April 2, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



545 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 EUROPEAN ETHNOGEAPHICAL MUSEUMS. 



A VERY useful report on the ethnological 

 museums of central Europe has been pub- 

 lished by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior, 

 from the studies of Dr. J. D. E. Schmeltz 

 (Ethnographische Musea in Midden-Eu- 

 ropa, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 4to. pp. 109). 



It contains the observations made during 

 his personal visits to all the great collec- 

 tions of Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Paris, 

 London, etc., in the summer of 1895. 

 Many of the more interesting objects are 

 described and figured, and both the con- 

 tents of the Museums, their arrangements 

 for display and their architectural plans 

 are discussed. Dr. Schmeltz is thoroughly 

 conversant with the literature of modern 

 ethnography, and his numerous references 

 to monographs and special articles are a 

 fruitful lesson in themselves. There is an 

 excellent index, in which I note that 

 * America ' includes objects in twenty of 

 the collections visited. 



ETHNOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



The fourth report of the committee of 

 the British Association which has this 

 survey in charge has been published. It is 

 of exceptionable interest, its leading feature 

 being an article by Mr. G. Lawrence 

 Gomme, on the method of determining the 

 value of folk-lore as ethnological data. In 

 this he explains the principles of the classi- 

 fication and analysis of the facts gleaned 

 by folk-lore researches, and illustrates the 

 scientific method of handling them by a 

 a discussion of the fire rites and ceremonies 

 retained among the rural population of the 

 United Kingdom. The conclusions he 

 reaches are valuable, both in themselves 

 and as a fine exemplification of the correct 

 plan of utilizing such material to enlighten 

 us as to early considerations of social life, 

 concerning which history tells little or 

 nothing. 



The general report is drawn up by the 

 Chairman, Mr. E. W. Brabrook, and is ac- 

 companied by notes from the Secretary, Mr. 

 E. Sidney Hartland. 



D. G. Brinton. 

 University of Pennsylvania. 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 



M. Beethelot has recently published in 

 the Comptes Eendus analyses of weapons, 

 tools, etc., from Tello, in Chaldea. Their 

 date is put from 4000 to 3000 B. C. A 

 large lance and a hatchet were found to be 

 approximately pure copper, and another 

 hatchet was of copper with traces of arsenic 

 and phosphorus, by which it seems to have 

 been hardened. No trace,' of tin was pres- 

 ent in any case. Thus in Chaldea an 

 ' age of copper ' seems to have preceded 

 the ' age of bronze.' An egg-shaped object 

 from the same locality, weighing 121 grains, 

 was of iron ; an ingot of white metal was 

 95 per cent, silver ; a leaf of yellow gold was 

 found to contain considerable quantities of 

 silver. 



The following order appears in the 

 English scientific journals : " In conse- 

 quence of the growing importance of carbid 

 of calcium, and the fact that the mere con- 

 tact of moisture with this material causes a 

 dangerous evolution of the highly inflam- 

 mable gas known as acetylene, the Home 

 Secretary has caused inquiries to be made 

 into the subject, with the result that an 

 Order in Council has to-day been made un- 

 der the 14th section of the ' Petroleum Act, 

 1871,' bringing carbid of calcium within the 

 operation of that Act. Accordingly, from 

 the date on which such order comes into 

 force, viz., 1st April, 1897, it will be unlaw- 

 ful to keep carbid of calcium, except in 

 virtue of a license to be obtained from the 

 local authority under the Petroleum Act." 



The Council of the Chemical Society 

 (London) have awarded the Longstaff medal 

 to Professor William Eamsay, F. E,. S., 



