18 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



further has been discovered at Piltdown; and the imperfect 

 skull and mandible of Eanthropus daivsoni, with its ape-like 

 characters, in which it resembles other early specimens, are al- 

 most too fragmentary for drawing any very elaborate conclusions. 

 Such early remains are usually imperfect; and very few of them 

 are known. Turning to slightly later times, a large Neolithic 

 graveyard has been found in Vestrogothia, wfyere two quad- 

 rangular and ten circular stone enclosures covered with smooth 

 slabs were found, containing burnt bones in urns. At 

 Penmaenmaur a Neolithic factory has been discovered, where 

 polished stone axes were manufactured of a fine-grained 

 igneous rock. Axes in all stages were found, besides 

 broken ones and wasters; and other specimens found elsewhere 

 and made from this Graig-lwyd rock have been identified. A 

 remarkable series of stone and terracotta remains are stated to 

 have been discovered near the city of Mexico, including rough 

 representations of Chinese, Egyptian and Negro faces, and seals 

 and jade beads, apparently Chinese. If confirmed these will 

 prove most interesting, as showing a former intercourse with 

 the Old World which has been often suggested. The Mesa 

 Verde Park, Colorado, has been reserved for the protection of 

 ancient cliff dwellings, and these are being gradually excavated 

 and repaired. One has a tower 40 feet high, built of masonry. 

 A collection of 600 Sioux folk songs, obtained with the aid of 

 the phonograph, has been published. It is stated that " some 

 few of the songs appear to possess something of the nature of 

 a tune; but that in others the sequence of notes is very much 

 of the same chaotic character that is so conspicuous at modern 

 recitals!" A valuable collection of antiquities has been 

 brought to the British Museum from Mesopotamia, including 

 a King's statue of about 3000 B.C., a copper plaque repre- 

 senting a lion-headed eagle and a fine series of bricks. In 

 Crete the site of a palace of middle Minoan period has been 

 uncovered. Amongst the objects found were numbers of 

 small pieces of gold leaf, which are supposed to have been 

 laid on wooden or bone articles which have perished. 

 At Stonehenge some of the stones which are in a dangerous 



