June 9, 1899.] 



SCIENGE. 



■95 



would be invisible. One of the dealers 

 selling these packages was brought before 

 the Committee and testified that some of 

 the richest people living in Chicago were 

 his customers, buying this substance and 

 knowing that it was oleomargarine, but 

 who desired that the fact of its use by them 

 should be kept secret. 



The ethics of coloring butter and oleo- 

 margarine was also discussed before the 

 Committee, and it was brought out in evi- 

 dence that if oleomargarine was colored 

 pink or any other color than butter color 

 its use as butter would be practically de- 

 stroyed. 



Evidence was also given in the matter of 

 making artificial whiskies from cologne 

 spirits, burnt sugar and the ethers of the 

 organic acids, together with the essential 

 oil to give the proper bead. It was de- 

 veloped that the trade iu these synthetic 

 drinks was very large, and that the natural 

 products suffer severely in competition. 



Much testimonj' wasalso given in regard to 

 the adulteration of the ordinary condiments, 

 such as ground pepper, mustard, cinnamon 

 and so forth. It appeared that these bodies 

 were largely mixed with inert matter, so 

 that the purchaser would really get very 

 little of the condiment which he desired. 

 It was shown that ground coifee was mixed 

 largely with chicory and other substances, 

 and that the coffee bean was mixed with an 

 artificial bean or with a certain proportion 

 of the dead or imperfect beans, which were 

 not only useless for flavoring the bevei-age, 

 but, on the other hand, were bitter and un- 

 palatable. 



The session of the Committee in Chicago 

 had for its object the outlining of the scope 

 of the investigation which will be continued 

 during the summer months in other locali- 

 ties of the United States. The final pur- 

 pose of the Committee is to obtain material 

 on which to base a report in favor of a na- 

 tional pure food and drug bill, having for 



its object the regulation of traffic in the 

 adulteration of food in the District of 

 Columbia and the Territories and the con- 

 trol of inter-State commerce in adulterated 

 food and drug products. 



AMERIND— A DESIGNATION FOB THE AB- 

 ORIGINAL TRIBES OF THE AMERI- 

 CAN HEMISPHERE. 



A PART of the proceedings of the Anthro- 

 pological Society of Washington, at a meet- 

 ing on May 23d last, seem destined to 

 produce permanent influence on ethnologic 

 nomenclature ; this part of the proceedings 

 taking the form of a symposium on the 

 name of the native American tribes. The 

 discussion was opened by Colonel F. F. 

 Hilder, of the Bureau of American Ethnol- 

 ogy, with a critical account of the origin of 

 the misnomer 'Indian,' applied by Colum- 

 bus to the American aborigines ; he was 

 followed by Major J. W. Powell, who advo- 

 cated the substitution of the name Amerind, 

 recently suggested in a conference with 

 lexicographers. A communication by Dr. 

 O. T. Mason followed, in which the various 

 schemes of ethnologic classification and no- 

 menclature were summarized and discussed. 

 Contributions to the symposium were made 

 also by Dr. Albert S. Gatschet, Dr. Thomas 

 Wilson and Miss Alice C. Fletcher. At 

 the close of the discussion the contribu- 

 tions were summarized (by^ President Mc- 

 Gee) as follows : 



1. There is no satisfactory denotive term 

 in use to designate the native American 

 tribes. Most biologists and many ethnol- 

 ogists employ the term ' American ' ; but 

 this term is inappropriate, iu that it con- 

 notes, and is commonly used for, the pre- 

 sent predominantly Caucasian population. 

 The term ' Indian ' is used in popular speech 

 and writing, and to a slight extent in 

 ethnologic literature ; but it is seriously ob- 

 jectionable in that it perpetuates an error, 

 and for the further reason that it connotes 



