538 RECORD OF SCIKNCE FOR 1886. 



Suggestions of ideographic features or pictorial delineation. — Professor 

 Morse's Japanese Homes is an excellent example of the application of 

 scientilic methods to a human art. Among- the elaborations of culture 

 the habitation has kept itself steailily in harmon^^ with progress, 

 climate, material, and the ruling ideas of different peoples. A descrip- 

 tion of the houses and house-life of the races of men would furnish 

 abundant material for the reconstruction of past history in that regard. 



Prof. E. S. Morse has jnade the method of arrow-release throughout 

 all times and places a subject of ethnic study. Proceeding to trace the 

 migrations of men by the movements of a habit, the methods of release 

 are as follows: 



(1) Primary. — The nock of the arrow is grasped' between the end of 

 the straightened thumb and the first and second joints of the bent fore- 

 finger. It is practiced by children universally, and by the Ainos, 

 Demeraras, Utes, Navajos, Chippewas, Micmacs, Penobscots. 



(2) Secondary. — The nock of the arrow is grasped with the straight- 

 ened thumb and bent forefinger, while the ends of the second and third 

 fingers are brought to bear on the string to assist in drawing. It is 

 practiced by Zunis, Chippewas of Wisconsin, Ottawas. 



(3) Tertiary. — In this release the fore-finger, instead of being bent, is 

 nearly straight with its tip as well as the tips of the second and tliird 

 fingers, pressing or pulling on the string, the thumb, as in the primary 

 and secondary release, active in assisting in pinching the arrow and 

 pulling it back. It is practiced by Sioux, Arapahos, Chej'ennes, As- 

 siniboins, Oomanches, Crows, Blackfeet, ]!!^avajos, Siamese, Great An- 

 damanese. 



(4) Mediterranean. — The string is drawn back with the tips of the first, 

 second, and third fingers, the balls of the fingers clinging to the string 

 with the terminal joints of the fingers slightly flexed. The arrow is 

 lightly held between the first and second fingers, the thumb straight 

 and inactive. Practiced by nations around the Mediterranean, by mod- 

 ern archers, Flemish (using first and second fingers only), Eskimo, Little 

 Andamanese. 



(5) Mongolian. — In this release the string is drawn by the flexed 

 thumb bent over the string, the end of the fore-finger assisting in hold- 

 ing the thumb in position. The tlunnb is protected by a guard of some 

 kind. It is practiced by Manchus, Chinese, Coreans, Japanese, Turks, 

 Persians. 



COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY. 



Colonel Mallery's paper on the pictographs of the North American 

 Indians fills a gap in the study of the natural history of languages. In 

 a former paper he discussed the gesture language as perhaps the earliest 

 method of thought-transference. In the author's own words, "a picto- 

 graph is a writing by picture." The execution of the v»ictures of which it 

 is composed often exhibits the first crude efforts of graphic ait. When 



