LITERARY NOTICES. 



699 



Carr, Abbott, Shaler, Andrews, Bandelier, 

 Schumacher, Blake, Reynolds, and Morgan. 

 As we retrospect American archaeology, 

 this volume assumes an interesting promi- 

 nence. It is only turned a generation of 

 years since that grand venture was made of 

 the first volume of the Smithsonian contri- 

 butions to publish Squier's and Davis's 

 "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi 

 Valley." Davis's collection of antiquities, 

 therein so well figured, was to us a sight 

 never to be forgotten. It is about a score 

 of years ago when we groaned in spirit with 

 that worthy man. Misfortune had set upon 

 him, and he must sell his treasure. Must 

 it be said that in the whole breadth of our 

 wealthy land neither individual nor institu- 

 tion could be found to give the poor man a 

 bid ? So an Englishman appears, who buys 

 the collection, and removes it to his own 

 country. What a change since then ! Not 

 to speak of the national treasures of the 

 Smithsonian in this line, our country has 

 now, through the far-sightedness of one 

 remarkable man, its special museum of 

 American archaeology. Of the grand col- 

 lection it already possesses, and the solid 

 work it is doing, these interesting reports 

 are in evidence. 



Of course, we can not specify articles, 

 but perhaps may say that no papers in this 

 volume will command more attention than 

 those of Dr. Abbott, in which he insists on 

 his having found palaeolithic implements 

 in undisturbed glacial drift, near Trenton, 

 New Jersey ; and his claimed discovery of 

 an interglacial (why not autochthonic ?) 

 race of men. Assuredly the Doctor shows 

 much skill in his diagnosis, and his subject 

 receives what the faculty might term hero- 

 ic treatment. As against very high author- 

 ity, he insists on a difference of action in 

 the deposition of the gravels in his cliff, 

 and of others in the railroad-cuts near by, 

 albeit both are of the same geological hori- 

 zon. The Doctor feels that the difference 

 thus claimed favors his theory. Without 

 expressing any opinion, it must be admitted 

 that the position is argued with ability. 



It is quite in keeping with the impor- 

 tance of the subject when Professor Put- 

 nam induced Professor Shaler to make a 

 geological reconnaissance of the places con- 

 taining the supposed palaeoliths ; and it 



should be said that the conservatism of the 

 Professor's report shows a safe spirit, al- 

 though it is, on the whole, not unfavorable 

 to Dr. Abbott's views. We own to some 

 surprise that this report does not so much 

 as allude to Dr. Cook's labors. He says : 

 " I hope hereafter to finish a detailed ac- 

 count of the geology of these gravel-beds." 

 He also says : " The entire absence of or- 

 ganic remains in the mass proves that it 

 was essentially a lifeless sea in which they 

 were laid down." It may be of interest to 

 state that, since Professor Shaler wrote his 

 report, the New Jersey State geologist has 

 obtained from the gravel in the railroad- 

 cuts at Trenton a large portion of a pro- 

 boscidian's tusk, which has suffered indu- 

 bitable wear from water, and perhaps gla- 

 cial action. 



It is, we think, a fact patent to all who 

 know what is meant by solid, patient work 

 in the domain of science, that this new 

 science of prehistoric archaeology has drawn 

 to itself an immense brood of callow think- 

 ers. The merest accident of finding a few 

 relics is supposed to constitute the text and 

 the ability for a paper on the subject, either 

 for some periodical or maybe some learned 

 society. The lookout is good for American 

 archaeology in that we have so grand a 

 school as this Peabody Museum, and so safe 

 a vehicle of instruction as is afforded by 

 its annual report. The tread of Science 

 should be stately, and her footing sure. 

 None more than she should "prove all 

 things, and hold fast the good." Festine 

 lente. When, in these fascinating walks of 

 grand thinkings, the imagination gets into 

 a rush, it will be well if this institution 

 shall provide the engineer who will whistle 

 down the brakes. 



The Taxidermist's Manual. By Captain 

 Thomas Brown, F. L. S. New York: 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1879. Pp. 199. 

 Price, $1.25. 



This reprint, from the twenty-eighth 

 English edition of Captain Brown's Manual, 

 will be a very welcome book to the large 

 and increasing class of students and ama- 

 teurs interested in natural history and the 

 preservation of natural-history specimens. 

 The author thinks that many valuable spe- 

 cimens are lost because of the lack of infor- 



