February 10, 1899.] 



SCmNGE. 



219 



uary 3, 1899. The members of the Woman's 

 Anthropological Society were elected to mem- 

 bership in the Society, the former Society as a 

 body being absorbed by the Anthropological 

 Society. Miss Alice Fletcher read a paper on 

 'A Pawnee Ritual,' in which she laid stress 

 upon the fact that a literal translation of the 

 ritual did not convey the true meaning, did not 

 express the poetic thoughts or the real phil- 

 osophy of the ritual, and these could only be 

 obtained by a free translation, based upon an 

 intimate knowledge of the Indian's picturesque 

 and poetic expression of his thoughts. 



Mr. Francis La Flesche sang a part of the 

 ritual, to show the manner in which the Priest 

 rendered it. 



Discussed by Mr. Gushing. 



Mr. W. H. Holmes read a paper on ' One 

 Step in the Evolution of the Maya Temple.' 

 Mr. Holmes described the remarkable edifices 

 the ruins of which are found in numerous ancient 

 cities of the Maya territory, and dwelt briefly 

 upon their origin and development, but the 

 chief object of the paper was to indicate the 

 very pronounced influence of the corbelled 

 arch, sometimes called the Maya arch, on the 

 buildings. Without stopping to discuss the 

 question as to whether the suggestion of this 

 method of spanning chamber spaces came from 

 within or without the Maya province, the man- 

 ner in which it would probably supplant the 

 horizontal beam of wood or the slab of stone 

 was pointed out. Ofisetting the upper stones 

 of a wall enabled the builder to span the space 

 with shorter beams or stones and led finally to 

 the exclusive use of stone, a great step in the 

 direction of permanency. The effect of the 

 arch upon the chambers was to widen them 

 considerably and greatly to increase their 

 height ; but the most remarkable result was ex- 

 terior, as the height was more than doubled. 

 The doorways were not changed, however, and 

 the original fagade remained the same, being 

 limited above by a heavy cornice representing 

 the ends of the horizontal beams or eaves of the 

 early period. The added upper wall, carried 

 up vertically in Yucatan and at a high angle in 

 more southern sections, was devoted entirely 

 to ornament and became the most remarkable 

 feature of the structures, affording the builders 



no end of opportunities for displaying their 

 genius for sculpture and their devotion to sym- 

 bolism. 



Discussed by Messrs. Gushing and McGee. 

 J. H. McCORMICK, 



Secretary. 



THE NEW YOKE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES — SEC- 

 TION OF PSYCaOLOGY AND ANTHRO- 

 POLOGY, JANUARY 23. 



Theee was an unusually good attendance at 

 the regular meeting of the Section. From the 

 psychologists there were papers by Chas. H. 

 Judd, of New York University, on ' The Visual 

 Perception of Linear Distances ;' by B. B. Breese, 

 of Golumbia, on ' Some Experiments in the Vol- 

 untary Control of Retinal Rivalry,' and by C. B. 

 Bliss, on ' A Modification of one of the Psycho- 

 physical Methods.' 



On the part of the anthropologists there was 

 a brief report by the returning members of the 

 expedition sent out by the American Museum 

 of Natural History to study the Gilliak tribes 

 of eastern Asia. A paper was then read by 

 A. Hrdlicka, of the Museum, giving the result 

 of a study of the custom of painting bones. 



Two other papers on anthropology contained 

 in the program went over to the next meeting 

 for lack of time. G. B. Bliss, 



Secretary. 



SECTION OF ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS — JANUARY 

 2, 1890. 



The section was called to order by Chairman 

 Dudley, 19 persons being present. In the ab- 

 sence of the Secretary, Mr. T. G. White was 

 elected Secretary pro tern. 



The first paper of the evening was by Pro- 

 fessor Wm. Hallock, printed on page 210. 



In the discussion which followed. Professor 

 D. W. Hering suggested connecting the string 

 or spiral by which impulses are imparted to the 

 ring, to a tuning fork, the rate of vibration of 

 which could be regulated by weighing and 

 which could be operated electrically, for re- 

 ciprocating motion of small amplitude and of a 

 known rate. 



The second paper was by Dr. F. L. Tufts on 

 the ' Absorption and reflection of sound waves 



