February, 19SS 



FIELD MUSEUM NEWS 



Pages 



SIR HUBERT WILKINS, EXPLORER, 

 TO LECTURE AT MUSEUM 



Captain Sir Hubert Wilkins, famed ex- 

 plorer of the Arctic and Antarctic, will 

 lecture at Field Museum on Saturday after- 

 noon, March 4. His subject will be "What 

 I Have Discovered in the Arctic and Ant- 

 arctic," and he will relate his experiences 

 on expeditions made by dog team, by 

 airplane, and by submarine. The lecture 

 will be illustrated with motion pictures. 

 It will be given in the James Simpson 

 Theatre of the Museum, and will begin at 

 3 P.M. 



Sir Hubert's lecture is the first in the 

 fifty-ninth course presented by the Museum, 

 which will comprise eight other lectures 

 to be given on successive Saturdays through- 

 out March and April. The complete 

 schedule for this course will appear in the 

 March issue of Field Museum News. 



No tickets are necessary for admission 

 to these lectures. A section of the Theatre 

 is reserved for Members of the Museum, 

 each of whom is entitled to two reserved 

 seats on request. Requests for these seats 

 may be made by telephone or in writing 

 to the Museum, in advance of the lecture, 

 and seats will then be held in the Member's 

 name until 3 o'clock on the day of the 

 lecture. Members may obtain seats in the 

 reserved section also by presentation of 

 their membership cards to the Theatre 

 attendant before 3 o'clock on the lecture 

 day, even though no advance reservation 

 has been made. All reserved seats not 

 claimed by 3 o'clock will be opened to the 

 general public. 



NEW WORLD FOOD PLANTS 



By B. E. Dahlgren 

 Acting Curator, Department of Botany 



The Department of Botany recently 

 installed in Hall 25 an exhibit showing the 

 principal food plants of American origin. 



On his first voyage to the New World, 

 Columbus found the inhabitants using 

 vegetables that were strange to him, espe- 

 cially some starchy tubers, probably sweet 

 potatoes and cassava. He carried these 

 back to Spain and presented them to Queen 

 Isabella, together with other products of 

 the newly found land. It is doubtful 

 whether the queen was greatly impressed 

 with the present. She would much rather 

 have had a gift of cinnamon, cardamoms 

 or sandalwood, which would have constituted 

 proof of a new route to India. The incident, 

 however, is noteworthy as marking the 

 first introduction of American food plants 

 into the Old World, an event of considerable 

 significance to the world's dietary, which 

 has America to thank for many important 

 contributions. 



It is interesting to note that the introduc- 

 tion of Old World food plants into America 

 also dates from the voyages of Columbus, 

 and has continued ever since. 



After Columbus, the early explorers and 

 conquistadores found other food plants in 

 use and in cultivation among the New 

 World inhabitants, especially the Aztecs of 

 Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Cortez 

 made the first acquaintance with chocolate 

 and vanilla at the court of Montezuma. 

 It is evident that the areas inhabited by 

 the Mayas and Incas have been important 

 centers of origin and dispersal of plants. 



The settlers in North and South America 

 soon learned to use many of the vegetable 

 foods of the Indians, such as corn, beans, 

 pumpkins and cassava. Certain of the 

 newly discovered food plants spread rapidly 

 over most of the world. This was true of 



the peanut, which was carried to Africa 

 from the east coast of South America 

 and to the Orient from the west coast, early 

 in the history of world-wide navigation. 

 Some American food plants, such as potatoes, 

 were first carried to Europe and developed 

 in cultivation there before coming into 

 general use among the new population in 

 the land of their origin. Others, such as 

 tomatoes, were very slow in becoming 

 adopted. The tomato was grown in Europe 

 for several centuries as a curiosity and 

 ornamental plant before it became, rather 

 recently, the important article of food that 

 it is today. A few valuable American food 

 plants such as the avocado are only now 

 becoming well known. Others, e.g., the 

 chayote, are scarcely known at all in the 

 United States in spite of efforts made to 

 introduce them. 



The recent discovery by a party of Russian 

 botanists of more than a dozen potato-like 

 plants and potato relatives cultivated by 

 Indians, a few in the Maya area in southern 

 Mexico, the rest in Bolivia on the margin 

 of the former Inca region, may prove to be 

 of importance for the development of new 

 and improved sources of food at the hands 

 of expert plant breeders. 



The new exhibit shows only the principal 

 native American vegetable products. Many 

 tropical American fruits and some vegetables, 

 little known in North America, are omitted. 

 Also omitted are various small fruits such 

 as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and 

 plums, which belong to the circumpolar 

 flora and have their counterparts in Europe. 

 The display includes maize, or Indian corn, 

 potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pimen- 

 toes, Jerusalem artichokes, which are the 

 roots of a western sunflower, pumpkins, 

 squashes, lima and kidney beans, cassava, 

 which in the United States is best known in 

 the form of tapioca, peanuts, cranberries, 

 persimmons, papaws, papayas, the avocado, 

 the pineapple, cacao, vanilla, and others. 



