470 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 116. 



The shortest tribes are the African pyg- 

 mies, who stand about 1.30 meters. In 

 America no tribe is mentioned with an 

 average under 1.60. The tallest are un- 

 doubtedly American, some (doubtful) Ca- 

 ribs of the Orinoco at 1.84, and the Te- 

 huelche, of Patagonia, at 1.78. 



The article on the weight gives abundant 

 information about the relative weight of 

 the brain and other organs. 



Both articles contain a very complete 

 bibliography of the recent scientific litera- 

 ture of the subjects. 



THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF COSTA EIOA. 



Largely owing to the energy of the 

 Director Sefior Anastasio Alfaro, the large 

 arch Ecological and ethnographic collection 

 brought together by the government of 

 Costa Eica has now been commodiously 

 installed in a building erected for the pur- 

 pose at San Jose de Costa Eica. A photo- 

 graph of it is reproduced in La Revi&ta 

 Nueva for October last. 



Few localities on our continent offer bet- 

 ter specimens of aboriginal pottery and stone 

 work that are discovered within the area of 

 Costa Eica, as was abundantly illustrated 

 at the Columbian Exposition at Madrid. A 

 beautiful example of a decorated jar is 

 given in the journal of the date mentioned, 

 and also the outlines of a number of others. 



In spite of the careful studies of Manuel 

 de Peralta on the ancient tribes of Costa 

 Eica, we still remain ignorant of the lan- 

 guage and affinities of the tribe which seems 

 to have left the most abundant remains — 

 the Guetares. 



D. G. Beinton. 



XJniveesity of Pennsylvania. 



salts of the alkali metals take on a more or 

 less intensive color under the influence of 

 kathode rays. Giesel obtains the same result 

 by heating the salts in closed glass tubes at 

 a very low red heat in sodium or potassium 

 vapor. Bromid and iodid of potassium are 

 colored a beautiful blue, chlorid of potas- 

 sium or sylvine a dark heliotrope, chlorid 

 of sodium or rock salt yellow or brown. 

 The color is not superficial, as clear crystals 

 of potassium bromid a centimeter cube are 

 uniformly colored. The coloration seems 

 to be due to the solution of the metallic 

 sodium or potassium in the solid salt. It 

 is thought probable by Giesel that the blue 

 coloration of rock salt is due to dissolved 

 sodium. Attempts to color in a similar 

 way clear crystals of fluorspar were not 

 successful. 



In continuing his investigations into the 

 occurrence of gold in nature. Professor 

 Liversidge finds the metal in all natural 

 saline deposits. Eock salt and other 

 natural salts contain from one to two grains 

 of gold per ton, while bittern waters and 

 kelps furnished in some cases from fourteen 

 to twenty grains. 



Professor Liversidge has also examined 

 the structure of gold nuggets from many 

 different sources, by polishing and etching 

 sections. He finds that all nuggets pos- 

 sess a well-marked crystalline structure 

 and usually contain foreign substances. 

 He suggests that the gold has been slowly 

 deposited from aqueous solution and that 

 the nuggets are more or less rolled masses 

 of gold which have been set free from dis- 

 integrated veins. 



J. L. H. 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 

 In the last Berichte F. Giesel describes 

 an interesting instance of what are prob- 

 ably solid solutions. A little more than a 

 year ago Goldstein showed that the halid 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



EESEARCH AND THE UNIVERSITY. 



An editorial note in the February number of 

 the American Naturalist has been quoted with 

 approvalin several journals. We also repro- 

 duce this note, partly in order to give it such 



