The distinguished author whose work is being reviewed has great difficulty (66, pp. 42, 43) in understanding how a human skeleton might have become covered up in a deposit being laid down slowly in water; and he concludes thereupon that the body must have been intentionally buried. In the sand deposit no. 2, Dr. Sellards' found a nearly complete skeleton of a large alligator. If now, in Hrdlička's remarks "alligator" be substituted for "human body" and " corpse we shall be compelled to conclude that the alligator too was a subject of intentional burial.

Various other difficulties are encountered by our author regarding the degrees of aggregation and dispersal of the human bones and their physical and chemical states; but after all has been said, the fact remains that they are in practically the same condition as those of the deer and the great armadillo and the alligator, about which nobody raises any questions.

On his page 37 Dr. Hrdlička undertakes a consideration of the "broader aspects of the case and he asks whether it was possible for man to be in Florida in Pleistocene times. He himself replies that the presence of man there at that time, or even on the American continent, can not be admitted by anthropology. In doing so, he simply assumes that what is supposed to be known about man in Europe furnishes a standard by which all matters anthropological the world over must be settled. He says that no pottery is known to have existed in the world before the Neolithic age. On the contrary, it has been shown that pottery has been found in this country in the early Pleistocene at Charleston, Vero and Nampa. Did an Indian go out furtively into that swamp at Charleston, dig down 3 feet in the muck, and hide away from his fellows, alongside of the mastodon tusk and horse teeth, that potsherd?

On his page 38 Dr. Hrdlička tells us that if man had reached Florida in the early Pleistocene he must have been represented on our continent by large numbers and that these

Eighth Ann. Rep. Fla. Geol. Surv., p. 145.
Hay, Amer. Anthrop., Vol. XX., pp. 15, 16, 25.

would have left some traces of their presence, of which he insists there are none. On the contrary, the present writer, as cited above, has shown that there are numerous evidences of man's early presence in America. What Dr. Hrdlička seems really to believe is that men at that time were extremely scarce, so few in number that they could not have reached America. At any rate (66, pp. 36, 49, 50) he thinks that the discovery of a single human skeleton at any place would be a marvel; while the chance of finding another near by and in a different geological formation would be infinitely small. This conception is worthy of application to other cases. Some years ago Mr. J. W. Gidley discovered in a crevice in western Maryland, a jaw of an eland hardly distinguishable from the eland of South Africa. How, now, did that eland jaw get into that fissure, "in a little wild spot of the far-away wide inhospitable" mountains of western Maryland? A great part of the Pleistocene must have been required by the ancestors of this antelope for their "physical differentiation, multiplication in numbers, acclimatization to new environments and spread over the numerous territories of the old world, the warmer parts of which were their cradle" (p. 37). And then they had to occupy the new world as far east and south as Maryland! To do this they must have existed in great numbers; and so they might be expected to have left abundant traces of themselves. No such traces have, however, ever been reported from any other locality. The animals must, therefore, have been scarce indeed. What a marvel it is then that remains of one skeleton should have been met with, especially of a species which probably was not addicted to hiding in crevices; but the miraculous thing is that Gidley found in that same formation, in that same fissure, remains of two individuals! This is more astonishing than would be the finding of a second skeleton near by in an overlying formation; for as the years by thousands passed by the chances would increase that parts of another skeleton would be buried not far away. Our credulity is overpowered. Out with geology and paleontology! How

much easier, how much more reasonable, it is to suppose that a pair of African elands escaped from some passing show, perhaps from one of P. T. Barnum's incomparable aggregations, and fleeing to that mountain side, perished in that fissure! However, the cold fact is that neither our talented physical anthropologist nor any other man knows any more about the number of men in any country during the Pleistocene than he does about the number of Pleistocene elands in North America or the number of chimpanzees that were living in Europe with the Piltdown man.

