February 28, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



151 



employed to express. . . . The lines of force of the static 

 condition of electricity are present in all cases of induction. 

 ... No condition of quality or polarity has as yet been 

 discovered in the line of static electric force, nor has any rela- 

 tion of time been established in respect of it. " ' 'No relation 

 of time to the lines of magnetic force has as yet been discovered' ' 

 (Ibid. , 3253) . 



Finally, on pp. 439 and 440 of "Experimental Researches" 

 (vol. iii. edition of 1855), he gives in detail, too long for quota- 

 tion here, his vievrs of the different phenomena, which, it seems 

 to me, fully support the position I have taken in this matter. 



Nelson W. Pekry. 



Cincinnati, O., Feb. 17. 



Supposed Aboriginal Fish-Weirs in Naaman's Creek, near 

 Clayraont, Del. 



If the substituted letter of Mr. Hilborne T. Cresson to the 

 American Antiquarian, published in your issue of Feb. 14, had 

 ever been printed before, certainly I should not have received the 

 impression that Mi\ Cresson once fancied he had discovered the 

 remains of pile-dwellings at Naaman's Creek, on the Delaware. 

 The differences between the two versions are very striking to 

 whoever takes the trouble of comparing them. I never before 

 understood that Mi-. Cresson regarded the version of his letter 

 published in the Antiquarian in November, 1887, as "an atro- 

 ciously garbled version' ' of it. I supposed he only complained of 

 certain bad mistakes in the proof-reading, such as the substitu- 

 tion of "cave" for "cove," etc. Mr. Ci-esson's memory has 

 played him false in regard to what he wrote to me when he 

 kindly forwarded to me a selection of the objects discovered at 

 the thi-ee "stations." On referi'ing to the notes that accom- 

 panied the specimens, I find that he calls them "pile-structures." 

 The fact is, that I supposed Mr. Cresson had changed his mind in 

 regard to what these structures actually were; and as I had 

 formed the opinion upon fh-st reading what he had printed re- 

 specting them, that they were merely remains of Indian fish- 

 weirs, I simply made that statement. I found nothing in what 

 Professor Putnam had stated in the ' 'Reports of the Peabody 

 Museum" (vol. iv. p. 44) in regard to Mr. Cresson' s discoveries 

 to give me any different impression. Mr. Cresson' s letter to me, 

 to which he refers, containing the request that I should adopt his 

 corrected views, came too late, as I wrote to him, because my 

 manuscript was already in the printer's hands. That I should 

 have drawn such inferences about Mr. Cresson' s opinions does 

 not seem to me so ' 'inexplicable' ' as it does to him. 



Henry W. Hay'nes. 



Boston, Feb. 16. 



Mr. H. T. Cresson, in his letter published in Science, Feb. 

 14, seems to want to get away from his own assertion, and so 

 takes the opportunity to abuse the editor of tlie American An- 

 tiquarian. If you will allow me to quote the very words which 

 he used in his letter, and which were published in the Antiqua- 

 rian exactly as they were written, without any change whatever, 

 your readers will see what his position was in the year 1887, 

 though he seems to have changed his opinion since that time. 

 The words are as follows: — . 



' ' The results so far seem to indicate that the ends of the piles 

 embedded in the mud, judging from the implements and other 

 debris scattered around them, once supported shelters of early man 

 that were erected a few feet above the water — the upper portions of 

 the piles having disappeared in the long lapse of time that must have 

 ensued since they were placed there — (the flats are covered by 

 four and one-half feet of water on the flood tide ; on the ebb the 

 marsh is dry and covei'ed with slimy ooze several feet in depth, 

 varying in different places) . Tliree different dwellings have been 

 located, all that exist in the flats referred to after a careful ex- 

 amination within the last four years of nearly every inch of 

 ground carefully laid off and examined in sections. 



' ' The implements found in two of 'the supposed river dwelling 

 sites ' are very rude in type, and generally made of dense argil- 

 lite, not unlike the palseoliths found by my friend Dr. C. C. Ab- 

 bott in the Trenton gravels. 



