PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 53 



from generation to generation. From this he infers that in the 

 days of Aztec glory, the knowledge of the uses of plants must 

 have been very comprehensive. 



Who shall say that the spirit of true science did not inspire the 

 Inca Pachacutec, when many centuries ago he handed down to his 

 descendants maxims such as this : 



" A herbalist who knows the names but is ignorant of the vir 

 tues and qualities of herbs, or he who knows few but is ignorant 

 of most, is a mere quack and mountebank, and deserves not the 

 name and repute of a physician until he is skilful as well in the 

 noxious as in the salutiferous qualities of herbs." 



Impressed with the extent of the knowledge of nature among 

 the aborigines of America, I asked one of the most learned 

 of our anthropologists for his opinion in regard to its character, 

 and received the following statement : 



WASHINGTON, January 5, 1886. 

 MY DEAR MR. GOODE : 



We make a very grave mistake if we think there was no study 

 of nature before the science of natural history. In all branches 

 of study whatever there was lore before there was science. Be 

 fore the weather bureau was weather lore, a kind of rough in 

 duction which the ancient people made, and which was very far 

 from erroneous. Dr. Washington Matthews read a paper before 

 the Washington Philosophical Society more than a year ago* to 

 draw attention to the marvellous intimacy of the Navajo Indians 

 with the plant kingdom around them, and their vocabulary which 

 contained names for many species constructed so as to connote 

 qualities well known to them. You are familiar with the stories 

 concerning the respect in which certain animals are held by the 

 Eskimo, and the minute acquaintance of all our aborigines of 

 both continents with the life histories of many animals. The 

 Eskimo as well as the Indian tribes carve and depict forms so well 

 that the naturalist can frequently determine the species. Mr, 

 Lucien Turner collected carvings in ivory of foetal forms. 

 Very truly yours, 



O. T. MASON. 



Professor Mason also called attention to a long paper upon 



* WASHINGTON MATTHEWS : Natural Naturalists. < Bull. Phil. Soc. 

 Washington, vii, 1885, p. 73, (abs.) 