The writer wishes to correct two misstatements. In SCIENCE of April 12, 1918, on page 371 the statement is made that certain fossils had been found at Wilmington, N. C. Brunswick, Ga., was meant. In the paper in the American Anthropologist, Vol. XX., p. 20, it was stated that Dr. Samuel Aughey furnished no details regarding the finding of an arrowhead near Sioux City, Iowa. Details were furnished and the arrowhead was figured.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 11, 1918

OLIVER P. HAY

SCIENTIFIC EVENTS

RECENT ACQUISITIONS FOR THE LIBRARY AND MAP COLLECTION OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

THE Geographical Journal reports that the liberality of Mr. Yates Thompson has once more brought some interesting additions to the society's collections. One is an illuminated chart, on parchment, of the coasts of the Mediterranean and western Europe, by a member of the well-known family of Oliva (originally Olives), who migrated from Majorca to Italy and worked as chart-makers during the greater part of the sixteen and seventeenth centuries. Their charts were the lineal successors of the old Portolan charts which so long served the practical needs of seamen, and which continued to be made, long after printed maps and charts had come into general use, as an ornate furniture for the libraries of the wealthy. The present specimen is in excellent condition, and bears the inscription

"Placitus Caloirus et Oliva fecit in nobili urbe Messane, año 1617." It is remarkable for the duplication, with but slight variation, of the portion concerned with the Mediterranean coasts, while the Atlantic coasts are shown independently, though with no dividing line, at the left-hand side of the chart. Another interesting gift from the same donor is that of copies, dated 1556 and 1558, of the map of the British Isles, engraved in Italy after the original by George Lily, whose monogram appears on the earliest known specimen, of 1546, preserved in the British Museum. This map was the first printed map of the islands to give a fairly correct representation of the outline of Scotland, though the means by which such an approximation was attained is unknown. It was revised at various dates, and included in Lafreri's famous Atlas. The two versions now presented are almost exactly alike in substance, but the later of the two was entirely re-engraved on a somewhat larger scale, with slightly more ornamentation, and intended to be read with the west, not the north, at the top. In view of the question sometimes raised whether the name "Britain" includes Ireland, it may be noted that in these maps it is distinctly reserved for the larger island only. Other acquisitions have been made at book sales, of which several during the summer were specially important from the point of view of geography. The seventh portion of the great Huth Library was disposed of early in July, and various early works of travel and geography fetched unusually high prices, justified, no doubt, by the exceptional condition of the copies offered. The society secured through Mr. H. N. Stevens, a copy of the rare small quarto Atlas of America by the French cartographer Nicholas Sanson. It is one of four similar volumes devoted to the four larger continents, of which the library already possessed those on Europe and Africa. These volumes consisted of both maps and descriptive text, and were among the earlier productions of their author, anticipating by some years the larger general atlases by which he is best known. Each ran

through several editions, the American volume first appearing in 1556, and being revised in 1657, 1662 and 1667 (?). The copy has a title-page dated 1662, but the maps all bear the date 1657. It may be noted that the volume contains an early mention, in the chapter on Paraguay, of the great Guayra falls on the Paraná river. Copies have also been secured of the first English edition (1708) of François Leguat's "New Voyage to the East Indies," containing a detailed account of his experiences in the islands of Rodriguez and Mauritius, with descriptions and quaint cuts of their remarkable fauna and flora; and of Le Huen's adaptation (with additions describing his own experiences) of Breydenbach's famous "Perigrinationes in Terram Sanctam." This copy is of the third edition, 1522. Lastly, a complete set has been acquired of the great French "Description de l'Egypte," based upon the work of the French scientific men sent to Egypt by Bonaparte at the time of his intervention in that country.

QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS IN THE PHOENIX MOUNTAINS, ARIZ.

