612 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 774 



tached thrown against high-roofed buildings. A 

 survey of all that has so far been discovered at 

 Chichen gives a vivid idea of primitive battle 

 array. 



One whole day was devoted to papers and dis- 

 cussion relating to a proposed ethnographical 

 survey of Canada. Mr. E. Sidney Hartland began 

 with a " Retrospect " which told of the state of 

 culture encountered by the French when they took 

 possession of the territory in the seventeenth cen- 

 tury and which reviewed the work that has been 

 carried on since then by men as well as institu- 

 tions. 



Professor Franz Boas, whose investigations in 

 the Canadian field of anthropology are of the first 

 importance, summed up the " Ethnological Prob- 

 lems of Canada." In the past twenty years a gen- 

 eral reconnaissance has been made largely through 

 the influence and financial aid of the British Asso- 

 ciation. The time has come to concentrate atten- 

 tion on specific regions and problems. Many of 

 the general problems embrace the whole of the 

 western hemisphere, such, for example, as the 

 wide distribution of Indian corn and the angular 

 character of the art. The culture of the American 

 Indians is remarkably uniform in comparison to 

 that of Africa or Australia. The continent may 

 be divided into a central, marginal, isthmian and 

 an island region. The Canadian aborigines belong 

 to the northern marginal culture. The origin of 

 the Iroquois is placed in the southern Appalachian 

 Mountains, although at the time of the discovery 

 they occupied the lower St. Lawrence. The Iro- 

 quoian language has nothing in common with 

 Algonquian, Siouian or Eskimo. On the other 

 hand, it resembles the Pawnee and the tribes of 

 the southwest. The blow gun of the Iroquois 

 seems to connect them with the peoples of the 

 Gulf of Mexico and of South America. The Iro- 

 quois, therefore, do not belong to the northern 

 marginal culture. The Cree (Algonquin) of 

 Labrador have migrated as far west as Kamloops, 

 B. C, and isolated Athabascan tribes are found 

 along the Pacific coast. Lack of intensity of the 

 Athapascan culture accounts for the readiness 

 with which it is influenced by contact with neigh- 

 boring cultures. The Alaskan Eskimo came in 

 recent times from northeastern America instead 

 of from Asia, as was formerly believed. On the 

 other hand, that there has been close contact 

 between Siberia and northwestern America is sug- 

 gested by house forms and in other ways. One of 

 the problems is to trace the northwestern limit of 

 the use of pottery. 



An " Ethnographic Study of the White Settlers " 

 was discussed by Dr. F. C. Shrubsall, who spoke 

 01 what was being done to improve the breeds of 

 live stock and the varieties of grain in contrast 

 with the lack of interest shown in the improvement 

 of the human race. The speaker urged upon the 

 government the importance of taking preventive 

 measures while the dominion was still young as 

 a means of avoiding the necessity of remedial 

 measures which confront the peoples of the old 

 world. 



Dr. G. B. Gordon contributed two papers on 

 American anthropology. The first of these was a 

 review of the researches into the history of man 

 on the North American continent that have been 

 carried on under the auspices of the government 

 and institutions of the United States. He called 

 attention to certain far-reaching changes that 

 have been witnessed in the attitude of the edu- 

 cated classes and especially of the institutions of 

 learning with reference to those studies that fall 

 directly within the province of anthropology, 

 changes which it is believed are destined to afi'ect 

 very profoundly those interrelated branches of 

 learning, which, like history and sociology, are 

 most directly affected by the anthropological 

 method. These tendencies are made manifest by 

 the history of anthropological activities in those 

 quarters that are most influential in shaping edu- 

 cational development and methods of research. 



The work of the Smithsonian Institution 

 through the Bureau of Ethnology has been a 

 prominent factor in promoting that interest in 

 the study of the native races which has been 

 carried on with successful results by the great 

 universities and museums of the country. Noth- 

 ing in the history of anthropology is more signifi- 

 cant than the present condition of archeological 

 studies in the great universities as contrasted 

 with that which obtained a few years ago. Until 

 very recently the name of American archeology 

 was obnoxious because it was foreign to European 

 civilization. To-day in the same quarters the 

 chief archeological interest lies in the prehistoric 

 period; and with a realization of the unity of all 

 problems of human development comes a rapidly 

 increasing interest in American archeology as a 

 subject of study. This is the condition of arche- 

 ological science in American institutions of learn- 

 ing to-day; and as an index of this condition the 

 Archeological Institute of America, which for 

 many years has maintained schools at Athens, 

 Rome and Jerusalem has only last year estab- 

 lished a similar school in New Mexico and is 



