308 
by from 3° to 15°, and that it has missed the 
minimum on different days by 5°, 8°, 13°, 19°, 
and 27°. 
Improper exposure of thermometers will ac- 
count for a part of this discrepancy ; and it is 
well known that the chief signal-officer has al- 
ready recognized the importance of this point, 
circulars having been distributed, some months 
ago, to all volunteer observers, requesting de- 
tailed information concerning the manner and 
method of exposure. The location of the station 
appears to the writer to be of even greater 
importance. It is unfortunate that nearly all 
stations of the U.S. signal-service are in large 
cities, and often in the most densely built and 
populated portion of them. Concerning tem- 
perature, at least, it is not likely that such 
situations will give results of great value, even 
with the most careful attention to exposure. 
From geographical and topographical con- 
siderations, the station at Columbus is more 
likely to fairly represent the state of Ohio than 
either of the others ; but the above observations 
show that it may fall far short of doing it. 
Observations taken at Cincinnati represent lit- 
tle more than the conditions in that city, the 
topography of that region being such that the 
city might almost be said to have a climate of 
its own. One of the State-service stations is 
at Waverly, the latitude of which is very nearly 
the same as that of Cincinnati. On the 21st, 
Waverly reported a minimum of —14°, and 
Cincinnati, of +7.9° ; and on the 25th, Waverly 
reported —27.2°, and Cincinnati, +3.7°. In 
Cleveland and Toledo the climate is modified 
ereatly by the presence of Lake Erie. At 
Wauseon, thirty miles from Toledo, the mini- 
mum is reported on the 25th as —31.7°; and 
at Toledo it was —9°. 
There are, doubtless, excellent reasons why 
these stations should be where they are, and 
also why it is generally desirable to locate sta- 
tions in large cities; but there seems to be lit- 
tle doubt that for temperature measurements it 
would be well to put stations near rather than 
in large cities, and at sufficient distance from 
them to be free from purely local conditions. 
The importance of the maintenance of state 
weather-services is not so generally appreciated 
as it deserves to be. It is impossible for the 
U.S. service, at least at present, to increase 
the number of its stations to the extent that 
would seem desirable and necessary in order to 
obtain the details of climatic conditions. The 
organization of state services is generously 
encouraged by the chief signal-officer ; and if 
they become general, and are efficient, they 
may be of great service to the very competent 
SCIENCE. 
[Vou. III., No. 58. 
corps of government meteorologists in their in- 
vestigation of general problems in climatology. 
T. C. MENDENHALL. 
IRON FROM NORTH CAROLINA MOUNDS. 
In the Proceedings of the American anti- 
quarian society, vol. ii. p. 349 (1883), Pro- 
fessor Putnam reviews the statements of the ~ 
old writers respecting metal found in the west- 
ern mounds. He comes to the conclusion that 
Mr. Atwater’s iron-bladed sword or steel- 
bladed dagger is to be traced to that gentle- 
man’s lively imagination. 
Although Professor Putnam may be correct 
in his conclusion, a discovery made in North 
Carolina by one of the assistants in the Bureau 
of ethnology, during the past season, would 
seem to render the statement made by Atwater 
in regard to finding the fragment of an iron 
sword-blade in an Ohio mound at least proba- 
ble. 
In order that the reader may understand 
the conditions under which the articles to be 
mentioned were found, it is necessary to give 
a description of the burial-place, which T. do 
by copying the report of the assistant. 
‘¢ This is not a mound, but a burial-pit, in the 
form of a triangle, the two longest sides each 
forty-eight feet, and 
the base, thirty-two 
feet, in which the 
bodies and _ articles 
were deposited, and 
then covered over, 
but not raised above 
the natural surface. 
The depth of the 
original excavation, 
the lines of which 
could be distinctly 
traced, varied from 
two and a half to 
three feet. A rude sketch of this triangle, 
showing the relative positions of the skeletons, 
is given in fig.1. 
‘¢ Skeletons Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 
9 were lying horizontally on their backs, heads 
east and north-east. By No. 2 was a broken © 
soapstone pipe; by No.5 and also by No. 9, a 
small stone hatchet. 
‘¢ Nos. 10, 11, 12, 18, 14, and 15 were buried 
in rude stone vaults built of cobblestones 
similar to those in fig. 2, which represents 
the arrangement of the bodies and vaults in 
a mound near by. (This mound was over a 
circular pit.) Nos. 10, 12, 13, and 15 were 
in a sitting-posture, and without any accom- 
Wree dW 
