834 



ISCIENCK 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. a82. 



showed 1040 bacteria per c.c. The sewage is 

 passed into the Iowa River, which flows, at a 

 minimum, about 3,250,000 gallons per twenty- 

 four hours and contamination by sewage is at 

 all times serious. Where thus contaminated, 

 its color is dark, its odor offensive and its mean 

 content of bacteria at times as high as about 

 100,000 per c.c. and probably more. The out- 

 come of litigation directed against the city by 

 residents of the countr5' below, along the banks 

 of the stream, has been the determination of 

 the city to adopt a system of puriticatiou of the 

 sewage and it is to this end that the experts of 

 the University were consulted. 



It was promptly discovered that the glucose 

 sewage was very different from that of the 

 city, in respect to content of bacferia, as was 

 to have been expected. Its bacteria ranged up 

 to, in one case, nearly ten millions per c.c. 

 While not unwholesome when fresh, it is sub- 

 ject to putrefaction of a seriously objectionable 

 character. The packing-house sewage also con- 

 tains large quantities of bacteria and has a 

 characteristic composition. The result of inter- 

 mixture^ of these [various kinds of sewage is 

 a peculiarly offensive and troublesome com- 

 pound. 



In seeking the best remedj' for this state of 

 affairs at Marshalltown, the data printed in 

 the report were gathered. The work included 

 a study of the topography of the country, of 

 the character of the soil, the available materials 

 for construction, of filtering and settling tanks 

 and the costs of labor and material. It is 

 stated that the works should be completed 

 before November of the present year. 



In the performance of the work of the con- 

 sulting chemists and bacteriologists, the meth- 

 ods of the Massachusetts Board of Health were 

 usually followed. 



R. H. Thurston. 



' ABBOWPOINTS, SPSAEHEADS AS'D KiVIVES 

 OF PREHISTORIC TIMES.' 

 Under the above title, Professor Thomas 

 Wilson, Curator of the Division of Prehistoric 

 Archceology of the U. S. National Museum, oc- 

 cupies pages 811 to 988, of the Report of the 

 Museum for 1897. Sixty-five plates and two 

 hundred and one text figures accompany the 



paper. The whole is also run by the Govern- 

 ment Printing Office, as a reprint bearing the 

 date 1899. 



Much material is brought together in this 

 paper, besides copious references to the litera- 

 ture and sources of information. The chipped 

 objects of the palffiolithic period are touched 

 upon, and sections are devoted to the origin, in- 

 vention and evolution of the bow and arrow ; 

 superstitions concerning arrowpoints; flintmines 

 and quarries of Europe and America ; caches ; 

 material for points and its microscopic exami- 

 nation; the manufacture of points; and scrapers, 

 grinders and straightners used in making shafts 

 for arrows and spears. Fifty-seven pages and 

 a proportional number of plates and figures are 

 devoted to Mr. Wilson's classification of points 

 for arrows and spears which is under the four 

 main divisions, leaf-shaped, triangular, stemmed 

 and peculiar forms. Knives and wounds made 

 by points are also discussed. Flint mines and 

 quarries, caches, large implements and the mak- 

 ing of arrowpoints described by explorers and 

 travelers are the subjects included in appendices 

 A, B, C and D. 



Some of the illustrations are familiar to 

 readers of archseologic literature, who are glad 

 to have them brought, together with the new 

 illustrations, under one cover. 



The manufacture of arrowpoints was seen as 

 late as the summer of 1898 by several members 

 of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition in the 

 Thompson Valley, British Columbia, but in a 

 few years it will be an industry of the past, at 

 least in regions accessible to the body of stu- 

 dents of archeology. Dr. Wilson has intro- 

 duced a number of quaint pictures of a flint 

 knapper engaged in chipping gun flints at 

 Brandon, Suffolk, England. 



Harlan I. Smith. 



DIETARY STUDIES OF UNIVERSITY BOAT 

 CREWS. 

 Professor W. O. Atwater and Mr. A. P. 

 Bryant have prepared an interesting bulletin 

 on the above subject, published through the 

 OflBce of Experiment Stations, U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture. Their results, together with the 

 comparison of other dietary studies, are sum- 

 marized in the following table : 



