30 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. XXII. No. 546 



the elevated, well-watered hills and low mountains, together with 

 the east slope of the Rockies in South Dakota, Montana, and 

 Wyoming. 



2. The limitations of the supply. 



It was estimated that about 69,600 million tons of water fall 

 ■annually on the foot-hills within this drainage basin. Having 

 limited the source to the foot-hills, it is clear that the limitations 

 can be carried further. The water flowing through the Dakota 

 sandstone must either (a) have fallen directly upon the area of 

 outcrop, or (b) have sunk into it from streams flowing over it, or 

 (c) have escaped into it at high altitudes from other strata. 



(a.) It is estimated by Professor G. E. Culver ' that about J^ of 

 ithe rainfall of the Black Hills falls directly upon the outcropping 

 Dakota sandstone. If this outcrop forms the same proportion of 

 other foot-hills, then about 966 million tons per annum would 

 fall directly upon this; and, as it is estimated that one- third of 

 the rain-fall is absorbed by the soil, 333 million tons would be 

 poured directly into the artesian basin. 



(b) As far as the writer knows, but one stream has been care- 

 fully studied as to the quantity of water lost to the stratum in 

 question. Below Great Falls, Montana, the Missouri Eiver flows 

 across the outcropping Dakota sandstone at an altitude of 2.800 

 feet. Col. E. S. Nettleton - made careful gaugings of the river 

 before and after crossing the sandstone and found that it lost 

 "834 cubic feet per second," which would amount to 918 million 

 tons per annum. Tne Yellowstone River, which is about as large 



A ROW OF HIEROGLYPHS, CASA NO. 2, PALENQUE. 



BY H. T. CRESSON, A.M., M.D., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



There is a perpendicular row of three glyphs just above the 

 child-like figure, upheld in the arms of the Ahkin {?}, on the cen- 

 tre slab of the so-called " Group of the Cross," Casa No. 2, 

 (Stephens), Palenque, and two hieroglyphs in the parallel line to 

 the right of the perpendicular line just mentioned, which are ex- 

 ceedingly interesting, and all of them, except the upper-centre 

 component of the glyph, just above the child-like figure, are in a 

 fair state of preservation. The upper centre component of this 

 glyph (Fig 6) has been badly injured, if we may judge by a pho- 

 tograph of the slab from Casa No. 2, taken by Dr. Manuel Urbino, 

 the learned conservator of the Museo Nacional, at the City of 

 Mexico It is a lucky circumstance that this masterpiece of the 

 Maya scribe-sculptor's art has been cared for by the Mexican gov- 

 ernment, and it is to be hoped that they will protect other tablets 

 at Palenque from the wanton destruction of the Mayas, who have 

 been accused, by recent explorers, of chopping to pieces, with their 

 machetes, the artistic productions of their ancestors. 



It will be impossible, in this necessarily brief article, to consider 

 the entire I'ow of glyphs _which have been indicated, we will, 

 therefore, confine our remarks to that shown in Fig. 6 of the plate. 

 If we compare this sketch, made from a photograph of the middle 

 slab of the cross group (Casa No. 2, Palenque), taken by Dr. 

 Urbino, it; will be seen that it differs in certain respects from the 





Ideal Sec-tfon across Ooutfj Ma/cciia^. 



Length of Sectio 



ties. Rapid City to James Biver Valley, 2J0 



1, Paleozoic^rocks. mostly water-bearing Carboniferous limestone; 2, Triassic shales, impervious; 3, Jurassic shales, impervious; 4, Cretaceous. Dakota 

 sanistoae; watsr-bearing; 5, Cretaee ous, Benton shales, impervious; 6, Cretaceous, Niobrara limestone; 7, Cretaceous, Pierre shales, impervious. 



as the Missouri above their confluence, is said to flow across the 

 Dakota sandstone and to lose a part of its volume, it is generally 

 true that all streams flowing out of the foot-hills or away from 

 tlie Rockies must, somewhere in their eastward course, cross the 

 absorbing stratum. To estimate three times 918 million tons as 

 the amount received from source (6) will probably fall much 

 within the limits. That gives us an aggregate from (a) and (6) of 

 3,076 million tons per annum. 



(c) The outcrop of the Carboniferous forms a much lai-ger part 

 of the foot-hills area than does the Dakota. At least one-third of 

 the water which falls dii'ectly upon it sinks, while nearly all of the 

 small streams flowing out of the central Arcbasan area of the 

 hills sink completely into the Carboniferous, only a few of 

 the largest streams emerge from the thirsty Carboniferous area. 

 The amoimt of water entering the Carboniferous strata is many 

 •times greater than that entering the Dakota, Now it is possible 

 for nearly all of the water which it absorbs to escape into the 

 Dakota, which it would do anywhere between its source and the 

 James River valley if either one of two things were true: (1) If 

 itbe overlying stratum " pinches out," or (2) if it is fractured or 

 ifaulted. Both, one, or neither of these things may be true. No 

 one has yet attempted to answer, conclusively, the question, 

 " What becomes of the water which sinks into the Carboniferous 

 limestone of the hills?'' Until that question is answeied, it will 

 be impossible to determine the limitations of the water-supply of 

 the artesian basin. 



' " Artesian and Underflow Investigation," Part III., p. 807. 

 2 "Artesian and Dnderfl w Investigation," Part II., p. 77. 



drawing of Del Rio, Waldeck, Catherwood, and Charnay. Del 

 Rio's rendition of this hieroglyph (Fig. 1) is absurdly incorrect, 

 and has been suggested, we think, either by a slovenly impression 

 of the centre bar of a cross (see Waldeck's Fig. 2), or else the artist 

 drew upon his imagination and supplied the detail. 



Waldeck's drawing (Fig. 3) in four of the small glyphs (compos- 

 ing the compound glyph) is not so far astray as one might expect, 

 judging by the way his drawings have been condemned by some 

 writers, and I find that in the perpendicular and the parallel row 

 of glyphs of the Casa No. 2 tablet, to the right of the symbol of 

 the days, four winds, and cardinal points (called by many the 

 Cross), his work compares quite as well with the photograph as 

 that of Charnay, who used the camera, and Cather>vood, who 

 used the camera lucida. So far as I can learn, Mr. Waldeck u*ed 

 no artificial aids to assist him iu his work (?) ; if this be the case, 

 his eye must have been an unusually correct one, considering the 

 amount of work he accomplished, and the confusing details that 

 he encountered, to say nothing of annoyances in the way of flies, 

 mosquitoes, gai'apatas, and other insects I think the truth of 

 this assertion will be apparent to anyone who has attempted to 

 make a careful drawing under difficulties of this kind, especially 

 such intricate details as we find in ancient Maya architecture 

 and hieroglyphs, well calculated to give an experienced draftsman 

 the headache and heartache. The centre-upper component of the 

 hieroglyph, drawn by Waldeck, differs from that of Fig. 6, but I 

 must not neglect to mention that the Urbino photograph indicates 

 that this component of the glyph has been so injured that it is 

 difficult, at present, to determine the details. The round incisions 



