460 General Notes. [July, 
the method by which the aborigines manufactured copper imple- 
ments: The doctor takes the ground that none of these imple- 
ments were cast, since the moulds were too difficult of manage- 
ment for the intelligence of American savages. “Copper is a 
refractory metal which melts at 2200 to 2600 degrees, a temper- 
ature that can be reached only in a furnace, assisted by some 
form of coal and an artificial blast. It is, when melted, thick 
and pasty, and without the addition of some other metal will not 
run in the cavities and sinuosities of the mould. A majority of 
the copper implements found have specks or points of pure silver 
over their surfaces ; now one single speck of pure silver, visible 
even with the microscope, is positive evidence that the specimen | 
was never melted.” Dr. Hoy then proceeded to give his views 
of the methods of savage metallurgy. The Indians used fire in 
their mining operations. The vein rock was made hot by build- 
ing a fire on or against it. Then by dashing water on the heated 
mass the rock would be fractured and removed, leaving ragged 
masses of copper exposed, which would also be softened so that 
it could be beaten into shape. When the metal became hard by 
pounding, it was again heated and plunged into water; for copper 
is, in this respect, the opposite of steel. In this way copper was 
fashioned simply by pounding. 
In addition to the hammering process, cylindrical articles were 
evidently rolled between two flat rocks. Some of those imple- 
ments that are supposed to have been cast were probably swedged; 
that is, a matrix was excavated in stone, into which the rudely 
fashioned copper was placed, and then by repeated blows the 
article was made to assume the exact shape of the mould. Be- 
‘sides this swedging process, Dr. Hoy is persuaded that in a few 
instances a complete mould was wrought out in halves on the 
face of two flat stones, so that by placing a suitable piece of cop- 
per between them and giving it repeated heavy blows the metal 
was made to fill the mould accurately. In order to test the mat- 
ter the doctor constructed a mould of this description and was 
able to make a beautiful axe. ; 
n the same volume of the Transactions, Dr. J. M. de Hart — 
discusses the antiquities and platycnemism of the Mound-builders 
of Wisconsin. : . 
Mr. Lester F. Ward sends us.a pamphlet printed by Edward 
Stern & Co., of Philadelphia, containing his papers on Haeckels 
‘Genesis of Man, which appeared in the April, May and July num- 
bers of the Penn Monthly for 1877. ‘As this celebrated work of a 
the author has not yet been translated into English, Mr. Wa 
has done a useful thing in presenting the views of Prof. Haeckel 
in a clear and succinct manner. 
GEOLOGY AND PALZZONTOLOGY. 
A Pecutiar Cave in Uran.—The Oquirrh range of mountains, 
< A Pece a 
in Utah, extends northward as far as Great Salt lake and borders — 
