20 



NA TURE 



[May 7, 1903 



AMERICA}^ SYMBOLISM. 

 T N 1899 Mrs. Morris K. Jesup generously provided the 

 ^ means for a study of the Arapaho Indians, and Dr. 

 Alfred L. Kroeber was entrusted with the work ; his general 

 description of the Arapaho and of their decorative art and 

 symbolism recently published in the BulleUn of the 

 American Museum of Natural History (vol. xviii. pp. 1-150, 

 1902) proves how well he acquitted himself of his task. 

 Dr. Kroeber now has charge of the anthropological depart- 

 ment of the University of California, and we may expect 

 much good work from him in the future in this new field. 



The Arapaho are typical Plains Indians, and belong to 

 the linguistic stock of the western Algonkins. The fullest 

 and most accurate account of these people has been given 

 by Mr. James Mooney ("Ghost-Dance Religion," Four- 

 teenth Ann. Kept. Bureau EthnoL), and the sketch of their 

 social organisation and life given by Dr. Kroeber is in- 

 structive, and to some extent supplements the previous 

 descriptions. 



The main value of Dr. Kroeber's memoir consists m the 

 careful analysis of the meaning of a very large number of 

 designs that ornament objects in every-day use, and in the 

 wealth of the accompanying illustrations. The conscientious 

 labour which this implies is deserving of the thanks of 

 fellow-students of decorative art and symbolism. 



There is a good deal of latitude in the interpretation of 

 decorative designs employed by different individuals : usually 

 an Indian refuses to interpret the ornamentation on an 

 article belonging to someone else, giving as a reason that 

 he does not know what that particular artist intended to 

 represent. For example, the rhomboid or diamond-shaped 

 symbol may signify the navel, a person, an eye, a lake, a 

 star, life or abundance, a turtle, a buffalo-wallow, a hill or 

 the interior of a tent. All except the first of these significa- 

 tions have also been found attached to very different 

 symbols ; thus, a person is also denoted by a small rectangle, 

 a triangle or a square, by a cross, a dot or a line, as well as 

 by rudely realistic designs. A lake may be represented by a 

 square, a trapezoid, a triangle, a pentagon, a circle or other 

 figures. The decorative symbolism is not intended as a 

 means of communication, hence there is no fixed system of 

 symbolism. One person thinks about the significance of 

 his designs, while another considers chiefly their appear- 

 ance. The former may have two or three interpretations 

 for one symbol or design which are appropriate and co- 

 herent ; the symbols of the latter will have their most con- 

 ventional meaning, without much relation to a thought-out 

 scheme. In either case, the Indian never dreams of making 

 a picture that can be recognised by everyone at first sight. 

 These peculiarities can be paralleled in other parts of North 

 America, and, indeed, elsewhere. 



A pictograph serves as a means of record or communica- 

 tion, and is normally not decorative ; while this art is too 

 decorative to allow of its being read in the same way ; yet 

 there is considerable similarity in the symbols used in 

 both systems. Moreover, the significance of a piece of 

 decoration is at times as extended and coherent as that of 

 a pictograph. 



Dr. Kroeber insists that the closeness of connection 

 between this decorative symbolism and the religious life of 

 the Indians cannot well be overestimated by a white man. 

 All symbolism, even when decorative and unconnected with 

 any ceremony, tends to be to the Indian a matter of a 

 serious and religious nature. A. C. H. 



THE ORIGIN OF NATURAL GAS AND 

 PETROLEUM. 



'T' HE volcanic origin of natural gas and petroleum is 

 -*■ strongly advocated by Mr. Eugene Coste in a paper 

 read before the Canadian Mining Institute (March 5). The 

 author points to the complete analogy of the products of 

 the oil and gas fields with the products of volcanic solfataric 

 action. These products are water, chloride salts, sulphur, 

 sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic acid and hydrocarbons. 

