326 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXI. No. 541 



by the testimony of the minor phonetic elements there was more 

 method and arrangement in these than we can expect from a 

 Maya — Indian — scribe, and for this reason the writer is prone 

 to condenan his own work, yet repeated trials with the phonetic 

 list arranged by him have given such good restilts that he is of 

 the opinion that with careful research some good results may 

 accrue that will be of value to students of Maya and its paleog- 

 raphy. 



It may be added, in conclusion, that the glyph known to Maya 

 paleographers as that of "The God with the Old Man's Face," 

 has been analyzed — its minor elements suggesting that it is that 

 of Hoobuil-Kanil-Bacub. The suggestion given by the minor 

 elements is '• Ho-ka-n-ba-ka." The association of this glyph 

 with "The Bee-Keeper's Narrative" of the Troano, lends a strong 

 probability that ihe interpretation is a correct one, and that a 

 former analysis attempted was erroneous. 



This article is intended to be suggestive. The writer holds 

 himself in readiness to modify any of the statements made, if 

 the contrary be proven, or he finds in the progress of his re- 

 searches that new evidence obtained proves former suggestions to 

 be erroneous, thus only can we diminish the field of error and 

 enlarge that of the truth. 



Mexico, Jan. 3". 



PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF PLACE- 

 NAMES IN THE NORTHERN HIGHLANDS OF SCOT- 

 LAND. 



BY JOHN GUNN, ACTING SECHETAKY, ROYAL PHTSICAL SOCIETY. 



NoTHlNa, at the present day, exhibits in a stronger light the 

 effects of the Scandinavian occupation of the Northern Highlands 

 of Scotland than the frequent occurrence of Norse place-names. 

 And this, it must be remembei-ed, in spite of the fact that the 

 invaders were never permanently able to establish their own 

 tongue as the language of the country, except in the Orkney and 

 Shetland Islands (which form no part of the Highlands) and 

 perhaps in certain areas in the Hebrides. The Celts have always 

 had a wonderful power of assimilating to themselves alien races 

 which come among them, and although subdued and ruled over 

 by the vikings and their posterity down to the present time, 

 caused their conquerors to adopt their language, dress, laws, and 

 customs. Yet the number of places named by the Norsemen and 

 still retaining these names is very remarkable. 



As to general distribution, these names are more numerous 

 along the coasts than inland. The vikings did not care to settle 

 far from the sea, where impassable mountains and thick forests, 

 inhabited by a warlike and hostile people, hindered convenient 

 access to the sea. Thus as we retire from the sea-shore the 

 place-names assume a more and more distinctly Celtic character. 

 But even in places where the Scandinavian nomenclature more 

 persistently prevails it is interesting to note how only the larger 

 areas and more striking features of the landscape bear Scandi- 

 navian names. A parish, with its streams, estates, local dis- 

 tricts, and large farms may bear names derived from the Norse, 

 but those of crofts, burns, pools in the rivers, boulders, etc., have, 

 as a general rule, purely Gaelic designations, many of them, 

 doubtless, dating from a much later period than that of the 

 Norse occupation. In this connection it is somewhat curious to 

 observe how few mountains bear Scandinavian designations; 

 forming bold features in the scenery, most of them must have 

 been well known to the vikings, whose names, if they ever named 

 many of them, have come down to us in so very few instances. 

 . Good examples of the facts above stated may be gleaned from 

 the topography of the county of Caithness, as there the vikings 

 found a surer and more permanent footing than on any other 

 part of the mainland of Scotland. The name, Caithness, is itself 

 compound, but was undoubtedly given by the Scandinavians, and 

 signifies " the headland of the Calaibh," the last-mentioned word 

 being the name of the Celtic tribe which owned tne district, and 

 resisted, although unavailingly, the invasion and partial conquest 

 of their ancient possessions. Caithness is divided into ten civil 

 parishes, viz., Thurso, Olrig, Dunnet, Canisbay, Bowes, Wick, 

 Watten, Halkirk, Latheron, and Reay. AH these are of Norse 



oiigin except the two last mentioned, and all, with the excep- 

 tion of Halkirk, have sea-coasts. Latheron and Reay are Gaelic, 

 and these districts, along with the western portion of Halkirk, 

 were the places in which the aborigines were left to dwell in 

 comparative peace. Yet here, all along the coasts, we find 

 numerous Norse derivatives, such as Skail, Lylester, Forse (oc- 

 curring also in the form Forso), Berriedale, and many others. 

