22 proceedings: anthropological society • 



with a density of population nearly twice as great as that of France, 

 and one-seventh greater than that of Germany. Ethnically the Bo- 

 hemians are Slavs. The names Bohemia and Bavaria are both of 

 Roman origin, derived from the name of the Keltic ti'ibe of Boii, the 

 forefathers of the Bavarians who may have extended over, or clanned 

 a part of, Bohemian territory at one time. The name Czech (applied 

 to the Bohemians) is, according to old tradition, derived from that of 

 a leader or chief of the people. 



Archaeological excavations have shown that the Slavs were in Bo- 

 hemia long before the beginning of the Christian era. The earliest 

 historical mention of them occurs in the second and third centuries. 

 They were never subject to Rome, and the Germans were their eternal 

 enemies. At the beginning of the seventh century they were a strong 

 political unit and in 630 were powerful enough to severely defeat the 

 Germans. Thus began historically the marvelous life-and-death strug- 

 gle of the Czech people with the voracious German flood that would 

 engulf them, a struggle of thirteen centuries, which has lasted until the 

 present day. 



The rich Bohemian literature and archives were repeatedly destroyed 

 by the enemy, but enough has been saved to show that those early 

 times were both idyllic and magnificently barbaric. The people were 

 agriculturists and soldiers. Their organization was patriarchal, their 

 government constitutional, almost republican. The religion of Bo- 

 hemia was naturalistic and poetic. The priests worshiped under great 

 oaks. There was a supreme deity, beside which there are series of 

 belobozi, or good gods, cernobozi and dasi or demons, vily (fairies), 

 vodnici (water-spirits), etc. The burials were by cremation. 



From the eighth to the fourteenth centuries the Bohemians were 

 ruled by kings of a strong native dynasty. In 1526 the last of the 

 Bohemian kings perished in a battle with the Turks, and soon after- 

 ward Bohemia as well as Hungary joined Austria for mutual protection 

 against the common peril. This was the beginning of Bohemia's 

 misfortunes. During the Thirty Years War the life of Bohemia was 

 nearly extinguished ; not until the nineteenth century came the time of 

 a revival and restitution. Today the nation stands at the head of all 

 those comprised in the medieval conglomerate of Austria-Hungary 

 in education, industry, and practically every other respect. It is still 

 shackled and persecuted by Austria but hopes and works for an early 

 victory of the Allied arms and with this its liberation. In 1918 Bo- 

 hemia will have with the Allies two small armies of its own, one in 

 France and one in Russia. 



The 514th meeting of the society was held in the National Museum, 

 October 16, 1917 at 4.30 p.m. 



Dr. Mitchell Carroll, Secretary of the Archaeological Institute 

 of America, delivered a lecture on The story of Greece. The lecture was 

 richly illustrated with lantern slides portraying the principal centers 

 of Greek life, such as Olympia, Delphi, Sparta, and Athens, with the 



