3H 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 282 



tion will be for the benefit particularly of those who propose to 

 teach the elementary physics of the requirements for admission to 

 Harvard College. Admission will be free. 



— We learn from Nature that the conferences convened by the 

 London Chamber of Commerce to consider the question of com- 

 tmercial education led to the appointment of a committee for the 

 full discussion of the subject. This committee nominated a sub- 

 •committee, among the members of which were Sir John Lubbock, 

 -Sir Henry Roscoe, and Sir B. Samuelson. A scheme for the im- 

 provement of commercial education has now been drawn up by the 

 ■sub-committee, and sent to various business-men, schoolmasters, 

 •and other authorities on education, with a request for practical sug- 

 gestions. The scheme, as it stands, proposes as obligatory sub- 

 jects for examination for a commercial certificate, (l) English ; (2) 

 Latin ; (3<t) French ; (31^) German, Spanish, or Italian ; (4) history 

 -of British Isles and colonies, general and modern history, including 

 •commercial history; (5) geography, physical, political, commercial, 

 and industrial ; (6) mathematics ; (7) drawing. Proficiency is also 

 required in at least one of the following : physics, chemistry, natural 

 itiistory, commerce, and political economy. 



'LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



ief as possible. The 



unicatio 



'11 he fu-rnished 

 nt with the character of 



* * Correspondents are requested to be a 

 -in allcases required as proof of good faith. 



TvieiUy copies of the number containing his ci 

 jfree to any correspondent on request. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries 

 4he journal. 



The Ancient Works of Ohio. 



As investigation and explorations proceed, one ray of light after 

 another pierces the mystery which has so long hovered about the 

 ancient works of Ohio, enabling us thereby to catch glimpses of 

 the prehistoric times of that great State. As was stated in a for- 

 mer communication, the evidence obtained through the explora- 

 tions of the Bureau of Ethnology bearing upon the origin of the 

 •typical works of that State leave but little if any doubt that they 

 were built by the ancestors of the Cherokees ; but this must be un- 

 ■derstood as applying only to the circles and squares, and other 

 ■works of this type, together with the mounds pertaining thereto, or 

 ■bearing indications of having been built by the authors of the en- 

 ■^closures. The links of this chain have been gathered from the 

 'Ohio antiquities, the mounds and works of West Virginia, East 

 Tennessee, and western North Carolina ; in fact, the chain is not 

 ■single, but multiple, for there are several distinct lines of evidence 

 leading to the same conclusion. Some items bearing on this ques- 

 tion have been published in Science and elsewhere, but since those 

 •appeared additional testimony has been obtained by the bureau. 



But Ohio was the home of more than one mound-building tribe : 

 there are good reasons for believing that we find here the work of 

 •six or seven different peoples or tribes : — 



First, The typical works by the Cherokees, before mentioned. 



Second, The walls, enclosures, and other defensive works of Cuy- 

 •ahoga County and other northern sections of the State. The key 

 -which will help to solve the riddle of the monuments of this type is 

 to be found in central and western New York, the former home of 

 the Iroquois nations : in other words, they are attributable to some 

 •branch of the Iroquois or Huron-Iroquois stock. It is possible, 

 and even probable, that the works of Cuyahoga County are attrib- 

 ■utable to the Eries ; but this, if admitted, is only another proof 

 •that this tribe pertained to the Iroquois group. The same type of 

 works is also found in eastern Michigan as far north as Ogeman 

 County. 



Third and. Fourth, The box-shaped stone graves. There is no 

 longer any good reason for doubting that the burial-cists of this 

 type, found in Ohio, are attributable to two tribes, — the Delawares 

 and Shawnees ; those of the central portion of the State, especially 

 of Ashland County, marking the burial-places of Delaware Indians, 

 and those found along the Ohio River the burial-places of Shaw- 

 nees. There are, however, no marks or peculiarities by which the 

 works of the two tribes in this State can be distinguished from 

 each other. As but few graves of this type are found in mounds 



in Ohio, it is more than probable that they belong to the time of 

 the later occupancy of this region by these tribes. Nevertheless 

 there are some reasons for believing that some of the works in 

 Hamilton County pertain to an earlier occupancy of that section by 

 the Shawnees; but this point cannot be satisfactorily settled until 

 further explorations have been made in adjoining portions of Ken- 

 tucky. 



