528 



SCIEXCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 175 



laps, swathed them carefully in wrappings of cloth 

 selected by the mother from her most valued treas- 

 ures, repeated above them a short prayer, and, steal- 

 ing out unobserved, dug a suitable pit and buried 

 them in it. 



The night after the return of the Pokegemas with 

 the Sioux bodies, they treated themselves to a great 

 feast at the island, which culminated in the usual 

 hideous orgies. From this banquet the better class 

 of the band absented themselves. Sioux flesh was at 

 this time boiled and eaten with wild rice. Mrs. Aver, 

 testifying absolutely to this latter point, adds, that the 

 given instance of cannibalism is the only one coming 

 to her personal knowledge during the whole period of 

 her connection with the wild Ojibwas, something 

 more than twenty years. 



We-zhai-ma, who had been mourned as a victim 

 of the Sioux, re appeared after the attack on Lake 

 Pokegema. He had managed to elude pursuit while 

 the enemy were busied with their captive, and had 

 finally succeeded in effecting escape. When he even- 

 tually resumed his return, it was by a circuitous 

 route which materially delayed his arrival at home. 



The events here detailed sealed the fate of the 

 Pokegemas as an independent band. Constant dread 

 of Sioux incursions caused these people to abandon 

 their hunting and fishing grounds at the lake, and 

 betake themselves to regions less accessible to the 

 foe. They melted away from Pokegema as if by 

 magic, withdrawing singly and in groups, and retir- 

 ing for the most part to the north and north-west ; 

 many of them fleeing to Mille Lacs and Lake Supe- 

 rior. Within a very short time they were wholly ab- 

 sorbed in cognate branches of the great Ojibwa tribe, 

 presenting a case of the complete disintegration of 

 an aboriginal community without corresponding loss. 



Franc E. Babbitt. 

 Cold water, Mich., June 4. ' 



The agricultural experiment-station of New 

 Jersey. 



For a state so peculiarly located with reference to 

 market facilities as New Jersey, and containing, 

 withal, such large areas of unproductive soil, it 

 would seem most appropriate that the study of arti- 

 ficial sources of soil-fertility should constitute, as it 

 does in that state, the primary work of the state 

 agricultural experiment-station. 



There are certain features of the work of this 

 New Jersey station, as detailed in its recent reports, 

 to which I wish briefly to direct attention. One of 

 these is, that, with but trifling: exceptions, the entire 

 resources of the station are directed to the solution 

 of the chosen problem, and that no attempt is made 

 to skim over the limitless field of agricultural re- 

 search. 



Another notable feature is that the field and feed- 

 ing experiments, all of which bear directly or in- 

 directly upon the central problem under investiga- 

 tion, are conducted upon the parallel lines of labora- 

 tory analysis accompanied by field or stable tests ; 

 the fact having apparently been recognized that the 

 chemist's analysis alone is not a sufficient criterion 

 UDon which to base an estimate of the agricultural 

 value of a fertilizer or feeding-stuff, although an 

 essential factor in forming that estimate. 



A third conspicuous feature of the work of this 

 station is the absence of that class of experiments 

 which can justly be styled 1 empirical.' The 



field-experiments especially are co-ordinated upon a 

 thoroughly scientific plan, and constitute a form of 

 research which requires for its successful prosecution 

 as high a degree of scientific ability as is ever called 

 for in the chemist's or physiologist's laboratory. 



The institution of duplicate experiments on farms 

 in various parts of the state is another commendable 

 feature of this station's work, in that it not only 

 brings under observation the effects of differences in 

 soil and climate, but is educating a number of 

 farmers in the methods of accurate experimentation. 



No doubt there are many citizens of New Jersey 

 who feel that their special interests are being 

 neglected by the state experiment station ; but I 

 believe that the station is doing wisely in confining 

 its work to such questions of primary importance as 

 may be thoroughly handled. To do a definite work 

 well is far better than to skim over a larger field, 

 especially in science, where half-truths are so liable to 

 be whole errors : and I believe that its present course 

 will the sooner bring to this statiou the means for 

 enlarging its field of useful work. 



C. E. Thorxe. 



Penetrating-power of arrows. 



Some time since, I noticed a letter in Science asking: 

 for information in regard to the penetrating-force of 

 the arrow. 



I have in my possession the sixth dorsal vertebra 

 of a buffalo, the spine of which contains an iron 

 arrow-point. The arrow struck the spine about two 

 inches above the centre of the spinal canal, and 

 penetrated the bone .82 of an inch. The bone at the 

 point struck is .55 of an inch thick, and the point of 

 the arrow protrudes beyond the bone .27 of an inch. 

 The arrow was shot from the right side of the 

 animal, and the plane of the point was horizontal. 

 The animal was mature, and the bones well ossified. 

 Though the vertebra has been much w r eathered, the 

 epiphyses adhere closely. The animal was not as 

 large as some individuals. The whole vertical length 

 of the vertebra is thirteen inches. 



The arrow must have penetrated several inches of 

 flesh before striking the bone. Oliver Marcy. 



North-western university, 

 Evanston, 111., May 31. 



Spectrum of comet c. 1886. 



Comet c. 1886 presents to telescopic vision a rather 

 bright oval of light, with an ill-defined nucleus in 

 the north preceding quadrant. Although a faint ob- 

 ject, it was so temptingly situated for observation, 

 that, rather out of curiosity, the telescope, already 

 employed in faint spectroscopic work, was directed 

 upon it. The method of observation, while adapted 

 to use very faint light, is yet supplied with checks 

 against optical illusion. Observations were obtained 

 on May 26, 28, and June 4. They afford five loci of 

 light, agreeing fairly in position with the five series 

 of lines in the low-temperature spectrum of carbo- 

 hydrogen, and afford a strong suspicion of other loci, 

 two of which lie near strong lines in the low-temper- 

 ature spectrum of oxygen, and others to the low- 

 temperature spectrum of carbo-oxygen. The spec- 

 tra given in micrometric gaseous spectra by Piazzi 

 Smvth have in each case been used as reference. 



' 0. T. S. 



New Haveo, Conn., June 8. 



