XXXVIII BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
the Maine woods, and comparing these with the corresponding 
devices of the American tribes generally, it is found that the 
industries involving the use of stone for implements or weapons 
fall into a highly significant order, which, despite some over- 
lapping of phases, seems to represent the normal course of 
industrial evolution. The first stage is that in which stone is 
used in natural or fortuitous condition, without predetermined 
design or invention, as among the Seri Indians; this is the 
protolithic stage. It is noteworthy that, in the typical case, and 
presumptively in others, the prevailing industrial devices of 
this stage are of organic material and approach in form and 
function the biotic armament of lower animals. They are the 
readiest substitutes for, and the direct analogues of, teeth and 
claws. The second stage is that represented by wrought stone, 
shaped largely or wholly in accordance with predetermined 
design, whether by battering (undoubtedly the original method) 
or by flaking and chipping; it may be called the technolithic 
stage. This stage is represented by most of the American 
tribes. It is clearly to be noted that this arrangement of stages 
in the development of primitive industry is based wholly on 
research among the American Indians and among the relies of 
their prehistoric ancestors. It is not designed to supplant or 
discredit classifications based on the industrial devices of other 
countries. It is constructive and not destructive, and is formu- 
lated merely as a contribution to scientific knowledge concern- 
ing the aborigines of the Western Hemisphere. 
Another line of research in technology, conducted chiefly 
during the year, though the results were incorporated in a 
paper accompanying a preceding report, relates to primitive 
surgery and medicine. The work, which was based on a col- 
lection of Peruvian crania, was conducted by Mr McGee. Its 
details are significant, in that the interpretations are based on 
the primitive sophiology known to have prevailed among the 
aborigines up to the time of Caucasian invasion, rather than 
on the more realistic philosophy by which civilized practi- 
tioners are guided. The stages of development of curative 
surgical treatment, as traced in the course of the researches, 
need not be repeated; suffice it to say that the investigation 