THE present exceptional demand for quicksilver in the manufacture of fulminate gives the domestic deposits of this war metal particular interest. Deposits recently discovered in the southern part of the Phoenix Mountains, 10 miles northeast of Phoenix, Ariz., are described in a short paper prepared by F. C. Schrader, just published by the United States Geological Survey. The deposits are easy of access, and being near the rich agricultural region of Salt river valley are otherwise favorably situated for mining. They are being exploited on six or more properties or groups of claims, which lie in a belt, about 3 miles wide, that extends northeastward diagonally across the range.

The rocks in the region are metamorphosed sediments of pre-Cambrian age, chiefly schist, slate argillite, limestone and quartzite. They crop out in narrow parallel zones and dip steeply to the southeast. They are horizontally sheeted and are crosscut by faults, frac

tures and cleavage. The deposits are in the zones of schist, notably quartz schist and kyanite schist. They are lodelike deposits, some more than a mile long and in places 80 feet wide, which occur along zones of shearing or fracture that are parallel with the lamination of the schists.

The ore minerals are cinnabar and cinnabarite. They are found mostly along the planes of schistosity, forming ore bodies several inches wide and 3 or 4 feet long, but they also occur sporadically in quartz stringers and veinlets. A little native quicksilver has also been reported. Associated with the deposits are copper minerals, especially malachite, chalcicite, and chalcopyrite. The gangue minerals, the chief constituents of the stringers and veinlets, are quartz, calcite hematite, limonite, specularite, kyanite and tourmaline.

The deposits were probably formed by heated solutions or vapors which, ascending through the shear zones, penetrated the interstices of the rocks and deposited their mineral burden as veinlets and films by impregnation and replacement. They are provisionally referred to the Tertiary period, during which volcanism was general in the southwest. Tertiary volcanic rocks occur at several places in the surrounding region.

Although the deposits are but slightly developed, the deepest shaft being but 60 feet in depth, three of the properties yield workable ore that carries 3 per cent. or more of quicksilver. The persistence of the lodes and downward improvement of the ore in the shafts indicate that the ore extends to considerable depths, especially in the oxidized zone.

As the deposits are easily accessible, ore averaging as low as 1 per cent. in quicksilver can no doubt be profitably worked with the metal at its present market price. On one of the properties a retort furnace has been installed and a small amount of commercial quicksilver produced.

The paper describing the deposits, which is published as Bulletin 690-D, under the title "Quicksilver deposits of the Phoenix Mountains," may be obtained by applying to the

THE SELECTION OF PRESIDENTS OF THE
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

THE following report of the committee on election of President, and changes in the constitution, were unanimously adopted at the recent meeting of the American Chemical Society:

The committee appointed to consider a possible revision of the current procedure of the election of a president of the society begs leave to make the following report:

Your committee is of the opinion:

(a) That there is need for an increased interest on the part of the membership at large in the selection of presidents of the society, and (b) that there should be some procedure adopted which will ensure the presentation of four nominees to the electing body as provided for in the constitution.

After correspondence, consultation and discussion, the majority of your committee makes the following recommendations which they believe will greatly improve the situation, and which, they also believe, can be given a trial without involving changes in the constitution, which are undesirable in these times of stress, notably because of the clerical labor which they require.

These recommendations are:

(1) That the secretary be empowered to request each local section of the society to submit to him, not later than October 15, the name of some person from the membership at large of the society whom they consider suitable for nomination for the office of president of the society. It should be made clear that the selection is to be made from the entire society, and not necessarily from the membership of the Section making the suggestion.

(2) That the Secretary be empowered to send out, with the nominating ballots sent to the members of the society on November 1, as required by the constitution, the names thus suggested by the local sections, the list to be

(3) That the secretary be requested to ascertain by telegraph from each member whose name is thus suggested by the local sections, and before the list is sent out, whether, in the event of nomination by the members at large, he will allow his name to be presented to the council as a nominee for the office of president.

(4) That the subsequent procedure be the same as at present.

