14 



ARCHAEOLOGY. (AMERICAN). 



ormation Settlement," by the Rev. Canon 

 Cartels. On the general topic of " The Adap- 

 tation of Spiritual Agencies to Modern Needs, " 

 the agency of " Preaching Orders " was treated 

 of by Mr. G. S. S. Vidal; "Itinerating Mis- 

 sions," by the Rev. S. J. W. Sanders ; and 

 *' Teaching Missions," by the Rev. Canon F. E. 

 Carter. The Bishop of Ossory and Mr. G. C. 

 E. Maline, with voluntary speakers, spoke on 

 "The Priesthood of the Laity; its Responsi- 

 bilities and Privileges." The subject of "Elas- 

 ticity of Worship " was introduced in pnpers 

 by Archdeacon Watkins and the Rev. Preb- 

 endary Dumbleton, who were followed by 

 Earl Beauchamp, the Rev. J. E. C. Welldon, 

 and other speakers. The question of " Tithes " 

 was discussed by Mr. P. Vernon Smith, Mr. 

 Jasper Most, M. P., and Prebendary Grier. 

 On the question of " The Use of the Influence 

 and Organization of the Church for the pur- 

 pose of Alleviating Distress and giving a more 

 Intelligent Direction to the Movements of the 

 Population, and by the Systematic Promotion 

 of Emigration and Colonization," the Rev. 

 Prebendary Billing considered the evil of the 

 migration of people from the rural districts to 

 the large towns; Mr. James Rankin, M. P., 

 spoke on emigration ; and the Earl of Meath 

 advocated colonization by the Church ; " The 

 Relations of the Church of England to Eastern 

 Churches the Armenian, Assyrian, Coptic, 

 and Native Indian Churches," were discussed 

 by the Rev. Dr. E. L. Cutts, Mr. Athelstan 

 Riley, the Rev. E. A. B. Owen, and Bishop 

 Blyth, of Jerusalem. Regarding " The Church 

 in Africa," papers were read on "Early 

 Churches," by Prof. G. T. Stokes ; " Moham- 

 medanism," by Canon Isaac Taylor ; and " Mod- 

 ern Missionary Advances and Hindrances," by 

 Archdeacon Hamilton andPrebendary "W.J.Ed- 

 wards. At evening and other special meetings 

 were considered the subjects of "Hindrances 

 to Religion in Common Life," by the Bish- 

 ops of Carlisle and others ; " The Sunday-School 

 in its Relation to the Church," by Canon Bow- 

 ley ; " The Home Duties and Domestic Rela- 

 tions of Educated Women " ; " Child-Life in 

 our Great Cities," by the Bishop of Bedford 

 and other speakers; "Christian Evidences," 

 by Mr. II. T. Davenport, M. P., the Bishop of 

 Manchester, and others ; " Socialism and Chris- 

 tianity," by the Bishop of Derry, Mr. H. H. 

 Champion, and Mr. Stanley Leighton, M. P. ; 

 and "The Devotional Life of the Church as 

 illustrated by Religious Societies of the Eight- 

 eenth Century, by Guilds and Associations 

 for Communicants, for Prayer and Bible Read- 

 ing, etc., and by Retreats and Quiet Days," by 

 the Rev. W. II. Barlow, the Rev. R. S. Has- 

 sard, Prof. Stokes, and other speakers. 



ARCHEOLOGY. (American.) Data for American 

 Prehistoric Chronology. Dr. Daniel G. Brinton 

 delivered an address as its chairman before the 

 Section of Anthropology of the American As- 

 sociation, on the " Prehistoric Chronology of 

 America." The means at our command, he 



said, for reconstructing the history of the peo- 

 ples who inhabited America during the pre- 

 historic period could be divided into six classes : 



First were the legends or traditions of the 

 various tribes. The resemblance which many 

 of them bore to Semitic or Oriental myths must 

 be regarded as coincidences only. In the case 

 of the savage tribes, ignorant of writing, it is 

 probable that the lapse of five generations, or 

 say two centuries, completely obliterates all 

 recollection of historic occurrences. The case 

 is not much better with the semi-civilized na- 

 tions the Mayas and Nahuas, or the Quichuas 

 of Peru. The chronicles of Mexico proper 

 contain no fixed date prior to that of the 

 founding of Tenochtitlan, A. D. 1325. When 

 we turn to the monumental data, we find it 

 doubtful whether the edifices of the Pueblo In- 

 dians, or any of the great structures of Mexico, 

 Yucatan, and Peru supply prehistoric dates of 

 excessive antiquity. The pueblos of New 

 Mexico and Arizona were constructed by the 

 ancestors of the tribes who still inhabit the 

 region, and at no distant day. There is every 

 reason to suppose that the same is true of all 

 the stone and brick edifices of Mexico and 

 Central America. The majority of them were 

 occupied at the period of the conquest ; others 

 were in process of building, and of others the 

 record of their construction was clearly in 

 memory. There were, indeed, some once fine 

 cities fallen to ruins, and sunk into oblivion, 

 such as Palenque and T'Ho, on the site of the 

 present city of Merida. But tradition, and 

 the present condition of the sites, unite in the 

 probability that they do not antedate the con- 

 quest more than a few centuries. A more 

 ancient class of monuments are the artificial 

 shell-heaps along the shores of both oceans, and 

 of many rivers of North and South America. 

 They differ widely in antiquity. Those ot 

 Maine contain bones of the great auk. which 

 now exists only in the Arctic regions. Of great 

 antiquity, also, are the shell- heaps of Costa 

 Ifica, estimated by Dr. Earle Flint to be 20,000 

 years old, and the Sambaquis of Brazil, which 

 were coeval with a race different from that 

 which occupied the country when it was dis- 

 covered by the white man. This class of monu- 

 ments, therefore, supply us with data that 

 prove man's existence in America in the Dilu- 

 vial, Quaternary, or Pleistocene epoch, which 

 was characterized by extinct species. 



Of the third class, or industrial evidences, 

 the oldest shell-heaps hitherto examined in 

 Brazil, Guiana, Costa Rica, and Florida, sup- 

 ply fragments of pottery, of polished stone, 

 and compound implements occur even from 

 the lowest strata ; but, venerable though they 

 are, they furnish no date older than what in 

 Europe would be regarded as of the Neolithic 

 period. The arrow-heads found in the lake- 

 beds of Nebraska, and the net-sinkers and celts 

 from the gold-bearing gravels of California, 

 prove by their form and finish that the tribes 

 who fashioned them had already taken long 



