March 3, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



12 : 



Again, such blaJes, measuriug usually five or six inches in 

 length, by two in width, are not the only objects found buried in 

 large numbers. Small leaf-shaped knives are found, often as 

 many as one hundred together ; arrow-points of various patterns 

 have been unearthed, as well as grooved axes, celts, notched- 

 pebbles or net sinkers, and even "ceremonial objects." Cer- 

 tainly not one of these can be called "unfinished." It is con- 

 fusing to call any one form of stone weapon or tool a "cache 

 implement." It would be just as logical to call the specie 

 hoarded in treasury vaults something different from the coin in 

 circulation. 



If, to return to the large blades, they cannot come under the 

 category of unfinished objects, does this not strike a blow at the 

 cunning inferences drawn from recent studies of quarries, where 

 the Indian gathered his material for implement making? The 

 various grades supposed to lead from the raw material to the fin- 

 ished product is a lovely picture as drawn by pen and pencil, but 

 in truth fails to be reproduced in nature. It is but a fancy land- 

 scape, the like of which the sun never shone upon. A picture 

 that is so seductive as to convince the unwary, but in truth befogs 

 the onlooker ; a picture that makes essay writing a pleasant 

 pastime, but — ? 



The pre-history of man in the Delaware Valley is not to be read 

 by calling large stone blades unfinished, and the ruder forms 

 scattered in the gravel the refuse arising in manufacturing the 

 former. If this were true, there would be less of a problem to 

 solve, but even then there would be as many difficulties in the 

 way of accepting the Indian's modernity and in denying the palseo- 

 lithicity of such objects as have that import in other countries. 



When Holmes shall drive the fog away 



That now enwraps the scene, 



And in the light of later day 



He stands with smile serene, 



And points to how in modern time 



The red man came equipped 



With every blessing of the clime, 



From elsewhere newly shipped ; 



We can but hope he'll name the date 



When first upon the strand 



This red man stood with heart elate, 



And where he chanced to land. 



Then, noble efforts nobly made. 



Before he seeks a rest 



Point out how far is truth displayed. 



And just how far he guessed. 



Charles C. Abbott, M.D. 



Museum of American Archeology, University of Pennsylvania, Pnlladelphla. 



The Largest Trees in the World. 



A RECENT article in Science (No. 523, Feb. 10, 1893, p. 76) re- 

 peats the old idea, which has been frequently refuted, that the 

 Sequoia gigantia, or Big Tree of California is the largest tree 

 known. It has been shown many times that these trees are sur- 

 passed in both height and girth by the gum trees of Australasia. 

