490 
in which he declares that ‘‘ the implements all 
belong to the older stone age,’’ he states that 
‘numerous pieces of burnt pottery gave fur- 
ther evidence of the existence of man in the 
cave.”’ 
In brief, we miss any indication of the em- 
ployment of the strictly scientific methods of 
conducting explorations, according to which 
the exact depth and position in which each 
object was found are noted, whether it was 
covered by a floor of stalagmite or not, and 
what articles were found together; and we 
have instead only a jumble of miscellaneous 
remarks, however interesting in themselves. 
The plates are beautifully executed, and are 
valuable, especially those in which the animal 
remains are delineated; but the half-dozen 
devoted to archeology represent nothing abso- 
lutely novel, although several important speci- 
mens are figured. A number of human skulls 
and bones have been found in the different 
caves, which have been submitted to Professor 
Virchow’s examination; and an elaborate ac- 
count is given of his careful study of them. 
He reports that he finds nothing to indicate a 
high antiquity for them, and no material differ- 
ences from the form of skull of the present 
inhabitants of the country: in short, there is 
nothing to prove that they are not the result 
of intrusive burials, and consequently not of 
the same age as the implements occurring with 
them. 
Two interesting facts we find mentioned: 
one is the enormous amount of the remains of 
the cave-bear, discovered by Dr. Romer in 
the cavern explored by him, amounting to as 
many as one thousand individuals; the other 
is the proof obtained of the co-existence of 
man and the cave-bear from the finding of a 
vertebra of the bear, and an undoubted flint 
implement, embedded side by side in the same 
solid crystalline stalagmite. It is evident, 
from the general result of the explorations, 
that the caves were inhabited almost exclu- 
sively in neolithic times; although Professor 
Romer thinks that the occupation continued 
into ‘ the bronze age.’ But the fibula figured 
by him in proof of this is plainly Roman; and 
in one cavern, even glass beads were found at 
a considerable depth in the deposit. Complete 
evidence of the very late occupation of one 
cavern, at least, is afforded by the discovery 
in it of a denarius of Antoninus Pius, of the 
year 140. But there is nothing remarkable in 
this, as Roman coins have frequently been 
found in the neighboring province of Silesia ; 
and a hoard of early Greek coins was recently 
dug up near Bromberg, in Posen, on the lower 
SCIENCE. 
Vistula. Their presence is to be traced 
with the greatest probability to the traffic in 
amber, which has existed from the remotest 
antiquity, and for which the trade route lay 
directly up the valley of the Vistula to Konigs- 
berg, in whose neighborhood similar finds have 
occurred. 
The author states in his preface, that he 
had ‘* the determination of undertaking a thor- 
ough investigation of these caves,’’ but that he 
regrets, that, with respect to ‘*‘ the specimens 
found, it cannot always be positively stated 
from which bed in the caves they were taken ; 
but the same is the case with most of the caves 
which have been excavated in Germany.’’ 
We can but regard such a statement as this 
as disgraceful to German science, if true; and 
it certainly is not true of cave-explorations in 
other countries. 
ILLINOIS COAL-PRODUCTION. 
Statistics of coal-production in Illinois, 1883: A 
supplemental report of the State bureau of labor 
Statistics. Joun S. Lorp, secretary. Springfield, 
Rokker pr., 1883. 144 p.,2 maps. 8°. 
Tus report, published in advance of the 
regular biennial report of the bureau for 1884, 
makes quite a comprehensive showing in re- 
gard to the coal-production of the state, and 
demonstrates the increasing value of the in- 
dustry. Since 1870 the output of coal in 
Illinois has increased from more than two and 
a half millions of tons to more than ten and a 
half. 
In the introduction, Illinois is stated to have 
no equal, in the states west of Pennsylvania, 
in the extent of its coal-fields, the abundance 
and accessibility of its deposits, in its trans- 
portation facilities, or in its annual contribu- 
tion to the fuel-supply of the country. As to 
the extent and accessibility of the coal-fields, 
and the facility of transportation, this state- 
ment is undoubtedly correct. Albert Williams, 
jun., in the ‘ Mineral resources of the United 
States,’ estimates that the state contains a 
total of 28,845,000,000 tons of coal. The 
numerous railroads with good grades furnish 
cheap transportation, and in Chicago and St. 
Louis the requisites of two great central mar- 
kets are found. As far as the production is 
concerned, Illinois is perhaps equalled by Ohio. 
The statistics of the latter for 1883 are not at. 
hand, but the rate of increase is probably 
about the same in the two states. Mr. Joseph 
Nimmo, in the abstract of statistics for 1883 
(published by the U. S. treasury department) , 
gives the production of coal in Ohio for 1882 
‘4G 
[Vor. IIL, No. 63. 
