6 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Seventy-Fourth Regular Meeting, December 4, r883. 



Col. GarRick Mallery, President, in the Chair. 



The Council, through its Secretary, reported the election of Mr. 

 Amos W. Hart and Dr. Horatio R. Bigelow as active members. 



A letter was read from Mr. Gatschet giving information with 

 respect to investigations in the folk-lore of the southern Sclavic 

 peoples by j\Ir. Krause, one of the corresponding members of the 

 Society. 



The death of Sven Nilsson, of Lund, Sweden, an honorary mem- 

 ber of the Society, was announced, whereupon the Secretary made 

 brief reference to the labors of the deceased. 



Mr. William H. Holmes then read a paper on "Thf Textile 

 Fabrics of the Mound-Builders."* 



abstract. 



It was stated that very few specimens of these fabrics are preserved 

 in our museums. They are subject to rapid decay and as a rule fall 

 to pieces on exposure to the air. 



Carbonization and contact with the salts of copper have been the 

 most important means of perservation. 



It has occasionally been noticed that fabrics of various kinds have 

 been used in the manufacture of pottery and that impressions of 

 these have often been preserved. 



The writer conceived the idea of making casts in clay of these 

 impressions and by this means restored many varieties of clotli 

 heretofore unknown. 



The restoration is so complete that the whole fabric can, in many 

 cases, be analyzed. 



It has been made of twisted cord and is seldom finer in texture 

 than common coffee sacking. 



The fibre used has probably been obtained from bark, weeds, and 

 grasses. 



* Published in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology with title 

 " Prehistoric Textile Fabrics of the United States derived from impressions in 

 Pottery." 



