April 7, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



191 



In every aspect of the matter the sense-organ must be present 

 before its nerve can have a separate existence. The terms 

 " utricularis " and " saccularis " are in all respects suitable and 

 descriptive of the things to be named. Both of the nerves to 

 which they are applied supply parts of the same organ complex 

 which forms a well differentiated structure, and since both parts 

 must have very similar functions it is certainly unadvisable to 

 leave out of the designation all reference to the accepted idea as 

 to the function which they subserve. Consequently, I hold that 

 the names which I used in my memoir on the ear are the most 

 suitable and the best grounded terms yet proposed for a revised 

 nomenclature. The names may be used in full as Nervus acusti- 

 cus utricularis and Nervus aousticus saccularis, or abbreviated 

 to N. ac. utric. and N. ao. sac, or, since they are not liable to be- 

 come confused witli other nerve names, we may write simply N. 

 utric. and N. sac. For the branches of each of these nerves we 

 may write respectively: — 



i ramus cristse anterioris. 

 N. utric. } " ■' externas. 



1/ ■' maculfe utriculi. 



C ramus aristae posterioris. 

 N. sac. < '• " cochlearis. 



( " maculae sacculi. 



Howard Ayees. 



The Lake Laboratory, Milwaukee, Wis., Mar. 20, 1893. 



horizon. The skull and bones had lost so much of their animal 

 matter as to adhere strongly to the tongue, agreeing in this re- 

 spect with the ordinary condition of fossil bones of the post-plio- 

 cene period." 



The loneliness of the Neanderthal skull has been much relieved 

 by later discoveries, especially by that of Professors Lohest and 

 Fraipont at Liege, but waiving this and keeping to the main 

 point it is not easy to understand how testimony so direct and 

 explicit can be at once overthrown by a recollection of an unin- 

 terested party after 35 years interval. It will be at once seen 

 how widely Sir C. Lyell's description of the ground, written by 

 an eye-witness, differs from that given in the first letter on the 

 subject in Science. Moreover, Lyell's description shows that not 

 the skull alone, but other bones, and probably the whole skeleton, 

 were present. Our low- browed palaeolithic (?) ancestor has still 

 enough material left to make out a good case. 



E. "W. Claypole. 

 Akron, O., March 29. 



Prehistoric Coil Pottery. 



In the dim past when primeval men occupied this continent, 

 no one knows for how long a period, they raised mounds, dwelt in 

 caves, or built towns that are now below the surface of the earth. 

 In all this longera they used flint or stone implements for all edged 

 tools, hammers, axes, spears, etc. At the same time having no 



The Neanderthal Skull. 



I HAVE waited in the hope that some one more competent than 

 myself would take up this matter, but, this failing, I am induced 

 to send a short note on the enquiry into the reality of our ven- 

 erable troglodyte. 



Dr. Brinton quotes very high authority in his letter; few higher 

 than Virchow could be found. But it appears to me that the 

 whole story was not given. We are all concerned to know the 

 exact truth and value of these old relics of pre-historic man. But 

 just now the iconoclasts are abroad in the land, and they may, as 

 they have done in days past, go too far on that side. 



The Neanderthal skull has never been unequivocally accepted 

 as a type, chiefly because it stood so long alone. But a race has 

 been named after it by some anthropologists, provisionally at 

 least — the Canstadt, etc. 



The evidence in favor of its authenticity has been before the 

 world for many years almost unchallenged, and, with all respect 

 to the eminent men engaged in the controversy, I submit that it 

 is not quite in accord with logic or with scientific method to base 

 an objection against the positive testimony of the discoverer on 

 the mere recollection of his surviving widow nearly forty years 

 after the discovery was made. 



Waiving all other considerations, we know how treacherous is 

 the memory of an event in which we were not deeply interested 

 (and which we only in part comprehended) after half a lifetime has 

 passed since it occurred. And that Frau Fuhlrott was in this 

 mental condition is obvious from Professor Virchow's own ad- 

 mission, that she made this statement to him in entire uncon- 

 sciousness of the weighty results involved. This of itself is suffi- 

 cient to greatly reduce its value. 



But there is yet another important element in the problem to 

 be considered. In Sir C. Lyell's "Antiquity of Man" he thus 

 describes the place: " I visited the spot in 1860 in company with 

 Dr. Fuhlrott (sic), who had the kindness to come from Elberfeld 

 expressly to be my guide, and who brought with him the original 

 fossil skull." " The spot is a deep and narrow ravine. The cave 

 occurs on the precipitous southern or left side of the winding 

 ravine, about sixty feet above the stream and a hundred feet be- 

 low the top of the cliff." He then gives a sectional view, show- 

 ing an opening to the surface, and adds, " Through this passage 

 the loam which covered the floor and possibly the human body 

 to which the bones belonged may have been washed into the 

 cave below." "There was no stalagmite overlying the mud in 

 which the human skeleton was found." " The loam, which was 

 five feet thick, was removed and the human skull was noticed 

 near the entrance, the other bones lying farther in on I be same 



COIL POTTERY. 



metal pots or kettles, a rough earthen ware was used for cook- 

 ing and for all other uses for which we now use iron, tin, and 

 wooden vessels. There is somewhat of a resemblance in many 

 of the stone implements all over the world. It is only recently 

 that it has been discovered that there is a similar resemblance 

 in much of the pottery of this early age, especially in the coil 

 pottery. This pottery was made by rolling clay into long strings 

 like cord, and while soft beginning with one end to coil it round 

 and round, increasing the size of the bottom till it assumed the 

 desired dimensions, then shaping it up the sides (just as straw 

 hats are made) till the required form and size was attained (see 

 illustration). The most extraordinary part of the investigation 

 is that this ware made in the same manner is found in the 

 mounds of Florida and Ohio, in the cliff-dwellings of New Mexico 

 and Arizona, in the buried cities of the canons of these terri- 

 tories, also in the Connecticut Valley and under the ancient shell- 

 heaps of Cape Cod, Mass. What a long period of time it must 

 have taken to have this art disseminated over so vast a territory 

 at this early age. According to the uses these pots were in- 

 tended for, so were they made large or small, thick or thin, and 

 of various shapes. It was a common practice to use some sharp 

 instrument to dint or work up some fanciful designs without ob- 

 literating the lines of the coil ; in some cases they are beautifully 

 marked, looking like carved black oak, others made of light- 

 colored clay in very tine coils prettily indented forming neat de- 

 signs. Some of the best ware is handsomely smoothed and 

 rubbed to almost a polished surface before baking. All are 

 smoothed inside, before they 'xerc dry; probably some of those 



