54 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 106. 



and the capital, Mayapan. This break- 

 down took place in the first half of the fif- 

 teenth century, probably about 1420. 



The author presents the surviving frag- 

 ments of this story in clear and attractive 

 language, basing his statements on the 

 the best authorities and some unpublished 

 documents. His vs'ork as a whole is of 

 high character, and will take a worthy 

 rank in the historical literature of Spanish 

 America. 



PRIMITIVE DRILLS AND DRILLING. 



To bore a hole seems a simple affair, 

 but it took man a long time to learn how 

 to do it. Mr. J. D. McGuire, in the Report 

 of the United States National Museum for 

 1894 (just issued), devotes a hundred and 

 twenty-five pages to the subject. He claims, 

 indeed, in his opening sentence that " The 

 earliest remains of man are found associated 

 with implements of his manufacture in 

 which holes have been artificially perfo- 

 rated." This is incorrect, as the remains of 

 the Chellean period are not perforated, and 

 he himself offers no evidence to that effect. 

 Nor does he give the right explanation for 

 the ' batons of command ' of the cave 

 period. They are arrow- straighteners and 

 are still used by the Eskimo. 



These are small matters. The article in 

 all its leading features is clear, profound 

 and convincing. He surveys all the forms 

 of drills and hole-making implements of 

 primitive times — pins, bodkins, needles, 

 awls, etc. — and illustrates how they were 

 used and for what purpose. Fire-drills are 

 abundantly represented, and the theory 

 that the Egyptian Sam is a drill is ably de- 

 fended. Numerous cuts render the text 

 easily comprehended, where mechanical de- 

 vices are discussed. 



THE STATE AND ITS SOIL. 



Pkof. Frederick Ratzel is one of the 

 best known students of the relations of 

 earth to man. His prize essay, ' Der Staat 



und sein Boden, geographisch betrachtet' 

 (Leipzig, 1896, pp. 127), is a careful dis- 

 cussion of the influence which the soil and 

 its accessories bear upon the character and 

 development of the inhabitants. It con- 

 siders the state as a ' territorial organism,' 

 explains the connection between the nat- 

 ural and political areas, traces the develop- 

 ment of this connection, and maintains the 

 nigh inseparable association of the two. 



Prof. Ratzel is always a clear, agreeable 

 writer. His learning is adequate to his 

 subject. To many readers, however, this 

 and his other works will seem to be a little 

 arid and incomplete, from the absence of 

 warmth of touch, of psychical sympathy, 

 or, perhaps, want of consideration for the 

 predominance of the will and the emotions 

 in the affairs and the evolution of mankind. 



D. G. Brinton. 

 Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 THE DAVY-FARADAY RESEARCH LABORATORY. 



The Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory, 

 which we have already described, was opened 

 by the Prince of Wales on December 21st. The 

 laboratory, which Dr. Ludwig Mond has pre- 

 sented to the Royal Institution, has cost for its 

 building, equipment and endowment about 

 $500,000. The laboratory is to be devoted to 

 research work in physics and chemistry, and 

 Lord Rayleigh and Prof. Dewar have consented 

 to undertake the directorship. Dr. Mond made 

 an address in the course of which, according to 

 the report in the London Times, he said that 

 psrsons of either sex or any nationality would 

 be welcome within its walls who could satisfy 

 the laboratory commmittee that they were fully 

 qualified to undertake original scientific re- 

 search in pure and physical chemistry, and pre- 

 ference would naturally be given to those who 

 had already published original work. If this 

 country had distinguished itself in one way 

 more than another in that glorious rivalry with 

 other nations for extending our knowledge of 

 natural phenomena and our power over the 

 forces of nature it had been by the large num- 



