OoTOBEB 29, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



615 



stone pipes. The marine shell beads and the 

 Michigan native copper objects are also somewhat 

 characteristic. In addition to the three classes of 

 tumuli and the ridges there are communal house- 

 sites or large enclosures. The largest measured 

 by the writer was eighty feet wide and two hun- 

 dred and twenty-five feet long. The wall of this 

 enclosure is now about ten feet thick and eighteen 

 inches high. There are many cromlechs or stone- 

 circles in Saskatchewan, and probably some occur 

 in Manitoba. Possibly the extinct Arikaras of 

 Dakota were related to the builders of the more 

 ancient of the burial mounds in this region. A 

 copper wedge, a sheet of native silver and copper, 

 an amulet and other specimens from Ontario, as 

 well as many photographs and drawings of Mani- 

 toba mound products, were exhibited to the mem- 

 bers of the association. 



In " The Blackfoot Medical Priesthood," Dr. 

 John MacLean defined medicine men, or, to use a 

 better term, the medical priesthood, as shamans, 

 conjurers, doctors, prophets and priests, and gave 

 the different grades in the priesthood. The sub- 

 ject of initiation was dealt with, and the course 

 of instruction was outlined. Previous to this 

 the would-be medicine man undergoes a period 

 of voluntary seclusion, during which he fasts and 

 sees visions. The dress and facial decoration of 

 the fraternity was described, and the sacred num- 

 bers were explained. The subject of disease was 

 next treated, the Blackfeet being particularly 

 prone to small-pox and consumption. The causes 

 of the diseases were discussed, especially the in- 

 fluence which the belief in evil spirits has upon 

 the minds and bodies of the natives. The author 

 then treated of the medicine man in connection 

 with religion, such subjects as animism, sacred 

 stones, sacrifice, spiritualism, hypnotism, prophecy 

 and incantation being discussed, as well as medi- 

 cine songs, charms and amulets. Lastly, the 

 author considered native medicines and remedies, 

 and discussed the value of the work of the medi- 

 cine men among the natives, and the influence 

 exercised by them on the native religion. 



The western hemisphere did not by any means 

 monopolize the attention of the section. In addi- 

 tion to the reports of standing committees already 

 noted, a number of papers were presented and on 

 a variety of subjects. Mr. D. G. Hogarth sent a 

 paper giving the results of " Recent Hittite Re- 

 search," which confirm the theory that the original 

 home of the Hittites was Cappadocia. The city of 

 Boghaz Kai was the center of the confederacy and 

 contained the royal archives of the Hittite kings 



from the fifteenth to the twelfth centuries B.C. 



Dr. T. Ashby presented a communication on 

 " Prehistoric Antiquities in Malta." Excavations 

 have been conducted by the government of Malta 

 on the Corradino Hill, in which the cooperation 

 of the British School at Rome has been cordially 

 welcomed, and its investigations assisted in every 

 way; the supervision has been entrusted to the 

 director of the school and to Mr. T. E. Peet, stu- 

 dent of the school, assisted by the constant co- 

 operation of Dr. T. Zammit, curator of the mu- 

 seum. The great megalithic buildings of Gigantia, 

 Mnaidra and Hagar-Kim, which Dr. Arthur Evans 

 considers to have been buildings of a sepulchral 

 character in which a cult of departed heroes grad- 

 ually grew up, and other smaller prehistoric 

 monuments of the islands, have been carefully 

 described by Dr. Albert Mayr, though others have 

 since become known, but excavation was needed 

 in order that many essential facts might be ascer- 

 tained. The investigation of the rock-cut hypo- 

 geum of Halsaflieni, the architectural features of 

 which imitate in the most surprising way those 

 of the sanctuaries above ground, has for the first 

 time produced an adequate series, available for 

 study, of the prehistoric pottery of Malta; for 

 from the excavations of Hagar-Kim but little has 

 been, unfortunately, preserved. Dr. Zammit and 

 Professor Tagliaferro will shortly publish ade- 

 quate descriptions of the hypogeum and its con- 

 tents. Of the three groups of megalithic build- 

 ings on the Corradino Hill, two had been already 

 in great part excavated in the nineties, and the 

 complete clearing of the upper one, which appar- 

 ently was of a domestic character, was the first 

 work undertaken in May. Its plan is extremely 

 irregular, and much of it can hardly have been 

 roofed unless in thatch or woodwork. A consid- 

 erable quantity of pottery was found, very similar 

 in character to that of Halsaflieni, and belonging, 

 like it, to the late neolithic period. It has some 

 affinities with pottery recently found in Terra- 

 nova, the ancient Gela, in Sicily, but in many 

 respects is unique. Many flints were found, but 

 no traces of metal. A stone pillar was found in 

 one portion of the building, some two feet eight 

 inches long and about ten inches in diameter, 

 which may have been an object of worship. The 

 excavation of a second and smaller group, nearer 

 the harbor, had been already completed by Dr. 

 Zammit and Professor Tagliaferro; but a third, 

 further to the south, on the summit of the ridge, 

 had never been examined, and it, too, was thor- 

 oughly investigated. An even larger quantity of 



