578 Scientific Intelligence. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards, S. W. Stratton, Direc- 

 tor. — The results of the accurate work in many lines of the Bureau 

 of Standards is presented from time to time in their Bulletin, of 

 which No. 1 of Volume VII has recently appeared. Among the 

 papers here included are two by C. W. Waidner and G. K. Bur- 

 gess on the temperature scale between 100° and 500°, and on 

 the constancy of the sulphur boiling point. J. H. Dellinger dis- 

 cusses at length the temperature coefficient of resistance of copper, 

 and with F. A. Wolff the electrical conductivity of commercial 

 copper. A new form of candle-power scale and recording device 

 for precision photometers is described by G. W. Middlekauff. 

 This has been in frequent use during the past year and has given 

 excellent results, both as regards accuracy and economy of labor. 

 P. G. Nutting and Orin Tugman discuss the intensities of some 

 hydrogen, argon and helium lines in relation to current and 

 pressure. 



2. The Prehistoric Period in South Africa ; by J. P. John- 

 son. Pp. 89, 6 pis., 47 figs. London, 1910 (Longmans, Green 

 and Co.). — Believing that geological and archeological research 

 has established a definite sequence in the primitive cultures of the 

 Old World, the author has used the one generally accepted for 

 Europe as a basis for his classification of South African antiqui- 

 ties. In the introduction he emphasizes the importance of the 

 data afforded by river terraces, citing as an example southern 

 England, where a single section reveals the stratigraphic relation- 

 ship of the main divisions of the entire stone age — eolithic, paleo- 

 lithic, and neolithic. 



A chapter is devoted to eoliths from the Leijfontein farm, 

 below Campbell Rand, near Cambell village, where patches of 

 very old gravel, having no connection with any existing river, 

 occur at the foot of the escarpment. Mixed with the gravel are 

 much worn and highly glazed eoliths, a few of which are shaped 

 from artificially produced splinters or flakes. As to paleoliths, 

 the author is of the opinion that those of the Acheulian type are 

 distributed throughout the whole of South Africa, he himself 

 having found them in the valleys of the Zambesi, the Elands- 

 Rustenberg, the Magalakwin, the Selati, the Olifants, the Komati, 

 the V aa h the Caledon, the Orange, and the Zwartkops, at Algoa 

 Bay. Solutrean (paleolithic) sites are also widely distributed 

 over South Africa, the Solutrean industry being distinctly more 

 recent than the Acheulian ; and as is also the case in Europe, 

 characterized by a pronounced development of the artistic faculty. 

 South African petroglyphs and rock-paintings of Solutrean age 

 are distributed over the whole area in question. The pecked or 

 incised figures are mostly found on bowlder-like outcrops of rock, 

 either among kopjes or in the open veld, while the frescoes are 

 chiefly met with at the back of rock-shelters. Some of these bear 

 a remarkable resemblance to paleolithic frescoes recently found 