 He brings forward facts upon which he bases his view that 

 all the petroleum, natural gas, and bituminous fields or 

 deposits are essentially the products of solfataric volcanic 

 emanations, condensed and held in their passage upward in 



NO. 1749, VOL. 68] 



the porous tanks (sands, limestones, &c.) of all ages from 

 the Archgean to the Quaternary. He instances the occur- 

 rence of carbon and hydrocarbons in gneisses and various 

 ancient plutonic rocks. He likewise refers to the dolerite 

 of the Lothians (described by Mr. H. M. Cadell), in which 

 cavities of the rock are filled with a mineral wax not unlike 

 the ozocerite of Galicia. The oil shales through which the 

 igneous rocks have intruded were in Mr. Coste's opinion 

 impregnated by solfataric emanations, for their bituminous- 

 character is local, and in proximity to the igneous rocks. 

 Allusion is made to the occurrence of asphalts and oils along 

 the faulted and broken margins of the Gulf of Mexico and 

 Caribbean Sea, the great asphalt deposit of Trinidad filling, 

 the crater of an extinct volcano. Again, natural gas and 

 petroleum are associated with mud volcanoes. The author 

 therefore concludes that carbon and hydrocarbons are derived 

 from deep-seated fluid magmas, in which they exist probably 

 in the form of carbides. The " rock pressure " of natural 

 gas is regarded as a remnant of the initial volcanic energy. 

 This has been registered as high as 1525 lb. to the square 

 inch, but is usually between 200 and 1000 lb., and is a 

 constantly decreasing pressure from the time the gas »s first 

 used. The theory that artesian water is the cause of the 

 gas pressure is regarded as untenable. 



The author points out how generally the diversified oil 

 phenomena," which include gypsum, sulphur, dolomite and 

 salt are met with in American and other oil and gas fields. 

 Disturbed strata and planes of faulting gave access to. 

 volcanic emanations which brought up the various products ; 

 the rocks were variously impregnated according to the- 

 geological and physical conditions of the strata, and the 

 products were sealed up when impervious unbroken strata 

 remained above. In Galicia solid petroleum or ozocerite 

 exists in veins cutting the strata in every direction, the 

 most important being faults. Elsewhere oil occurs in the 

 fractured strata, and such an elusive fluid, pent up under 

 pressure, could not be in its original home. The local andi 

 seemingly accidental occurrence of the oil and gas, and everu 

 of bituminous shales, are considered by the author to favour 

 his theory, for he observes that the sedimentary strata could 

 not produce from a limited fossiliferous area the quantity 

 of products. Thus, near Baku, in Russia, a small area 

 of not more than eight square miles has now yielded more 

 than 900 million barrels of oil. H. B. \\ • 



D 



SMITHSONIAN REPORT ON SCIENTIFIC 

 WORK. 



R. S. P. LANGLEY, secretary of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, has issued his report on the operations of the 

 Institution during the year ending June 30, 1902, including 

 the work in the United States National Museum, the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, the International Ex- 

 changes, the National Zoological Park, and the Astrophysicat 

 Observatory. 



Following the precedent of several years, there is given, 

 in the body of the report, a general account of the affairs 

 of the Institution and its bureaus, while an appendix pre- 

 sents more detailed statements by the persons in direct 

 charge of the different branches of the work. Indepen- 

 dently of this, the operations of the National Museum are 

 fully treated in a separate volume of the Smithsonian Re- 

 port, and the Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology 

 constitutes a volume prepared under the supervision of the 

 director of that Bureau. 



The following extracts from the report will show that a 

 vast amount of scientific work is being instituted and carried 

 on under the auspices of the Institution. 



Hodgkins Fund. — In connection with the administration 

 of the Hodgkins fund, papers recording the advance _ of 

 specialists along various interesting lines of investigation 

 have been submitted, some of which are now in course of 

 publication. 



The report of the research on the spectrum conducted by 

 Dr. Victor Schumann, of Leipzig, has received extensive 

 additions during the year, notably through a detailed de- 

 scription of the ingenious apparatus used in his work. 

 A second grant on behalf of Dr. Schumann has been 

 approved during the year, and it is interesting to know that 



