404 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



The reader will find these matters ably discussed in the 

 recent issue of the American Anthropologist (vol. xx. 191 8). 

 There is in this volume (p. 1) a paper by Dr. Oliver P. Hay, of 

 the Carnegie Institution, entitled " Further Consideration of 

 the Occurrence of Human Remains in the Pleistocene Deposits 

 at Vero, Florida." These human remains at Vero occur in a 

 stratum which appears to belong to the first inter-glacial epoch. 

 The whole matter is argued at length by Dr. Hay, and he seeks 

 to dispose of the various methods of explaining away this and 

 similar finds. He relies largely on an argument of a general 

 character, which he sums up as follows : " In Pleistocene 

 deposits laid down under conditions which permitted the 

 existence of man, we find numerous evidences of his presence. 

 In Pleistocene deposits originating under conditions forbid- 

 ding the presence of man, and in older accumulations, no traces 

 of man's existence are met with, even though both those of 

 Pleistocene age and the older ones are adapted to receive 

 adventitious inclusions of artifacts." I have not mentioned 

 in this connexion the relatively few discoveries of remains of 

 the other species of the Hominidae, because I am fairly con- 

 fident that they have no direct bearing upon the problem. 



There is another paper in the same volume of the American 

 Anthropologist which is also of special interest. This is by 

 W. H. Babcock and is entitled " Certain Pre-Columbian Notices 

 of the Inhabitants of the Atlantic Islands." In regard to 

 Iceland the author mentions the reference to trolls in the Saga 

 of Grettir ; but he concludes that there was probably no 

 foundation, in fact, for this legendary story of an aboriginal 

 race in Iceland. In this instance, the trolls were doubtless 

 imaginary beings. It may be added that so much is known 

 about early Iceland, that, if Eskimo or any other race of abori- 

 gines had existed in the island when the Norsemen discovered 

 it, definite records, placing the matter beyond all possibility 

 of doubt, would almost certainly have been left for us to 

 peruse. The Icelanders, as all the world knows, were a people 

 of marvellous literary gifts. Babcock also deals with the 

 stories of the phantom Atlantis, and with the much later records 

 of European voyages to Madeira, the Azores, and the Canaries. 

 The early descriptions of the inhabitants of the Canaries, of 

 which Babcock gives extracts, make interesting reading. The 

 people were apparently of Berber stock. No aborigines are 

 known to have existed in Madeira or the Azores. 



Most of the remaining papers in this volume are scarcely 

 up to the usual standard of the American Anthropologist. 

 W. H. Babcock has another paper (p. 406) entitled, " Some 

 Ethnological and National Factors of the War," but his 

 remarks on this subject are somewhat trite. And in places his 



