Miscellaneous Intelligence. 89 



the octahedral meteorites, fineness of structure increases with 

 increase of nickel. This conclusion can best be shown by obtain- 

 ing the averages from the analyses of the different groups, omit- 

 ting all obviously faulty analyses. The results thus obtained are 

 as follows : — 











Width of 







Class. 





No. of 



lamellae 



Per cent 



I 







analyses. 



in millimeters. 



Fe. 



Hexahed 



rites 





29 





94-12 



Coarsest oxtrahedrites 



12 



+ 2-5 



93-18 



Coarse 





a 



22 



2-0-1 '5 



92-28 



Medium 





ti 



88 



1-0-0 -5 



90-64 



Fine 





u 



41 



0-4-0-2 



90-18 



Finest 





(c 



13 



0-2 



88-51 



"It is worthy of note that these averages are not means between 

 wide limits, but are derived from nearly uniform values. Prac- 

 tically all of the members of the classes conform in composition 

 to the average. Were all the groups equally well known, it is 

 probable, too, that the gradation of percentage of Fe would be 

 even more uniform than here shown. The medium octahedrites, 

 for example, while numerous, have been as a whole imperfectly 

 analyzed. Moreover, some of the meteorites classed as medium 

 octahedrites, Avhich are characterized by low percentage of iron, 

 such as Algoma and Glorieta Mountain, have width of lamellae 

 such as to place them near if not in the fine octahedrites. 



" The apparent conclusion from the above results is, that the 

 content of nickel influences the structure. It may also account 

 for the change from a hexahedral to an octahedral structure, 

 since the irons with a hexahedral structure have the lowest per 

 cent of nickel. So constant and definite does this relation hold, 

 that given a certain structure the per cent of nickel can probably 

 be stated more accurately by this principle than it has been de- 

 termined in some analyses." 



4. Twenty -fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1902- 

 1903 ; by W. H. Holmes, Chief. Pp. xl, 846, with 21 plates and 

 1112 figures. Washington, 1907. — The opening pages (i— xl) of this 

 volume are given to details of the administration and work of the 

 Bureau. Following this report is an exhaustive and most inter- 

 esting paper (pp. 1-846) by Mr. Stewart Culin upon the games of 

 the American Indian. The amount of material collected by the 

 author (in his early work, associated with the late Mr. F. H Gushing) 

 is surprisingly large and varied, and it is presented with admirable 

 fullness of description and illustration; his studies thus throw new 

 light upon the mental characteristics and life of the Indian. The 

 games are either games of chance or of dexterity, those involving 

 pure skill and calculation being absent. Further, the games are 

 found to be essentially identical among all the tribes. It is shown 

 also that they are either connected with definite rites or have 

 come from ceremonial religious observances. 