 In the western Halkirk area, which lies far from the sea, we can 

 only remember two Norse names, viz., Glutt and Rumsdale. 

 In the Scandinavian area, however, we discover the aboriginal 

 element to be remarkably strong. The Gael was, and is, natur- 

 ally facile in topography, and gave a name to almost every ob- 

 ject, natural and artificial, which came under his notice in a fairly 

 permanent form. A constant pool of water, a boulder of peculiar 

 color or somewhat uncommon shape or size, a corner of waste 

 land, a ditch — all were named. He frequently added a word 

 from his own vocabulary to a Scandinavian root, using oftenest 

 Ach (a field) or Bal (a town or farm) in this connection. Thus, 

 we get such compound forms as Achalipster, Achkipster, in 

 which examples we have, in conjunction, the Gaelic ach and the 

 Scandinavian ster, both words having the same meaning, and 

 making the names tautological. 



These remarks are merely intended as an introduction to a more 

 particular examination of a subject of particular interest and of 

 sufficient importance to have induced Sir Charles Wilson, Direc- 

 tor of the Ordnance Surrey, to request the cooperation of the 

 Scottish Geographical Society in revising the place-names for new 

 issues of the Survey maps. The council of the society thereupon 

 nominated a committee to undertake the work; and this com- 

 mittee, under the presidency of Dr. James Burgess, CLE., is 

 now engaged in an examination of all the place-names in the 

 Highlands, and, where there is any doubt, authoritatively fixing 

 the correct form of spelling. 



NOTE UPON THE ABSORPTION OF SULPHUR BY CHAR- 

 COAL. 



BY WTLLIAM P. BLAKE, SHTJLLSBURG, WISCONSIN. 



In tearing down some heaps of pyritic zinc ores, where heap- 

 roasting to expel the sulphur from the pyrite had been attempted, 

 a part of the wood used as fuel was found at the bottom of the 

 heap not only carbonized, but portions of it, such as small limbs 

 of trees, and looking like ordinary charcoal, were saturated with 

 sulphur. The original form of the wood and its structure, its 

 grain-rings of growth, bark, etc., seemed to be perfectly retained, 

 but the weight and solidity of the masses at once showed that 

 some change had taken place, and this change it was easy to prove 

 was due to the presence of a large amount of sulphur penetrating 

 every part. 



The fragments of this sulphurized carbon are hard and brittle, 

 and break most readily at right-angles to the length of the 

 original tree-limbs. The color is very nearly that of ordinary 

 charcoal, but lacks the lustrous black, having instead a grayish- 

 black shade, and when the compound is cut or scratched with a 

 knife, it exhibits a sub-metallic lustre. Specific gravity 1.60. 



In the May number of the American Journal of Science Pro- 

 fessor W. G. Mixter ' describes the deportment of charcoal with 

 the halogens, nitrogen, sulphur, and oxygen. He points out the 

 extreme difficulty in obtaining fairly pure amorphous carbon, it 

 so tenaciously holds such elements either occluded in its pores or 

 in combination. His experiments were conducted upon three 

 varieties of amorphous carbon, viz., sugar charcoal, lampblack, 

 and gas carbon. He found that charcoal after exposure to 

 chlorine retains a considerable quantity at high temperatures; 

 one experiment upon heated lamp-black showing an absorption 

 and retention of from 14.3 to 15.5 per cent, while gas carbon, 

 ignited in chlorine and allowed to cool in a current of dry nitro- 

 gen, failed to absorb chlorine. He concurs with other recent 

 writers on this subject that carbon and chlorine do not unite 

 directly, but states that chlorine does combine with carbon at 

 high temperatures when hydrogen is present in the carbon, the 

 hydrogen being apparently replaced by chlorine ; for, while gas 

 ' Amer. Jour. Scl., Third Series, xlv.. No. 269, May, 1893, p. 263. 



