Mabch 26, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



509 



Eastern Algonkins " was the subject of Professoi- 

 Eoland B. Dixon's presidential address before the 

 American Folk-Lore Society. It will be printed 

 in the first number of the FoUc-Lore Journal for 

 the current year. 



The reports of several standing committees of 

 the American Anthropological Association were 

 of such general interest as to be in the nature of 

 papers. That of the committee on archeological 

 nomenclature, Dr. Charles Peabody, chairman, was 

 ordered to be printed in full as a report of prog- 

 ress, as follows: 



The following report has been prepared by 

 Professor John H. Wright, Mr. J. D. McGuire, 

 Mr. F. W. Hodge, Mr. W. K. Moorehead and Dr. C. 

 Peabody, chairman. The recent illness and death 

 of Professor Wright deprived the committee of 

 his advice and suggestion during the final draft- 

 ing; with this exception the report is unanimous. 



To the President and Menibers of the American 



Anthropological Association: 



The committee on nomenclature of specimens 

 has the honor of submitting the following report; 

 it covers only certain divisions of objects in clay 

 and of objects in stone; the departments referred 

 to saem to the committee to be peculiarly suited 

 to a rigid examination resulting in definition, 

 classification and naming. 



In all the object of the committee has been 

 to reduce everything to its lowest terms, to use 

 English words, if possible, and words that shall 

 be perfectly clear in denotation to scholars at 

 home and abroad, and to adhere as closely as may 

 be to classifications already made standard. 



As has been well said, the difficulty in classi- 

 fication and nomenclature comes from our 'lack of 

 complete and detailed knowledge. 



The classifications here offered and the defi- 

 nitions here proposed in some detail are based, so 

 far as is possible, on form alone. It is, of course, 

 taken as an axiom that a classification based on 

 form assumes no theory of the development, inter- 

 relation or conventionalization of forms or types 

 in any manner whatsoever; it has been the par- 

 ticular aim of the committee to avoid or get rid 

 of those classes and names that are based on uses 

 assumed but not universally proved for certain 

 specimens. 



Should the attempt meet with the favor of the 

 members of the association, it should be possible 

 at a future date to apply the same principles to 

 a detailed examination of other stone specimens 

 and to specimens in shell, basketry and textiles, 

 so far as has not been already done. 



ABTICLES IN CLAY 



Simple vessels in clay may be presumed to 

 cover all forms except eccentric or conventional- 

 ized (i. e., animal-shaped) forms, on the one hand, 

 and discs and pipes on the other. 



It is suggested by the committee that mem- 

 bers of the American Anthropological Association 

 having occasion to describe clay vessels may 

 classify them: first, as to material, as consisting 

 of clay, sand, shell and their combinations, and 

 as possessing certain general ground-color; second, 

 as to manufacture, as sun-dried or fired, as coiled 

 or modeled — ^with the variations and steps of each 

 process; third, as to form; fourth, as to decora- 

 tion, as plain, stamped, incised or painted. With 

 regard to form the committee begs to offer the 

 following definitions and suggestions in classifi- 

 cations. 



In all cases measurements are considered as 

 referring to an upward direction. 



A simple vessel must consist of a body and may 

 have a rim, neck, foot, handle or any combination. 



( 1 ) Body: A formation capable of holding with- 

 in itself a liquid or a solid substance. 



(2) Rim: (A) A part of the vessel forming the 

 termination of the body. (B) A part of the vessel 

 recognizable by a change in the thickness of the 

 material in the terminal sections. 



(3) Neck: A part of the vessel recognizable by 

 a more or less sudden decrease in the rate of 

 increase or decrease of the diameter. 



(4) Foot: An attachment to the vessel which 

 serves as the support to the body when upright. 



(5) Handle: A part of the vessel consisting of 

 some outside attachment, not serving as support. 



Body. — It is suggested that in comparing the 

 forms or cross-sections of vessels particular atten- 

 tion be paid to the proportion of the diameter to 

 the height, to the rate of change of this proper^ 

 tion, to the place of change of direction in this 

 proportion and to refer to the following defini- 

 tions of the two dimensions: 



Height: The distance from the base to a hori- 

 zontal plane passing through the most distant 

 part of the rim. 



Diameter: The distance from any one point on 

 the sides to any opposite point on the sides meas- 

 ured on a plane at right angles to the height. 



Base: The point of contact or a plane of con- 

 tact of the body with a horizontal surface. 



Types: Body. — These are so various, depend- 

 ing on relative height and diameter of the cross- 

 section, that an analysis is too cvunbersome to be 

 of service to general reference. 



