176 
SCIENCE. 
of tlie timber taken transversely exhibit most nearly ver- 
tical lines of grain. 
The modulus of rupture by transverse stress varies, for 
yellow pine, from 
R. 
8 IV l 
'bd 3 
= 10,000 to 17,000, the highest 
values being usually obtained from well-seasoned wood. 
An average value may be taken as R= 13,000 for good 
b d‘ 
timber, which in the formula W-=C—y — gives £7=866 
b d 3 
pounds or, practically, IV— 9000 — ^ — for good yellow pine. 
The modulus of rupture varies as irregularly and with 
as little regard to size or density of the material as does the 
co-efficient for elasticity. 
In the use of such materials, the only safe course for 
the designing and constructing engineer is evidently to 
adopt a moderate value of the modulus in proportioning 
his work, and by careful inspection and test to secure the 
rejection of all material which is not of good quality. 
As has been seen, careful inspection may sometimes 
lead to the selection of material twenty-five per cent, supe- 
rior to the average of good timber, and fifty per cent, more 
valuable than the lower grades such as are often sold in 
our markets. 
The Paper was illustrated by a series of tabulated state- 
ments, being the result of experiments made to arrive at the 
conclusions prescribed in this abstract. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Mortuary Customs Among the North American 
Indians.* 
The primitive manners and customs of the North 
American Indians are rapidly passing away under influ- 
ences of civilization and other disturbing elements. In 
view of this fact, it becomes the duty of all interested in 
preserving a record of these customs, to labor assiduously, 
while there is still time, to collect such data as may be 
obtainable. This seems the more important now, as 
within the last ten years an almost universal interest has 
been awakened in ethnologic research, and the desire for 
more knowledge in this regard is constantly increasing. 
A wise and liberal government, recognizing the need, 
has ably seconded the efforts of those engaged in such 
stud es by liberal grants from the public tunds ; nor is 
encouragement wanted from the hundreds of scientific 
societies throughout the civilized globe. The public 
press, as the mouth-piece of the people, is ever on the 
alert to scatter broad-cast such items of ethnologic in- 
formation as its corps of well-trained reporters can secure. 
To induce further laudable inquiiy, and to assist all those 
who may be willing to engage in the gcod work, is the 
object ot this preliminary work on the Mortuary customs 
of the North American Indians, and it is hoped that 
many more laborers may, through it, be added to the ex- 
tensive and honorable list of those who have already con- 
tributed. 
It would appear that the subject chosen should awaken 
great interest since the peculiar methods followed by 
different nations, and the great importance atiached to 
burial ceremonies, have formed an almost invariable part of 
all works relating to the different peoples'of our globe ; in 
fact no particular portion of ethnologic research has 
claimed more attention. 
In view of these facts it might seem almost a work of 
supererogation to continue a further examination of the 
subject; for nearly every author, in writing of our Indian 
tribes, makes some mention of burial observances ; but 
these notices are scattered far and wide on the sea of 
♦Introduction to the Study of Mortuary Customs among the North 
American Indians. By Dr. H. C. Yarrow, Act. Asst. Surg. U. S. A., 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, Bureau of Ethnology. J. W. 
Powell, Director. 
this special literature, and many of the accounts, unless 
supported by corroborative evidence, may be considered 
as entirely unreliable. To bring together and harmonize 
conflicting statements, and arrange collectively what is 
known ol the subject, has been the writer’s task. This 
volume forms the third of a series, the first of which, 
entitled “ Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages,” 
was written by Major J. W. Bowel, the director of the 
Bureau of Ethnology, Washington; the second being by 
Col. Garrick Mallery, and entitled, “ Introduction to the 
Study of Sign-Language among the North American 
Indians.” 
The following provisional arrangement of burials has 
been adopted in arranging the facts presented in this 
work. 
1. By Inhumation in pits, graves, holes in the ground, 
mounds, cists, and caves. 
2. By Cremation, generally on the surface of the 
earth, occasionally beneath. 
3. By Embalmment, or a process of mummifying, the 
remains being afterwards placed in the earth, caves, 
mounds or charnel house. 
4. By Aerial Sepulture, the bodies being deposited 
on scaffolds, or trees, in boxes or canoes. 
5. By Aquatic Burial, beneath the water or in 
canoes, which were turned adrilt. 
Major J. W. Bowel gives the assurance that to those 
who are willing to take part in this work by earnest and 
faithful research, Dr. Yarrow will give full credit for 
their work in his final publication, and we would suggest 
that those able and willing to assist should put them- 
selves in communication with the Bureau of Ethnology, 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and request in- 
struct'ons as to the best methods of recording their work. 
We have received the second chapter of a serial arti- 
cle, published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Dis- 
eases, and entitled the “ Architecture and Mechanism of 
the Human Brain.” Its author, Dr. Spitzka of this cityf 
one of our own contributors, intends in this article to, 
build up the brain before the reader’s eye, as it were, be- 
ginning with the simplest foundations and gradually erect- 
ing thereon the higher superstructures which are the 
basis of the intellectual operations. Throughout the 
chapters thus far issued the writer has interlarded hun- 
dreds of interesting and suggestive observations drawn 
from the fields of Comparative Cerebral Anatomy and Em- 
bryology. The style is not the least creditable feature of 
the work, and especially its preliminary chapter, which is 
as easy reading as a novel, and the complex features of 
the structure of the most complete organ in the body 
becomes the property ot the reader almost without 
effort on his part. 
The recent number of the American Journal of Rlicro- 
scopv contains, among other articles, the following: Pe- 
lomyxa, Palustris, and other Rhizopoda, by W. G. Lap- 
ham — An improved glass for the collection and examina- 
tion of Deposits (with drawings) : Highest Magnifying 
Powers, by Allen Y. Moore : Several letters of interest, 
reports of societies, and useful notes. 
We were pleased to see Nature , in a recent number, 
give a handsome recognition of the merits of this journal 
which we conscientiously indorse. 
The American Monthly Microscopical Journal for August 
has also some very useful articles on the preparation and 
mounting of objects. It gives a New Form of Injecting 
Apparatus, bv Mr. Justin Spaulding; A Useful Culture- 
Cell, by Dr. George M. Sternberg: Histology of the Foetal 
Lung. There are also two articles of a series now pub- 
lishing by this journal, which will prove valuable to 
microscopists— the Classification of the Protista, by Hackel 
(translated), and a description of the “Family Volvocina.” 