Chinese Mirrors Displayed 



Two exhibition cases of metal mirrors 

 from China, some dating back as far as 

 246 B.C., have been installed in George T. 

 and Frances Gaylord Smith Hall (Hall 24). 



Mirrors were important to the Chinese 

 not only as aids to vanity, but also because 

 of the belief that they dispelled evil spirits 

 and goblins, according to Dr. Berthold 

 Laufer, Curator of Anthropology. The com- 

 mon superstition that breaking a mirror 

 brings bad luck prevails in China, and 

 goes far back into antiquity, states Dr. 

 Laufer. 



Progress of Rockefeller Project 



J. FVancis Macbride, Assistant Curator 

 of Taxonomy, in Europe for several years 

 to obtain photographs of type specimens 

 of Central and South American plants in 

 European herbaria — a joint project of the 

 Rockefeller Foundation and Field Museum 

 carried on for the benefit of botanists 

 generally — reports that he has completed 

 2,000 photographs at the University Museum 

 of Copenhagen, and is continuing similar 

 activity at Geneva. To date more than 

 23,000 photographs have been assembled in 

 various European herbaria. The herbarium 

 of Copenhagen contains some early and 

 important Central American collections, 

 especially from Costa Rica, and its curator. 

 Dr. Carl Christensen, generously permitted 

 Mr. Macbride to select a large amount of 

 duplicate material for the herbarium of 

 Field Museum. 



A DEFENDER OF THE FAITH 



AND HIS MIRACLES 



By Berthold Laufer 

 Curator, Department of Anthropology 



An exhibit of carved wooden images of 

 Buddhist and Taoist deities was recently 

 installed in George T. and Frances Gaylord 

 Smith Hall (Hall 24). Most of these were 

 obtained from ancient temples in and around 

 Si-an fu. One of them is a statue of Wei-to, 

 the loyal protector of Buddha's temples 

 and a staunch defender of his faith. 



This statue, well carved and finely lac- 

 quered, is glorified by a tradition. During 

 the seventh century there lived at Si-an fu 

 a Buddhist priest, Tao Siian by name. 

 Like all monks he was devoted to contempla- 

 tion, looked upon as the means of attaining 

 self-perfection. Meditation naturally led 

 to dreams, in which he had contact with 

 the supernatural. Tao Siian wrote his 

 memoirs, in which he records his conversa- 

 tions with the gods. Among others Wei-to 

 appeared and ordered his statue made 

 exactly like his apparition. Tao Siian 

 obeyed, and thenceforward images of Wei- 

 to were set up as the guardians of Buddha's 

 temples and clergy. 



All other Buddhistic divinities are derived 

 from types created in India, where Buddhism 

 was born. Wei-to is the only one conceived 

 in China. He has the appearance of a 

 handsome Chinese youth with a smiling 

 countenance, yet is a powerful general 

 fortified by a suit of mail, ever ready to 

 strike demons and foes of the faith. 



The temple from which came the Wei- 

 to now in the Museum was erected on the 

 spot where Tao Siian lived and taught. 

 According to tradition this statue was a 

 descendant of Tao Siian's work, permeated 

 by his spirit. It was regarded, therefore, 

 as a great miracle-worker. Wei-to, above 

 all, was a good provider, an efficient money- 

 raiser, and bill collector. In some monas- 

 teries the monks placed his statue in the 

 kitchen, entrusting its supervision to his 

 care. Sometimes they even recited incanta- 

 tions, threatening him with corporal punish- 

 ment if he should neglect to supply them 

 with provisions. 



Whenever a temple was in need of repairs, 

 or a pagoda was to be restored, Wei-to was 

 instrumental in raising the necessary cash. 

 The brotherhood would stage a procession 

 through the city. One monk, carrying a 

 shrine harboring Wei-to's picture, and beat- 

 ing a wooden drum in the shape of a fish, 

 solicited funds from the wealthy. If this 

 was unsuccessful, a monk would deposit 

 Wei-to's image on the threshold of the 

 house of a prominent family, obstruct the 

 entrance, and remain seated there cross- 

 legged like a Buddha, for days if necessary, 

 until the contribution was made. 



If the monks again failed in this quest of 

 charity, they resorted to extreme measures. 

 One would be locked in a cage just high 

 enough to allow him to squeeze in, and would 

 then be exhibited in the market place. 

 The door of the cage was padlocked, and 

 the news was broadcast that he was doomed 

 to die of starvation unless the money was 

 raised. The people were urged to have 

 pity. To arouse their feelings, it was said 

 that the prisoner's bare feet rested on iron 

 spikes. This in a way was true, but the 

 spikes were so deeply sunk into a plank 

 that it formed a smooth surface. Moreover, 

 the man was always secretly released before 

 harm could befall him. 



it will thus be seen that "rackets" are 

 not of recent origin, but that they have a 

 history whose threads may take us back 

 to the intricate mysteries of the Orient. 



