124 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 240 



Gafsa, a considerable town in the southern part of the regency, pre- 

 ser\'ing the site and the name of the Roman Capsa. The author 

 describes three remarkable hills, which rise to a moderate elevation 

 in the neighborhood of that town. These hills, having been made 

 posts of observation of the occupying army, are now known as 

 Posts I., II., and III. Post I. is an eminence rising on one side, by 

 a gradual slope, to a height of sixty metres (about two hundred 

 feet) above the level of the town, and descending on the other side 

 in a steep, cliff-like face, of forty-two metres, to an upland plain. 

 This precipitous face offered to the investigator the advantages of a 

 cutting, showing the composition of the hill from base to summit. 

 It proved to be, in the greater part, a limestone conglomerate, in 

 which are embedded small particles of quartz, with rolled flint- 

 stones of various sizes, and fragments of brown silex. Geologically, 

 the hill belongs to the earliest period of the quaternary or pleisto- 

 cene epoch. The lower half is of stone sufficiently compact to be 

 quarried for building-stone. Above this is a layer, about eighty feet 

 thick, of somewhat looser and more friable conglomerate, with larger 

 embedded stones. And this, again, is surmounted by a stratum of 

 yellow travertine, about six metres (twenty feet) thick, containing no 

 flints. 



The remarkable fact is, that throughout the conglomerate were 

 discovered relics of human handiwork, in the shape of wrought 

 flints embedded in the rock. Still more remarkable is the fact that 

 in the lower and harder stratum these relics were all of one sort, 

 while in the upper and looser layer that sort had disappeared, and 

 other kinds had taken its place. In the lower stratum he found 

 specimens of that rude tool — the rudest of all tools — which is de- 

 scribed sometimes as the ' drift-implement,' sometimes as the ' axe 

 of St. Acheul,' and by Prof. G. de Mortillet, in his noted work ' La 

 Pr6historique,' as the ' fist ' (coup de poing), — a stone clipped into 

 an ovoid or almond-like shape, and intended evidently to be grasped 

 at the smaller end and used in pounding or hacking. With these 

 were some of the coarse flakes, or clipped fragments, which usually 

 accompany them. These stone fists and flakes were all in the typical 

 forms which distinguish the work of the earliest quaternary r^ce, — 

 variously known as the ' River-drift,' or ' Canstadt,' or ' Chellean ' 

 race, — and were the only traces of human industry found in that 

 stratum. 



In the looser stratum above, not one of the ovoid implements was 

 found, though a single specimen was extracted just on the line of 

 division between the two layers. All the worked flints in the upper 

 layer belonged to what M. de Mortillet styles the ' Mousterian ' 

 type, but were mostly of a heavy, coarse, and worn appearance. 

 They were of various shapes, — triangular points, thick blades, rude 

 scrapers, and the like. Dr. Collignon is of opinion that the imple- 

 ments in the upper conglomerate stratum were a development of 

 those in the lower ; but the facts, as described by him, do not seem 

 decisively to bear out this opinion. Finally, in the highest stratum 

 of all, the travertine, as has been said, no flints of any kind were 

 found. The hill known as Post III. resembles that of Post I., except 

 that it is lower, and that the layer of travertine is wanting. 



The necessary conclusions from these facts, as set forth by the 

 author, are, that in the earlier part of the quaternary era this region 

 was inhabited by the race or races of men who formed these im- 

 plements. During a period of great but unknown length the land 

 gradually sank, and was finally covered by the sea. When it again 

 rose above the surface, the currents swept away nearly all the for- 

 mation which had accumulated during this subsidence, leaving only 

 a few hills, such as have been described, to indicate the original level. 



After this denudation, a new but briefer subsidence took place, 

 giving rise to a new formation, and followed by a new elevation. 

