Febbuaey 26, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



339 



mate of New England. A circular giving 

 full details has been issued, and may be 

 procured from the undersigned. 



SOME INTERESTING EEPEINTS. 



Pbofessoe Hellmann, of Berlin, has re- 

 cently issued three more of his Neudruche 

 von Schriften mid Karten iiher Meteorologie und 

 Erdmagnetismus. These are : No. 7. Evan- 

 GELISTA ToEEiCELLi : Esperiema dell 'Ar- 

 gento Vivo. Accademia del Cimento : Istru- 

 menti per eonoseer I'AUerazioni dell 'Aria, con- 

 taining the most important papers relating 

 to the discovery of the barometer, thermom- 

 eter and hygrometer, some of them in 

 facsimile. No. 8. Halley, von Humboldt, 

 LooMis, LeVerriee and Renou, Meteoro- 

 logische Karten, being the earliest synoptic 

 weather charts with wind, isotherms and 

 isobars drawn between 1688 and 1864. No. 

 9. Henry Gellibrand : A Discourse Mathe- 

 matical on the Vai-iation of the Magnetical 

 Needle, containing the discovery of the secu- 

 lar variation of magnetic declination. This 

 is a facsimile of the very rare work published 

 in London in 1635. A few copies of these 

 pamphlets may be had of A. L. Eotch, Blue 

 Hill Observatory, Readville, Mass., at the 

 publisher's price of 3 marks, or 75 cents 

 each, postpaid. 



R. DeC. Ward. 



Haevaed Univeesity. 



CUBBENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 THE AGE OP MAN. 



In his recently published ' Handbuch der 

 Palseontologie,' Professor Zittel, of Munich, 

 reviews the alleged instances of the dis- 

 covery of human remains in strata older 

 than the alluvial period. His general con- 

 clusion is that " prehistoric researches do 

 not yield positive information or definite 

 results as to the antiquity of the human 

 species." He follows Virchow in rejecting 

 the high antiquity of the Neanderthal skull 

 and denies that any discovery of glacial 

 man in America has yet been made. He 



accepts, however, as probably ' fossil or 

 quaternary,' the skull of Eguisheim, the jaw 

 of Naulette and that of the Schipka cave, 

 and the skull of Olmo in Tuscany. 



Professor Morselli, who reviews Zittel's 

 conclusions in the ' Archivio per I'Antro- 

 pologia,' doubts the skull of Olmo, but 

 argues that Zittel is generally too sceptical. 

 He also adds the statement that the fossil 

 human skeleton from the Pampean forma- 

 tion of the Argentine Republic, said by 

 Zittel to be in the Museum of Milan, is not 

 there. 



ON SMALL CHIPPED FLINTS. 



There is a class of small chipped flint 

 objects, with a general similarity of shape 

 and finish, found in England, France, 

 Egypt, India, North Africa and elsewhere. 

 In the Eevue de VEcole d' Anthropologie for 

 November, A. de Mortillet offers a careful 

 study of their forms, geographical distribu- 

 tion, use and antiquity. 



They are generally rudely triangular, 

 rhomboidal, or Uke the segment of a circle. 

 One edge is neatly dressed with secondary 

 chipping, while another is left with the 

 natural cleavage. The length varies from 

 15 to 35 millimeters. They may have been 

 used as arrow points, as scarificators, as 

 tools, or, in some instances, as fish hooks. 

 In age, they appear to belong to the earliest 

 neolithic period. Their singular similarity 

 does not entail the proof of transmission, 

 but rather of independent development. 



While in America there are many speci- 

 mens generally akin to these described by 

 Mortillet, they cannot be said to represent 

 any distinct culture area or period. 



D. G. Beinton. 



Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



De. Thomas M. Drown, President of Lehigh 

 University, has been elected President of the 

 American Institute of Mining Engineers. 



The students of the Massachusetts Institute 



