146 



"iCIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 213. 



that, relatively to the white, the negro is 

 decreasing. The greater increase among 

 whites is due in large part to immigration. 

 Without this factor, which has generally 

 been overlooked, white increase is smaller 

 than negro. This is borne out by the 

 higher birth-rate among negroes. The 

 present compensation of a higher infant 

 mortality will tend to disappear as the 

 negro is raised. Consequently we shall 

 soon be confronted with the circumstance 

 of an ever greater proportion of negro 

 population. The author reviewed various 

 methods of dealing with the negro problem, 

 finally advocating that of dispersion. 



Dr. Thomas Wilson presented a paper 

 upon modes of lighting museums, embody- 

 ing the results of investigations made by 

 him upon the transparency of kinds of 

 glass, illustrated by photographs. A paper 

 by Mr. Eoland B. Dixon upon ' Color Sym- 

 bolism of the Cardinal Points ' concluded 

 the morning's session. The paper was de- 

 voted largely to a discussion of the various 

 bases of association of colors with direc- 

 tions, such as light, climate, geographical 

 position, religion ; with the conclusion, 

 reached also in the ensuing discussion, that 

 there is no such principle of association that 

 is universal. 



The afternoon session was devoted to 

 archffiology, and it is perhaps a significant 

 fact that all the j)apers dealt with the ex- 

 treme western portion of the continent. 

 Dr. M. H. Saville presented a brief paper 

 upon the ' Mexican Stone Yoke,' which he 

 concluded to be a sj'mbol of death. The 

 other papers on the program were : ' Con- 

 tents of a Room Excavated in the Euins 

 of Pueblo Bonito, showing a Specialized 

 Form of Pottery,' by Mr. J. H. Pepper ; 

 ' Archaeological Investigations on the North 

 Pacific Coast of America,' by Mr. H. I. 

 Smith ; ' The California Indians,' by Profes- 

 sor McGee ; and ' Archisological Problems of 

 California,' by Professor Holmes, the last 



mentioned being postponed to the following 

 session. Professor McGee's extremely in- 

 teresting paper opened a discussion as to 

 the causes of the linguistic diversity of 

 certain regions, such as California ; and 

 Professor Holmes demonstrated very clearly 

 the great improbability of the remains in 

 California auriferous gravels, including the 

 Calaveras skull, dating back, as has been 

 claimed, to Middle Tertiary times. Owing to 

 the specialized and generally miscellaneous 

 character of all these papers, it is impossi- 

 ble even to attempt a summary of them. 

 But one point which they all made and 

 emphasized in common seems to deserve 

 mention : the complete, or at least great, re- 

 semblance of the archaeological finds to 

 articles of culture of the present time in the 

 same localities. 



The second day's session, at which Pro- 

 fessor McGee presided, was opened by 

 Major Powell, with a paper on the' Science 

 of Estheology. ' Major Powell's entire paper 

 was schematic, as well as exhaustive, and 

 this, together with the fact that the system 

 he presented is but part of a larger system- 

 atization, renders it impossible to do it 

 justice by reference to one or two of its 

 points. Mr. James Mooney discussed the 

 Indian Congress at Omaha. He spoke of 

 the growing recognition which this method 

 of ethnologic exhibition was gaining, and 

 dwelt upon the especial opportunities at ex- 

 positions. The Omaha Congress deserved 

 high praise for the general arrangement 

 of the, exhibits and the ingenuity of many 

 of the plans. The unrepresentativeness of 

 the tribes collected, however, was a serious, 

 and on the whole, avoidable defect. 



Papers by Miss Cornelia Horsford, on 

 ' Cairus in Southwestern Norway,' which 

 reveal great likeness to those found on the 

 Massachusetts coast, and by A. S. Gatchet, 

 devoted to showing the radical identity, in 

 various American languages, of the terms 

 for real and true, and male, were read in 



