July 7, 1893.J 



SCIENCE. 



the light of a higher culture, who invented the famous sacred 

 calendar, so long the subject of astonishment to the learned, and 

 who constructed edifices of brick and stone whose massive walls, 

 strange ornamentfition and remarkable architectural details, 

 place them among the most impressive of any on the continent. 



One of these was described, not for the first time, but with 

 considerable care, by the engineer Aureliano Estrada, in the 

 Memorias de la Sociedad Scientifica Antonio Alzate, of Mexico, 

 last J ear. It is a mass of buildings crowning the summit of the 

 Cerro de Quiengola, a mountain some 2,500 feet in height in the 

 District of Tehuantepec. It presents thick walls of stone and 

 burnt brick, circular and square towers, truncated pyramids and 

 all the proofs of an extensive population. 



It is sincerely to be hoped that these and numerous other re- 

 mains in this state will be protected from destruction and thor- 

 oughly examined to the benefit of science. 



The Basques and the Iberians. 



An unusual number of papers and essays on questions relating 

 to the ethnic position of the Basques and their possible relation- 

 ship to the ancient Iberians, have appeared in France within the 

 last year. 



First, the linguists have had much to say. It is well known 

 that Wilhelm von Humboldt in the first decade of the present 

 century wrote an admirable analysis of the place-names through- 

 out Spain, showing, he believed, by them, that the Basques at the 

 time of the Roman conquest extended westward from the Pyre- 

 nees to the Atlantic coast. His conclusions have been alternate- 

 ly accepted and denied by special students of the tongue, and 

 so they are to-day. Professor Julien Vinson, for example, a dis- 

 tinguished Basque scholar, says: "There is no historic proof, 

 nor even scientific probability, that the Basque at any time occu- 

 pied a much larger area than at present. The opinion that the 

 Iberian peninsula or other parts of southwestern Europe were 

 peopled by a race or races speaking a kindred dialect is based 

 merely on etymologies, and must be considered a pure hypothe- 

 sis." 



Directly the contrary is maintained by M. J. F. Blade, who 

 observes: "Inasmuch as, in a large area surrounding the pres- 

 ent territory of the Basques, altars are almost daily found in- 

 scribed to gods unknown among the Celts, and tombs bearing 

 names certainly not Celtic, the conclusion appears justified that 

 these uames are ancient Basque, and that this tongue once spread 

 over Aquitania and Iberia." 



Meanwhile, the physical anthropologists have been at work. 

 Dr. Lajard, in the Bulletin of the Anthropological Society of 

 Paris, published the results of a comparison of ancient and mod- 

 ern skulls in the Canary Islands, with a large number from Port- 

 ugal and Spain; reaching the result, that not only was the race 

 of the Guanches of the Canaries identical with that of the old 

 Iberians, but that both point to the still older race of Cro Mag- 

 Bon, as their near relatives. This does not take in the Basques, 

 but leaves them to one side; while, as we certainly know that 

 the Guanches were blonde Hamites, closely akin totheRiSans at 

 Morocco, it places the Iberians along with the North Africans. 



As for the present Basque population, they are reported by M. 

 De Cartailhac as losing their language and diminishing in num- 

 ber. Even in the most remote and secluded districts, the deaths 

 are more numerous than the births, o%ving to the rarity of mar- 

 riages; and French and Spanish are in a fair way to drive out 

 this curious and venerable tongue from its last refuge in the fast- 

 nesses of the P.srenees. 



Man in South America. 



There is no part of the world that offers a more curious sub- 

 ject of speculation as to its future than the continent of South 

 America, as was well set forth in an address before the Ameri- 

 can Geographical Society, by its President, Mr. Gardiner G. Hub- 

 bard. 



That the Amazon river system alone drains a basin of fertile 

 land, basking under a climate of perpetual summer, greater in 

 area than the whole of Europe, is an astounding fact in itself. 

