86o 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



Gesture-Speech of Man." Professor Mason 

 read a paper on "The Uncivilized Mind in the 

 Presence of Higher Phases of Civilization," 

 the more immediate bearing of which was 

 on the subject of Indian education ; Horatio 

 Hale, in " A Lawgiver of the Stone Age," 

 sought, among other things, to inquire 

 whether mental capacity inci'eases with the 

 progress of civilization, introducing in illus- 

 tration the condition of the Iroquois when 

 first visited by Europeans ; Major William 

 I. Beebe, of Brooklyn, read a paper of sug- 

 gestive import on " The Decipherment of 

 Inscriptions from the Mounds," to which 

 we have referred more fully in another 

 place ; Mr. W. J. Hoffmann discussed " The 

 Interpretation of Pictographs by the Ap- 

 plication of Gesture-Signs " ; Mr. Watson 

 C. Holbrook, " Prehistoric Hieroglyphics " ; 

 while Mrs. E. A. Smith communicated the 

 results of her researches on the " Animal 

 Myths of the Iroquois." Dr. Stephen D. 

 Peet contributed observations on " The Em- 

 blematic Mounds of the Four Lakes of Wis- 

 consin," and on the " Buffalo Drives on the 

 Kock River, in Wisconsin," a paper which 

 provoked considerable discussion. Judge 

 John G. Henderson discussed " Agriculture 

 and Agricultural Implements of the Ancient 

 Inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley " ; and 

 Mr. De Saas, of the Bureau of Ethnology, 

 Washington, summarized the whole subject 

 in his paper on the " Progress of Archaeolog- 

 ical Discovery." After this a resolution was 

 passed, and referred to the Standing Com- 

 mittee, asking Congress to continue the ap- 

 propriations for investigations relating to the 

 mound-builders and to prehistoric mounds. 

 The Association resolved to exercise its in- 

 fluence to preserve the great mound at Ca- 

 hokia, Illinois, which is about to be sold ; 

 and excursions were made to Fort Ancient, 

 one of the best-known earthworks in the 

 Ohio Valley, and to Madisonville, where 

 some very interesting discoveries have re- 

 cently been made. In the microscopical 

 department. Dr. G. M. Sternberg, of Balti- 

 more, offered contributions to the study of 

 bacterial organizations commonly found on 

 mucous surfaces and in the alimentary ca- 

 nal of healthy individuals, in which he com- 

 bated the opinion that each disease is pro- 

 duced by a microbe peculiar to itself. He 

 bad never found living organisms in blood, 



healthy or diseased, but the alimentary ca- 

 nal was never without parasites. Dr. Lester 

 Curtis, of Chicago, gave the results of the 

 study of the blood of Griscom, who fasted 

 forty-five days at Chicago, the genuineness 

 of whose fast he attested ; the blood ap- 

 peared healthy in every particular through- 

 out the fast and at its end. Among the 

 papers on subjects of physics were one " On 

 the Cause of the Arid Climate of the Far 

 West," by Captain C. E. Dutton ; one on 

 "The Effect of Prolonged Stress on the 

 Strain in Timber," by Professor R. H. 

 Thurston ; and one on " Standard Time," 

 by Professor E. B. Elliott, of Washington. 

 A committee which had been appointed to 

 consider the latter subject presented ma- 

 jority and minority reports. The former, 

 by Professor Stone, favored a single stand- 

 ard for the whole country ; the latter, 

 by Professor Waldo, favored a number of 

 standards, beginning with New York for the 

 East, another at St. Louis, an hour later, 

 for the Central West, and others at points 

 farther West, each exactly an hour later 

 than the preceding one, and suggesting that 

 the New York standard be fixed at five 

 hours after Greenwich time. The two re- 

 ports were ordered published, to be con- 

 sidered at Montreal next year. H. C. Ilovey 

 presented a paper on " Coal-Dust as an Ele- 

 ment of Danger in Mining," as shown by 

 the late explosion in the Albion mines in 

 Nova Scotia. Mrs. A. B. Blackwell read a 

 paper on " The Constitution of the Atom of 

 Science " ; and Dr. H. B. Parsons, in a paper 

 on the " Composition and Quality of Ameri- 

 can Wines," drew the conclusion that wines 

 of American manufacture are in many cases 

 as good as or better than more expensive 

 foreign wines of the same general charac- 

 ter. W. H. Ballou, of Evanston, Illinois, re- 

 viewed the " Natural and Industrial History 

 of the White Pine of Michigan," and pre- 

 dicted that, at the present rate of usage, the 

 supply of timber will disappear in seven 

 years. Mr. Charles Sedgwick Minot, by an 

 inquiry whether man is anatomically the 

 highest animal, excited considerable dis- 

 cussion, in which, the newspaper report tells 

 us, " some feeling was unfortunately cre- 

 ated." David D. Thompson, of Cincinnati, 

 considered the " Influence of Forests on 

 Water-Courses," and W. J. Beal communi- 



