268 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



calities and details are never all, and are 

 seldom a prominent feature. A lesson of 

 general application is to be drawn in each of 

 them, and is drawn and presented with such 

 directness and lucidity that even young stu- 

 dents can comprehend it and be interested 

 in it. The essays in the second volume are 

 more extended discussions of special topics, 

 among which are " The Longevity of Trees," 

 " The Sequoia and its History," " Do Varieties 

 wear out, or tend to wear out ? " " Forest 

 Geology and Archaeology," " The Pertinacity 

 and Predominance of Weeds," and two on 

 the flora of North America. Many of these 

 papers, as well as no small number of the 

 " Reviews," had not Prof. Gray been so pre- 

 eminently a man of science, might have estab- 

 lished his reputation as a literary essayist of 

 the first rank. In some of them the author 

 co-opeiates with Heer and De Saporta, an- 

 ticipating the chief publications of the latter 

 author, in working out the theory of the 

 arctic origin of the plants of the temperate 

 zone. " Notes on a Botanical Excursion to 

 the Mountains of North Carolina " is a letter 

 to Hooker, recording the experiences and 

 observations acquired in a visit to a region 

 which was of peculiar interest at the time, 

 and is equally so now, on account of the 

 number and variety of rare plants to be 

 found there. This excursion seems to have 

 been an exception to the general course of 

 Prof. Gray's life ; for, in an address at the 

 American Association meeting in 18*72, on 

 " The Sequoia and its History," when he had 

 just visited a unique botanical region in 

 California, he says that, so far as our country 

 was concerned, he had been to a great extent 

 a closet botanist, and had not before seen 

 the Mississippi or set foot upon a prairie. 

 Through all of these papers Prof. Gray's 

 style is clear ; he goes directly for the point ; 

 is judicially minded ; always at home, search- 

 ing in criticism ; and sometimes, as when 

 dealing with Mr. Ruskin or exposing an er- 

 ror of the authors on whom Henfrey relics, 

 keen in sarcasm. And the editor's observa- 

 tion that " his reviews represented the opin- 

 ion of a just and discriminating mind, thor- 

 oughly familiar with all sides of the ques- 

 tion before it, critical rather than laudatory, 

 loving the truth and its investigators, but 

 the truth above everything else," is fully 

 borne out. 



Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology, 1884-'S5. By J. W. Pow- 

 ell, Director. Washington : Govern- 

 ment Printing-Orflce. Pp. lviii + 675. 



It is impossible to examine one of these 

 handsome volumes without being deeply im- 

 pressed by the extent of the work that is 

 being done and the interest of the store of 

 information that is being secured by this bu- 

 reau. The report of the director states that 

 the field-work of the year comprised mound 

 explorations by several assistants under the 

 charge of Prof. Cyrus Thomas ; researches in 

 the ancient ruins of the Southwest by parties 

 in charge of Mr. James Stevenson and Mr. 

 Victor Mindeleff; linguistic field-work by 

 Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith, Mr. H. W. Hen- 

 shaw, Mr. A. S. Gatschet, Rev. J. Owen 

 Dorsey, and Mr. Jeremiah Curtin. Gen- 

 eral ethnological investigations in the field 

 were carried on by Dr. Washington Mat- 

 thews, Dr. H. C. Yarrow, and Dr. W. J. Hoff- 

 man. Office work on sign-language and pic- 

 tographs was continued by Colonel Garrick 

 Mallery ; on bibliography of North American 

 languages, by Mr. James C. Pilling ; on the 

 myths and customs of the Zufii, by Mr. Frank 

 H. Cushing; on ceramics, by Mr. W. H. 

 Holmes ; on a historical atlas of Indian con- 

 cessions, by Mr. Charles C. Royce ; and by the 

 explorers above mentioned, on their several 

 specialties, when not engaged in field-work. 

 The first of the papers accompanying the 

 report is on " Ancient Art of the Province 

 of Chiriqui, Colombia," by William H. 

 Holmes, and is based on the large collection 

 of archaeologic material from the province 

 in the National Museum. The paper con- 

 tains a wealth of information in regard to 

 the works of the ancient inhabitants of this 

 interesting region, and its descriptions are 

 assisted by 286 illustrations. A curious 

 feature of the Chiriquian objects buried 

 with the dead is that they appear to have 

 been made for that purpose, and not for use 

 by the living. Another paper by Mr. Holmes 

 is " A Study of the Textile Art in its Rela- 

 tion to the Development of Form and Orna- 

 ment." Mr. Holmes gives an instructive 

 analysis of the forces and influences inherent 

 in the textile art, the first lessons of which 

 are order, uniformity, and symmetry. He 

 discusses the influence of textile ornament 

 upon other forms of art, such as architect- 



