378 journal of the washington academy of sciences vol. 11, no. 15 



550th meeting 



The 550th meeting was held in the National Museum at 4.45 p.m. on 

 December 14, 1920, and had as program an illustrated lecture by Mr. S. D. 

 Bullock, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture, 

 entitled Ten years among the Araucanians of Chile. Mr. Bullock has lived 

 for ten years among the Araucanian Indians of the vicinity of Valdivia, 

 Chile, as industrial teacher of the Indians, and knows them and their customs 

 intimately. At the close of the lecture Mr. Bullock exhibited some Arau- 

 canian costumes and other objects. Questions were asked by Lieut. W. E. 

 Safford and others. 



55 1st meeting 



The 551st meeting was held at the National Museum at 4.45 p.m. on 

 January 18, 1921. Mr. William E. Myer, of Nashville, Tennessee, gave an 

 interesting lecture on Recent explorations in the Cumberland Valley, Tennessee, 

 being an account of archaeological field work done by him in 1920 for the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology. The talk was illustrated by lantern slides. 

 The lecture was discussed by Dr. Fewkes and others. 



552d meeting 



The 552d meeting was held at the National Museum at 4.45 p.m. on 

 February 8, 1921. Lieut. W. E. Safford, of the Department of Agriculture, 

 spoke on Old and new Samoa. The lecture was illustrated by original slides. 

 Lieut. Safford made his first visit to Samoa on the U. S. Ship Mohican in 

 1888, before Robert Louis Stevenson came to the islands, and made a second 

 visit in 1899, two years after Stevenson's death. The lecturer spoke through- 

 out from first-hand information. At the close of the lecture there was a dis- 

 cussion by Dr. Hough, Mr. Holmes, and others, 



553d meeting 



At the 553d meeting, held at the National Museum at 4.45 p.m., March 

 21, 1921, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 

 spoke on The fire temple of the Cliff Dwellers. The ruin of the Fire Temple 

 was excavated by him in the Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, during 

 the summer of 1920. The lecture was beautifully illustrated by slides. 

 It was discussed by Dr. Hough, Mr. Holmes, and others. 



554th meeting 



The program of the 554th meeting, held at the National Museum at 4.45 

 p.m., March 22, 1921, was a paper by Mr. G. N. Collins, of the Department 

 of Agriculture, on The origin and early distribution of maize. Mr. Collins 

 agrees on the whole with Harzberger, who advocated the theory that maize 

 has been hybridized with some other close relative, but puts the relationship 

 a little further off — for genetic reasons. The paper was discussed by Dr. 

 Hough, Prof. Hitchcock, Lieut. Safford, Mr. La Flesche, and others. 



555th meeting 

 The 555th meeting of the Society was held in conjunction with the Medical 

 Society of the District of Columbia, at the new home of the latter at 1718 

 M Street, N. W., on April 5, 1921, at 8.00 p.m. Dr. George M. Kober 

 presented as address of the retiring president of the Anthropological Society 

 of Washington, 1920, a paper entitled A plea for the prevention of permanent 

 disabilities in childhood. In pursuance of the established custom of the So- 

 ciety, there was no discussion of this paper, it being a presidential address. 



