proceedings: anthropological society 591 



{Erythroxylum Coca), and specimens of raw cotton, dark brown, light 

 brown, and white, together with spindles with cotton yarn upon them; 

 looms with half-woven fabrics, and textiles of beautiful and intricate 

 designs. Among the most interesting of the funeral vases were forms 

 representing the corn god of ancient Peru, a monster with protruding 

 tusks, surrounded by ears of maize; and the god of agriculture, repre- 

 sented with a stalk of maize in one hand and a stalk of mandioca in the 

 other, with a cluster of roots at the base very much like those of a 

 dahlia. 



This paper was illustrated by numerous slides, principally of objects 

 collected by the speaker and now in the collection of the Field 

 Columbian Museum. 



Perley Spaulding, Corresponding Secretary. 



THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AVASHINGTON 



At the 475th regular meeting of the Society, held October 21, in the 

 Public Library, Dr. D. S. Lamb, of the Army Medical Museum, deliv- 

 ered an address on Sanitation in ancient civilizations. In the usage of 

 the speaker the word ancient was specifically applied to the period be- 

 fore the fall of the Roman Empire. The beginning of the historic pe- 

 riod for different nations, he said, varies much; for Egypt, about 11,000 

 B.C.; for the American nations, within the Christian era. But the 

 character of all the beginnings was probably much the same: human 

 necessities, life, health, food, clothing, shelter, differed but little, except 

 as influenced by climate or geographical position. The need of sani- 

 tation was especially shown by the histories of epidemics; for instance, 

 the black death of the fourteenth century destroved, it is said, about 

 25,000,000 persons. 



Pure water was one of the first necessities. Man must have availed 

 himself at first of the use of springs, lakes, and streams; and when these 

 were not available, he dug a well; later, to have the water still more 

 accessible, he built a cistern. And when many families had congre- 

 gated together, he built an aqueduct to bring the water to the town or 

 city and to distribute it to the individuals. Old artesian wells are found 

 in Asia Minor, Persia, China, Egypt, Algeria, and even the Desert of 

 Sahara. There were aqueducts in Palestine; one was built by Hezekiah 

 about 700 B.C. The earliest form of aqueduct in Greece was at Cos. 

 Rome had at one time 19 aqueducts; 14 of these were large and together 

 had a total length of 359 miles, 55 of which was on arches, somcthnes 

 100 feet high. Some of these are still in use. Most however fell into 

 decay or were destroyed by hostile armies. In olden times when the 

 king of Persia travelled he had the water boiled before drinking it. 

 Aqueducts have been found in Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru, anteda- 

 ting the arrival of Columbus. 



As for the disposal of waste, among the Hebrews it was buried or 

 burned. There is no account of drainage among the Greeks. The 

 Romans built great cloacae or sewers, that carried the storm water and 