 This vast teiTitory is practically uninhabited. Its al^original 



population is disappearing, or has disappeared, and the whites 

 who in sparce number take their place, scarcely pretend to come 

 with the expectation of remaining. There are tracts as large as 

 the whole of France, of which we know less than of any equal 

 area on the globe. Tribes of men are living there who are yet 

 absolutely in the Stone Age, and who, even by barter or distant 

 rumor, never heard of the European race or the use of metals. 



The question up to which Mr. Hubbard leads his reader is 

 second in importance to none in anthropology — that of acclima- 

 tion. Is it possible for the white race, when it shall be endowed 

 with all tfie resources of art and science which it is soon to 

 have in its grasp, successfully to fight against the terrible odds 

 of a tropical climate ? He quotes in his favor the words of the 

 historian. Buckle, and the naturalist, Bates; he might have ad- 

 ded others of weight; but it cannot be doubted that most of 

 the medical observers who have devoted themselves to this vast 

 inquiry, lean to the opinion that never will the white race 

 flourish under tropical skies 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The fifth summer meeting of the Geological Society of Amer- 

 ica vvill be held Tuesday and Wednesday, August 15 and IG, in 

 the Geological Lecture Room, Science Hall, University of Wis- 

 consin. On account of the World's Congress of Geologists con- 

 vening in Chicago, Augnst 24, an invitation will be sent to 

 geologists residing outside of North America to attend this meet- 

 ing and present papers. A meeting of exceptional interest is an- 

 ticipated. Fellows desiring to read papers should send titles and 

 abstracts not later than July 15, in order to secure insertion in 

 the preliminary list of papers. Matters for the programme, dis- 

 tributed at the first session, should be sent in by August 10. The 

 meetingjroom has facilities for lantern views, and members are 

 invited fo bring such illustrations. Matter sent by express or 

 mail may be addressed in care of the Secretary, Room 32, Science 

 Hall, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. Packages should 

 be clearly marked with the sender's name and prepaid. The 

 excursions offered to the Fellows of the Geological Society of 

 America are as follows : To the Lake Superior Region, to Devil's 

 Lake, to the Dells of the Wisconsin, and to the Diiftless Area. 



— The Pope Manufacturing Company, of Boston and Harlfoi'd, 

 makers of thp Columbia bicycles, have engaged of late in a novel 

 enterprise. They offered some time ago to give one of their bi- 

 cycles to the school teacher who should be most successful in 

 detecting errors in the school books in use in this country, pro- 

 vided the errors were determined to be such either by the authors 

 and publishers of the bojks or by an impartial board of examin- 

 ers. Typographical mistakes and disputed points in history and 

 opinion were not to be included, but only errors of fact or of 

 statement which could be shown to be such. Responses came 

 from all parts of the country and the company have already 

 awarded several of their bicycles to the persons who complied 

 with the conditions of the gift The kind of errors detected may 

 be learned from the pamphlet entitled "Errors in School Books," 

 which the Pope Company have issued, and which has now ap- 

 peared in a second edition. Sc3me of the erroi-s are hardly more 

 than ambiguous statements; others are erroneous dates : while 

 others still are misstatements of scientiSc fact, as, for instance, 

 the statement in a geographical work that the earth moves 

 around the sun in a circle. Most of the publishers took the criti- 

 cisms good naturedly, and whenever they were shown to be well 

 founded corrected the books accordingly. The Pope Company 

 have now renewed their offer of a bicycle to each of the five per- 

 sons who shall send them the greatest number of errors in school 

 books before September 1, 1893, the present competition to be 

 open to all persons and not to teachers alone. That errors in 

 school books are specially mischievous is obvious, since the 

 young people who use the books have not, as a rule, the means 

 of detecting them, and though the class of errors to which the 

 Pope Manufacturing Company have devoted themselves are not 

 perhaps the worst, they are the most easily detected and 

 proved, and we should be glad if this new enterprise might re- 

 sult in the exposure and correction of every one of them. 



