14 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



lyzed with the result that they exhibited the essential char- 

 acteristics, extending even to curiously minute details, of 

 those traced to the prehistoric dwellers upon the foot-hills of 

 the Hindu Kush. These resemblances in philosophy and 

 psychology are too numerous and obvious to be merely acci- 

 dental, and no theory has of late been advocated of an}' mi- 

 gration or transplanting which would satisfactorily account 

 for them. They present an argument that the philosophy, 

 which includes religion, of savagery and barbarism as stages 

 in humanity, is substantially the same everywhere and at 

 all eras of the world, and that it is neither the debris of some 

 primeval universal revelation, nor the apotheosis of history, 

 but is simply an attempt to account for such phenomena as 

 were observed. This attempt was naturally made in a sim- 

 ilar manner by people in like circumstances of environment 

 and development. It may also be deduced that the nature- 

 worship and linguistic schools of mythology are in error in 

 attributing fetichism and zoolatry to the degradation of 

 thought and language, as they appear to be antecedent 

 stages from which the old Aryans had advanced beyond 

 most of our Indians in about the same degree as they had 

 progressed beyond them in civilization. The comprehen- 

 sive study of comparative mythology shows little evidence 

 of degeneracy, but wide-spreading and systematic evolution. 



Aboriginal Cemeteries near Piscataway, Md. 

 By ELMER R. REYNOLDS. 



These cemeteries are situated on a low range of foot-hills 

 between Farmington and Piscataway, in Prince George's 

 County. Capt. Dent P. Holton was led to their discovery 

 by finding bones exposed after a heavy rain. Upon dig- 

 ging, many objects are brought to light — among which are 

 axes, arrow-heads, spear-heads, pipes, knives, coins of the time 

 of Charles II, beads of bone, shell, amber and chalcedony, 



