LITERARY NOTICES. 



5 6 3 



significance ; some as direction-marks, etc. 

 Mr. Rau suggests that some of the smaller 

 cup-stones may have been used for cracking 

 nuts, and others as paint-cups. Another 

 class of American relics coming under this 

 category consists of stones of larger size, on 

 which several cup-like cavities are worked 

 out. They usually occur as flat fragments 

 of sandstone without definite contours. The 

 cups are either on one of the flat sur- 

 faces or on both, and their number on a 

 surface varies, so far as has been observed, 

 from two to ten. They are irregularly dis- 

 tributed, and generally measure an inch and 

 a half in diameter, but sometimes less. Ac- 

 cording to Colonel Charles Whittlesey, these 

 stones occur quite frequently in Northern 

 Ohio, more particularly in the valley of the 

 Cuyahoga River, while he is not aware of 

 any having been found in the mounds. He 

 believes the holes were sockets in which 

 spindles were made to revolve, and calls 

 the stones " spindle-socket stones," but Mr. 

 Rau does not agree with him. A bowlder 

 in the rooms of the Society of Natural His- 

 tory, of Cincinnati, which was found near 

 Ironton, Ohio, weighing between one thou- 

 sand and twelve hundred pounds, contains 

 one hundred and sixteen of these cups. A 

 bowlder found at Niantic, Connecticut, has 

 six cups, with a number of lines, which may 

 be natural. Stones, bearing figures resem- 

 bling these, appear worked into the walls 

 of churches, and the designs may be found 

 even in holy-water fonts. Altogether, the 

 cup-stones present a curious field of inquiry. 

 Mr. Rau considers the forms more or less 

 related, and as having a similar origin and 

 meaning ; as to what these are, he is in- 

 clined to agree with M. Rivett-Carnac, in 

 attributing to them a significance like that 

 indicated in the Siva figures of India. 



The Lenape and their Legends : with the 

 Complete Text and Symbols of the Wa- 

 lam Olum. By Daniel G. Brinton. Phil- 

 adelphia : D. G. Brinton. Pp. 262. 



In the present volume, which is the 

 fifth in 'his " Library of Aboriginal Ameri- 

 can Literature," Dr. Brinton has grouped 

 a series of ethnological studies of the In- 

 dians of Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 

 and Maryland, around what is asserted to be 

 one of the most curious records of ancient 

 American history the "Walam Olum," or 



Red Score. The interest in the subject ex- 

 cited by his inquiries into the authenticity 

 of this document prompted him to a gen- 

 eral review of our knowledge of the Lenap6, 

 or Delawares, of their history and tradi- 

 tions, and of their languages and customs. 

 This study disclosed the existence of manu- 

 scripts not mentioned in the bibliographies. 

 Whether the Walam Olum be genuine or 

 not concerning which Dr. Brinton does not 

 express a decisive opinion, though his in- 

 quiries have resulted favorably to its being 

 regarded as an oral reproduction of a gen- 

 uine native work, repeated to some one 

 indifferently conversant with the Delaware 

 language, who wrote it down to the best of 

 his ability it is believed that there is suf- 

 ficient in the volume to justify its appear- 

 ance, apart from that document. 



The Philosophic Grammar op American 

 Languages, as set forth by Wilhelm 

 von Homboldt. By Danikl G. Brinton, 

 M. D. Philadelphia : McCalla & Stavely. 

 Pp. 51. 



The philosophy of language owes much 

 to Wilhelm von Humboldt, who was its sub- 

 stantial founder. The American languages 

 occupied his attention for many years, and 

 he wrote to Alexander von Rennenkampff, 

 in 1812, that he had selected them as the 

 special subject of his investigations. He 

 was often accustomed to draw " illustrations 

 of his principles from them, and in every 

 way showed a high appreciation of their 

 importance. In the present essay, Dr. 

 Brinton has given a general exposition of 

 Humboldt's views on these languages, and 

 studies of them, and has added the trans- 

 lation of an unpublished memoir by him 

 on the American verb, which was originally 

 read before the Berlin Academy of Sci- 

 ences, and of which only the manuscript is 

 preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin. 



The Protestant Faith; or Salvation by 

 Belief. By Dwight Hinckley Olm- 

 stead. New York: G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons. Pp. 77. Price, 60 cents. 



The author 6tyles this work " An Essay 

 on the Errors of the Protestant Church," 

 those errors consisting, in his vision, princi- 

 pally in the imposition of an intellectual 

 belief in certain doctrines as a fundamental 

 conditionof salvation. 



