210 



Prof. Cope read a paper "On the Osteology of the extinct 

 Tapiroid Hyrachyus." 



And another "On the Origin of the Orders of the Mam- 

 malia Educabilia." 



Mr. Lesley exhibited and described a Micrometer for 

 Office-use by Civil Engineers and Geologists. 



Two specimens of old wood carving was exhibited by 

 Prof. Frazer, which he had found lying among the debris of 

 a destroyed temple and village, situated on an artificial (?) 

 mound on the banks of the Rio Pecos, 150 miles above Santa 

 Fe, in New Mexico, known by the traders and Indians as the 

 Ancient Settlement, of which no tradition survives. 



Dr. Allen discussed, the markings on the specimens and 

 considered them not Aztec, although perhaps manufactured 

 under an influence emanating from the Aztec regime. They 

 resembled the base and top of columns. One showed unmis- 

 takable evidence of having been merely a post, for there 

 was an ornament on its flattened top. The tori were rudely 

 cross-barred, and the sunken bands were scored at intervals 

 in one direction by some instrument like an inch gouge, ami 

 •at a single blow. An iron sharp-edged tool would be neces- 

 sary to make such a mark. Similar relics have been brought 

 back by Major Powell, whose collection of them is large. 

 The marks on them are similar ; and occasionally single Aztec 

 symbols occur. The Indians pretend to comprehend their 

 meaning. 



General Kane, who has just returned from a long journey 

 through the Mormon and Southern Indian Regions, objected 

 %p the use of the term Aztec as meaningless, believing that 

 no such race ever existed. He alluded to his long residence 

 among the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi River, in 

 1846, & when he first learned to know the caste distinctions in 

 the different nations: the aristocratic part of the tribe being 

 quite distinct from the common part. A third distinction of 

 an enslaved caste also obtains. In his subsequent visits to 

 his old Indian friends, now sadly diminished in numbers, his 

 former views were reinforced by newer observations and con- 