The

Two members of your committee (Major Frankforter and Dr. Richardson) dissent from the foregoing recommendations. They favor a return to a procedure abandoned some years ago, under which nominations would be made by the council and submitted to the entire membership of the society for election. majority of your committee has carefully considered this proposal, but is of the opinion that it is not advisable to revert to the older custom. They favor a trial of the procedure as outlined above before making changes in the constitution. They are of the opinion that this procedure will serve to increase the interest of members in the election of a president, and that it will prove satisfactory. It can be put into immediate operation and avoid constitutional changes at a time when they present unusual difficulties.

Your committee has reviewed the constitution and, while there are some clauses which might be modified in wording to some advantage, there appear to the majority of your committee to be no matters of serious import at this time. They recommend that no alterations be made at present.

Respectfully submitted,

H. P. TALBOT,
M. T. BOGERT,

by H. P. T.

B. F. LOVELACE,

by H. P. T.

MEDICAL COMMISSION TO ECUADOR

To prepare for after-the-war commerce and make possible, by prevention of diseases such as yellow fever, a great expansion of trade between the United States and the west coast of South America, the Rockefeller Foundation sent, last summer, a commission to Ecuador. The three American members of this commission, which returned to Chicago early in October, are members of the medical school faculty of Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, Dean Arthur I. Kendall, who is a director of the Rockefeller Foundation for experimental work; Professor Charles A. Elliott, and Professor H. E. Redenbaugh. Dean Kendall for two years served under General Wm. C. Gorgas during the construction of the Panama Canal.

The commission left the United States in July and spent most of the time investigating conditions in the hospitals, pest houses and laboratories of the city of Guayaquil, which is the capital and principal city of Ecuador. Latin American papers received here from Guayaquil and other places show that a warm welcome was accorded the investigators who, in their words, were "putting into practise scientific methods for the purpose of invevstigating the parasite responsible for the yellow fever." The South Americans were also pleased with the prospect that the work of the commission in allaying this disease would prepare the way for the opening of commerce on a larger scale with the United States. At present, there is in preparation a complete report with recommendations of the commission. This will soon be issued by the Rockefeller Foundation and should prove of special interest, not only to scientific men, but to business men and others who are looking to after-the-war commercial expansion.

SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS THE autumn meeting of the National Academy of Sciences will be held in Baltimore on Monday and Tuesday, November 18 and 19, 1918, at the Johns Hopkins University, Homewood. Scientific sessions will be held on both days. Luncheons will be served at the Johns

Hopkins Club, where the meetings will also be held. The academy dinner will take place at the Maryland Club on Monday evening.

ON account of the epidemic of influenza the public meetings of the American Ornithologists' Union which were to have been held in New York, November 12 to 14, will be omitted. The regular meeting of the fellows and members for the election of officers and the transaction of other business will be held on Monday evening, November 11, at 8 P.M. at the American Museum of Natural History.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL W. C. SPRUANCE has been placed in charge of chemicals in the Ordnance Department.

PROFESSOR H. A. KENYON, of the college of engineering of the University of Michigan, was commissioned as captain during the month of August, and assigned to the executive division of the general staff.

DR. FRANK T. F. STEPHENSON, past president of the Detroit Section of the American Chemical Society, has been commissioned captain in the Medical Corps.

PROFESSOR I. W. BAILEY, of the Bussey Institute for Research in Applied Biology, has been given leave of absence by Harvard University and has accepted a position in the materials engineering department, Bureau of Aircraft Production, Dayton, Ohio.

PROFESSOR W. R. DODSON, dean of the college of agriculture and director of experiment stations of the Louisiana State University, is working with the Food Administration in the division of agricultural relations.

FRANCIS D. FARRELL, dean in the Kansas State Agricultural College, has been appointed by Governor Arthur Capper to membership in the Kansas council of defense. Dean Farrell has also been made a member of the committee on agricultural production of this body.

MR. PHILIP G. WRIGHTSMAN, formerly instructor in chemistry at Iowa State College, is now in the Chemical Warfare Service working on toxic gases in the Research Division, American University, Washington, D. C.