' ' The character of the implements from the other or third sup- 

 posed river dwelling on the Delaware marshes are better flnished 

 objects made of argillite, indicating a greater antiquity than 

 ordinary surface found Indian relics. At this pile dwelling a 

 human tooth has been found and fragments of a jaw bone, ends 

 of scapulae, etc. It is my intention later on to present my speci- 

 mens to the Peabody Museum of Ethnology and Archeeology at 

 Cambridge, Mass." 



The above is a quotation from the letter published in the 

 American Antiquarian in 1887. Mr. Cresson desires the readers, 

 of Science to compare the two letters. In order that they may do. 

 so, I quote a part of the letter which appeared in Science, Feb. 14 

 (see p. 116, near the bottom of the page) . It is as follows: — 



' ' The results, so far (1877) , seem to indicate that the ends of 

 piles embedded in the mud, judging from the implements and 

 other debris scattered around them, had once served as supports 

 to structures intended for fish-weirs, these in all probability pro- 

 jecting a few feet above the water, and were no doubt interlaced 

 with wattles, or vines, to more readily bar the passage of fish 

 from the creek into the river. The upper portion of these wooden 

 structures has entirely disappeared in the long lapse of time that 

 has ensued since they were placed there. ... At slack water it 

 forms a low mud-bank slanting toward the creek. Three differ- 

 ent siafiojis were located, probably all that exist, in the bed of- 

 the creek refen-ed to. This opinion is based upon careful exam- 

 inations, made within the past four years, of nearly every inch 

 of ground in the neighborhood of the wooden stake-ends, by 

 dredging in sections between certain points marked upon the. 

 creek's bank. The implements found in one of the stations are 

 generally made of argillite, with a few of quartz and quartzite. 

 Some were very rude in character, and not unlike the palseoliths 

 found bj^ Dr. C. C. Abbott in the Trenton gravels. Objects of 

 stone and pottery rather better in finish than those at station A 

 have been found at the two other stations, B and C. ' ' 



This is a quotation from Science, the sentence being consecu-. 

 five. The Italics will show the words and clauses which in one 

 letter convey one impression, and in the other letter convey an 

 entirely different impression. 



Mr. Cresson charges the editor with putting in the words 

 ' ' shelters of early man that were erected a few feet above the 

 water, " " tlu-ee different dwellings, " " two of the supposed 

 river dwelling sites, " " The character of the implements from 

 the other or third supposed river dwelling on the Delaware 

 mai-shes are better finished objects made of argillite. indicating a 

 greater antiquity than ordinary surface found Indian relics. At 

 this pile dwelling a human tooth has been found and fragments of 

 a jaw bone, ends of scapulas, etc." Now, the editor of the 

 American Antiquarian does not pretend to be ingenious enough 

 to fabricate such sentences, and interpolate them into a letter. 

 It is beyond the skill of an ordinary man to interpolate remarks 

 of that kind. If these words are not contained in the copy which 

 Mr. Cresson says he kept, why did not Mr. Cresson change the 

 wording, or request that it should be corrected, in the two years 

 that have elapsed? Professor Haynes quoted from the American 

 Antiquarian, supposing that Mr. Cresson' s own words were to be 

 relied upon. The statement went into "The Critical and Nar- 

 rative History" on the strength of Mr. Cresson' s o\vn words. 

 The editor of the Antiquarian at the time said nothing 

 about the ' ' find. ' ' If Mr. Cresson wishes to withdraw from the. 

 position taken, he is at liberty to do so, but he should not charge- 

 the editor of the Antiquarian with ' ' garbling ' ' or changing hisi 

 letter, unless he can prove it. Stephen D. Peet. 



Mendon, 111., Feb. 18. 



The Fiske Range-Finder. 



I WAS much interested in the description of the Fiske ranges 

 finder, which appeared in Science on Jan. 24. There is much 

 credit due Lieut. Bradley A. Fiske for the ingenious manner in 

 which he has applied a most beautiful electrical combination to, 

 a practical pui-pose, and there is no doubt that its range of use*, 

 fulness will extend beyond the realms of gunnery practice. 



While reading the article, an idea came into my mind, whicl\ 

 may also have occurred to Lieut. Fiske, and been rejected as im,- 



