lime compounds in the 

 animal body from both a medical and a die- 

 tetic standpoint this element may be said to be 

 constructive and fixative in its results. On 

 the other hand, magnesia is more movable in 

 its relation, serving to carry assimilable phos- 

 phoric acid, which it gives up readily and is 



thereby enabled to repeat the process many 

 times. Therefore, a too small amount of 

 magnesia is less detrimental than a deficiency 

 of lime. If, however, with magnesia in ex- 

 cess there is a tendency for the lime as the 

 stronger base to unite with the acid of the 

 magnesium salt and the magnesia to form 

 magnesium nucleo-proteids, such a disturb- 

 ance would result in the elimination of 

 products rather than in a further constructive 

 effort. In the physiological effect of an ex- 

 cess of magnesia in the animal organism we 

 find such a result indicated. 



D. W. May. 



KeXTVCKT EXPERIIIEXT St.\TI0X. 

 NOTES OX THE EMDEXCES OF HUMAN REMAINS 



FROM Jacobs' cavern. 



By the courtesy of Dr. Charles Peabody, 

 Director of the department of archeology, 

 Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and of 

 Professor Warren K. Moorehead, curator of 

 this department, the writer was permitted 

 during the month of May, 1903, to ex- 

 amine and assist in excavating a cave in 

 southwest Missouri, in which were found nu- 

 merous evidences of human occupancy. The 

 cave is located on the north bluff of Little 

 Sugar Creek two and one half miles soyth- 

 west of Pineville, the county seat of McDonald 

 County, four miles from the Arkansas line and 

 fourteen east of the Indian Territory line. 

 In honor of the discoverer, ilr. E. H. Jacobs, 

 an enthusiastic archeologist of Bentonville, 

 Ark., the cave has been named Jacobs' cavern. 

 To each of these gentlemen are due my sincere 

 thanks for many kindnesses extended during 

 a week's visit to their camp. 



The hills along Sugar Creek are composed 

 of massive ledges of limestone containing a 

 large amount of flint and chert, in the form 

 either of regular layers or of nodular concre- 

 tions. To this formation the name Boone 

 chert has been applied by geologists. It is 

 the rock that outcrops extensively in the 

 southwest part of Missouri, the northeastern 

 part of the Indian Territory and northern 

 Arkansas. In the lower part of the Boone, 

 flint is often absent and the rocks consist of 

 massive gray limestone arranged in definite 



