1870.J Archaeology. 379 



theoretically, one half that sum ; while, practically, it must bo pro- 

 nounced of very littlo value indeed. The valuation of 1 or 2 per 

 cent, of " combined nitrogen " in the midst of a mass of clay and 

 other inert mineral matters cannot be conducted on the same scale 

 as is applicable to the ammonia of a manure in which it forms | or -f 

 of the total weight. And in addition to the lower theoretical value 

 of " combined nitrogen " in this diluted form, it is practically so 

 much the less valuable on account of being loaded with a lot of 

 worthless stuff, the expense of applying which to the land has to be 

 deducted from any result of the application which may be due to 

 the small quantity of fertilizing matters with which it may be 

 charged. Nothing connected with this or any other scheme for 

 sewage utilization has at all shaken the conclusion, to which the 

 Kivers Pollution Commissioners had been led by their investigations, 

 that sewage irrigation is not only the best method of sewage defeca- 

 tion, but the only known plan by which its filth may be profitably 

 converted into fertility. 



2. AECILEOLOGY (Pre-Historic). 



■ Flint Chips ' is the title of a book just issued by the Trustees 

 of the Blackmore Museum, Salisbury, written and compiled by 

 Mr. Edward T. Stevens,* their honorary curator. Few private 

 gentlemen have merited the thanks of men of science more justly 

 than Mr. William Blackmore, by whose munificence the town of 

 Salisbury has been enriched with the excellent Museum of Pre- 

 historic Archaeology described in the clearly- written and well-printed 

 pages of the book before us. 



Mr. Stevens's work has been written with a view to illustrate 

 the Stone age by the help of the collections in the Blackmore 

 Museum ; but he has really done far more than this, for we learn 

 from these pages the history of "Wampum" — that very useful 

 article in whatever part of the world we may be cast — of the earliest 

 known evidence of the use of tobacco as evidenced by the " Mound 

 City " explorations ; of the cultivation of maize and other cereals ; 

 of the early evidence of the manufacture and the use of pottery ; of 

 weaving, spinning, &c, as practised by aborigines ; of ornaments 

 in gold, silver, and bronze ; of weapons of war and the chase, and 

 how they were used ; of the animals found with primitive man ; of 

 the houses he dwelt in above-ground, above- water, and underground ; 

 and, lastly, of his burying-places and religious rites for the dead. 



These and a hundred other topics Mr. Stevens has brought 



* 'Flint Chips: a Guide to Pre-historic Archaeology .' By E. T. Stevens. 

 London. 8vo, pp. 632. Bell and Daldy. 1870. 



VOL. VII. 2 D 