 A large number of species are known, and many of them are 

 mentioned in Baron von Mueller's "Extra Tropical Plants," re- 

 cently reviewed in these columns. An extract from this book 

 will be of interest as giving the dimensions of some of these im- 

 mense trees. Of Eucalyptus amygdalina it is said : — 



"In sheltered, springy, forest-glens attaining exceptionally to 

 a height of over 400 feet, there forming a smooth stem and broad 

 leaves, producing also seedlings of a foliage different from the 

 ordinary form of E. amygdalina, which occurs in more open 

 country, and has small narrow leaves and a rough brownish 

 bark. The former species or variety, which has been called 

 Eucalyptus regnans, represents probably the loftiest tree on the 

 globe. Mr. J. RoUo of Yarragon measured a tree which was 

 410 feet high. Another tree in the Cape Otway ranges was 

 found to be 415 feet high and 15 feet in diameter where cut in 

 felling, at a considerable height above the ground. Another tree 

 measured 69 feet in circumference at the base of the stem ; at 13 

 feet from the ground it had a diameter of 14 feet; at 78 feet a 

 diameter of 9 feet ; at 144 feet a diameter of 8 feet, and at 210 



feet a diameter of 5 feet. [Thus, at a height in the air exceed- 

 ing the height of almost every North American forest tree, this 

 specimen bad a diameter equal to most of our largest forest trees 

 at the ground.] Other trees are known with a stem-circumfer- 

 ence of 66 feet at 5 feet from the ground. Prof. Wilson and 

 Colonel Ellery obtained at Mount Sabine a measurement of 21 

 feet 8 inches in diameter of a stem, where cut, the length being 

 380 feet. Colonel Ellery had repeatedly reports of trees seven 

 axe-handles in diameter, and he met a tree on Mount Disappoint- 

 ment with a stem diameter of 83 feet at about 4 feet from the 

 ground." Other species also attain enormous size. Eucalyptus 

 divei'sicolor is known to grow 400 feet high, and trees have been 

 measured 300 feet long without a branch ! Boards 12 feet wide 

 can frequently be obtained. E. globulus grows 300 feet high 

 and furnishes ship keels 120 feet long. E. obliqua also attains 

 300 feet in height and 10 feet in diameter. A note in a recent 

 number of Garden and Forest mentions a tree in Victoria 471 feet 

 in height. 



The colossal size of the trees of this genus is not the only pecu- 

 liar feature they possess. Some are of exceedingly rapid growth, 

 and are at the same time very durable. Eucalyptus amygdalina, 

 for example, grew to a height of 50 feet in 8 years in the south 

 of France. E. citriodora grew 20 feet high in 2 years in a dis- 

 trict subject to protracted drought; and a trunk 40 feet long and 

 20 inches in diameter only broke after a flexion of 17 inches, 

 under a pressure of 49 tons. E. corymbosa is very durable, fence 

 posts that had been in the ground for 40 years showing hardly 

 any decay. E. globulus grew 60 feet high in 11 years in Cali- 

 fornia, and in Florida 40 feet in 4 years, with a stem a foot in 

 diameter. The writer has seen trees in California, two years 

 after planting the seed, 20 feet high; and the wood, although 

 easily cut when green, becomes almost as hard as iron when dry. 

 In Guatemala it grew 120 feet in 12 years and had a stem diam- 

 eter of 9 feet. Railway sleepers made of E. leucoxylon were 

 quite sound after being laid 24 years. Piles driven for a whaling 

 jetty in 1834 were taken out in 1877 perfectly sound, although 

 the water swarmed with Teredo. This was E. marginata. Still 

 more remarkable is the fact that some species withstand excessive 

 heat and also a considerable cold. E. micvotheca, for example, 

 resists a temperature of 18° F. in France and 154° F. in central 

 Australia. Besides serving as a timber tree, many species of 

 Eucalyptus are used medicinally, producing a volatile oil very 

 useful in treating various infectious diseases, like scarlet fever, 

 especially when applied externally. Grown in malarious dis- 

 tricts, they possess the power of purifying the air. Altogether, 

 the genus may be classed as one of the most remarkable in the 

 whole world. JOSEPH F. JAMES, M.Sc. 



Washington, D.C., Feb. 24. 



Fern Frost. 



At Greensburg, Indiana, on the morning of Jan. 24, the trees 

 and fences were fringed with a beautiful feathery frost. It was 

 really a snow frost, but the flakes or aggregations of crystals 

 were fern-shaped instead of star-shaped. Every branch of a tree 

 or wire of a fence bore a line of snow-frost un its south side, 

 making a downy fringe of one-half inch, or more, in length. A 

 weeping willow tree and a fence of wire-netting were most strik- 

 ing in this decoration. 



The barometer was 30.15; temperature, 16; moisture about 

 90; the air seemed perfectly still, but on wetting the finger and 

 holding it above the head the north side was cooled, showing 

 that there was some movement and from what direction. This 

 showed why the fern frost was arranged on the south side of 

 twigs and other objects. There could have been no perceptible 

 wind during the formation of this fern frost, for I could not 

 touch a branch or twig without causing much of this fluffy frost 

 to fall; and, later, little local breezes caused little snowfalls from 

 the trees. However, during the formation of this frost there 

 must have been just enough atmospheric movement to prevent 

 deposition on the north side, while on the south side of twigs, 

 etc., there was a region of still air in which the moisture was 

 crystallized. 