 These facts are shown by the evidences displayed in and around 

 another hill, known as Post II. This is one of the ' foot-hills ' of a 

 small mountain-chain which sinks gradually into the plain at a little 

 distance north of Gafsa. Around these hills and on their declivities 

 are scattered many small mounds of clayey loam. These mounds 

 rest on a layer containing many coarse Mousterian implements, exactly 

 similar to those in the upper conglomerate of Post I. Above this 

 layer is a stratum of argillaceous earth, between three and four 

 metres thick, containing no flints. Then follows a thin layer or film 

 of earth, about four inches thick, full of flint implements of every 

 description. This layer clearly indicates what was for a considerable 



period the inhabited surface. Above this layer are a few feet of 

 earth ; but the same implements are scattered profusely over the 

 present surface, and are found below it where the soil is furrowed 

 by the rains. They belong to every one of M. de Mortillet's 'ages,*" 

 subsequent to the Chellean and the earlier Mousterian ; viz., the 

 upper (or later) Mousterian, the Solutrean, the Magdalenian, and the 

 Neolithic. So far as prehistoric Tunis is concerned. Dr. Collignon is 

 satisfied that no distinction in point of time can be made among 

 these different industries. It is clear, also, that they have continued 

 in existence to a veiy recent period, since the soil which covers some 

 of the Roman constructions holds flint implements of the same' 

 description. 



A very curious fact, ascertained by Dr. Collignon, is that all these 

 stone implements, of every age, are restricted to a comparatively 

 narrow area in the south and west of Tunis. While they abound 

 in that district, they are almost entirely absent from the northern 

 and eastern portions of the country. Dr. Collignon does not 

 attempt to explain this phenomenon. It may possibly be due to an 

 early condition similar to that which exists at present in parts of our 

 own continent, where two hostile races, like the Eskimo and the 

 Athabascan Indians, are separated by a wide space of unoccupied 

 land. 



It should be mentioned that in the middle of the Tunisian terri- 

 tory there is a limited area, quite distinct from that in which the 

 stone implements occur, where megalithic monuments — dolmens 

 and covered passages — abound. In one locality no less than four 

 hundred dolmens were counted. These monuments Dr. Collignon 

 believes to have been the comparatively late constructions of an 

 intrusive tribe ; and he is further of opinion that the descendants 

 of this tribe and of the stone-implement makers still live in their 

 respective districts, and are distinguishable by their very different 

 physical traits. In the district of the dolmens the people are of 

 rather low stature (i .63 metres, or about 5 feet 4 inches, — an aver- 

 age which must be understood as including both sexes), with long 

 heads (index 74), and a visage short, broad, and irregular, closely 

 resembling in outline that indicated by the Cro-Magnon crania.. 

 On the other hand, the people of the south of Tunis are compara- 

 tively tall (1.69 metres, about 5 feet 6 1-2 inches), very dolichoce- 

 phalic (index 73), with retreating forehead and chin, and projecting 

 glabella and brows; the nose turned up, and the lips thick, but with 

 no prognathism. They are neither negroid, Berber, nor Arab. In 

 his view, they represent the earliest ethnic stratum of the existing 

 population, and preserve the blood and the type of the people who 

 dwelt in this region during the stone ages. 



The positive conclusions which we seem authorized to draw from 

 Dr. Collignon's report may be stated in a few words. They are, 

 first, that the human race is of an immense antiquity, dating back 

 to the beginning of the quaternary age ; and, second, that the first 

 race of men, judged from the relics of their industry, were of a very 

 low grade of intelligence, Httle surpassing that of the most saga- 

 cious brutes ; but how far this apparent defect of intellect was real,, 

 and how far it may have been due to the circumstance, that, as M. 

 de Mortillet has suggested, the faculty of speech was yet unde- 

 veloped, is uncertain. Finally, it is plain that the period of this 

 earliest stone age was of a vast duration, which can only be ex- 

 pressed in geological terms. The same may be said of the early 

 Mousterian era, which perhaps formed part of the first age. As for 

 the various so-called ' stone ages ' which followed, it seems impos- 

 sible to make any real distinction of periods among them. They 

 all apparently form one fnodern epoch, not of very great duration, 

 and not yet closed. 



CHILLED ARMOR FOR LAND-DEFENCES. 



The Gruson Works of Buckau-Magdeburg have recently pub- 

 lished a book of some size, written by Engineer von Schuetz, in 

 which the system of construction of chilled cast-iron armor for use 

 in the protection of earthworks and in the making of turrets for 

 land-batleries, as devised by Dr. H. Gruson, some years ago, is de- 

 scribed at length, and an account is given of the results of the ex- 

 periments which have been made, from time to time, by several 

 European governments, to determine its efficiency in resisting the 

 impact of the heaviest modern ordnance. This work has been 