Fifth, Certain stone mounds, and mounds containing stone 

 vaults or graves of a peculiar type, which it would be difficult to 

 explain without the use of figures, which cannot be introduced 

 here. Sepulchres of this type have been found at various points in 

 the northern half of Kentucky, from the extreme north-east corner 

 of the State as far west as Union County; but in Ohio they have as 

 yet been discovered only in a few of the extreme southern counties. 

 This type of works is peculiar, and presents a problem to which 

 we have thus far been unable to find any clew. It is probable that 

 the builders belonged to a tribe which has become extinct. Unless 

 certain works in north-east Missouri, which bear some resemblance 

 to those of the type mentioned, are attributable to the same peo- 

 ple, no traces of them are to be found elsewhere than in the sec- 

 tions mentioned. Is it possible that the appellation ' Bloody 

 Ground ' is an echo which has floated down the ages from prehis- 

 toric times? These sepulchres indicate a savage life and fierce 

 warfare with beasts of prey. 



Sixth, The effigy mounds, of which some two or three only are 

 known within the limits of Ohio. These also present a problem 

 difficult to solve. It is possible that some sudden freak of the med- 

 icine-men or medas of some one of the tribes mentioned may have 

 brought about the building of these strange works, but such a sup- 

 position is far-fetched and without any basis. It is more likely 

 that a straggling clan or small tribe of the Wisconsin mound- 

 builders, — probably belonging to the Dakotan stock, — wander- 

 ing toward the south-east, left these mementos of their passage. 

 The bird-effigies of Georgia may possibly have been built by the 

 same people. Such breaking-away of a clan or tribe and its wan- 

 dering to a distant locality is not without parallel in Indian history. 



Seventh, Fortifications of that type of which Fort Ancient is an 

 example. Although I have introduced this type under a separate 

 number, I am inclined to attribute the principal works of the class 

 to the builders of the typical works of the State, — the Cherokees. 

 This is also the opinion of most of our archseologists, yet the rela- 

 tion between the works in some cases is not apparent. Fort An- 

 cient is an example of this kind. Moreover, there are some indica- 

 tions in this instance of the influence of the white man, especially 

 in the northern section of the work. 



Omitting the last from the list, there remains clear and satisfac- 

 tory evidence that the ancient works of the State are due to at least 

 six different tribes. CYRUS THOMAS. 



Youngsville, Penn., June 25. 



Distillation of Mercury at Ordinary Temperatures. 



In the physical laboratory of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey a normal barometer hangs in a window-jamb about 35 centi- 

 metres from the glass of the window. As the window faces east, 

 it has the sun until noon. The barometer-tube at and above the 

 upper surface is 25 millimetres in diameter, and extends 6 centi- 

 metres above the mean position of that meniscus. It was observed 

 that during the summer small globules of mercury covered the 

 inner wall of the tube above the column, on the side farthest from 

 the window. In the winter they collected upon the side nearest to 

 the window. An inspection showed that the radiation from the 

 tube was greatest toward the cool room in the summer, and toward 

 the window and out of doors in the winter, thus keeping the side of 

 greatest radiation slightly cooler than the mass of the reservoir, 

 and condensing upon it some of the vapor of mercury of the Tori- 

 celli vacuum. In this way several grams were condensed and fell 

 back in a single month, — a fact which seemed quite interesting 

 when it is remembered that the vapor-tension of mercury at even 

 30° C. (86° F.) is only .06 of a millimetre. Of course, by bending 

 the top of the tube over and downward toward the cooler side, the 

 distillate could be collected and measured. W. H.\llock. 



Washington, D.C., June 21. 



