333 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 
The "dumps " at the coal shafts take fire spontaneously, and the heat decomposes 
a portion of the iron pyrites, the sulphur from which it is volatiHzed, and condenses 
at or near the surface of the dump-pile. Needle-shaped crystals, fully 2^ c. m. 
in length, have been seen. 
2. Chalcopyrite (copper pyrites) occurs in perfect tetrahedral crystals, which 
are generally — though not always— adhering to zinc blende. They vary in size 
from I mm. to 2/3 c. m. in thickness. It is quite common in three or four shafts 
in the Short Creek lead mines, and a few specimens of it have been obtained 
from Joplin, Missouri, although its occurrence at Joplin is not mentioned by 
Prof. Leonhard in his "Notes on the Minerals of Missouri." 
3. Greenockite {cadmium sulphide) has been found in a number of different 
shafts in the Short Creek mines, occurring as a yellow, or yellowish green, in- 
crustation. It gives to some brilliant sphalerite crystals a most beautiful appear- 
ance. No crystals have yet been found. 
4. Anglesite {lead sulphate) is found adhering to galena. {Rare.) — Pro- 
ceedings Kansas Academy of Science. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
THE TOOLS OF THE PYRAMID BUILDERS. 
The arts and civilizations of the early Egyptians have furnished a theme to 
writers and travelers from the time of Moses downward, and scores of books have 
been written giving minute descriptions of the pyramids, the temples, the tombs, 
and the ruined cities that attest the wonderful progress of a people who, situated 
in a land of overflowing fertility, where the burden of procuring a livelihood was 
exceedingly light, were able to turn their energy into other channels, and more 
than 4000 years ago produced acievements that have never been rivaled. All 
this has been told and retold, but when we inquire how these architectural feats 
were performed, how the stone was quarried, transported, carved, and raised into 
its place, authors are silent, or else talk mysteriously about mechanical powers, 
that have been lost, and the superiority of the ancients over us even in the matter 
in which we pride ourselves the most. The fact is that but few men who have 
studied Egyptology have been fitted by their previous training to investigate me- 
chanical processes, or from a number of scattered fragments to arrive at the 
nature and the construction of the tools employed ; and Egyptologists in general 
have been too fully occupied by the more seductive study of the language and 
social customs of the people to give any attention to these matters. Hence it is that, 
until quite recently, we have had but very vague ideas upon the means employed 
by the builders and masons of the pyramids. A recent investigator, however, — 
W. M. Flinders Petrie,— has brought a sudden accession to our stock of knowl- 
