Mat 10, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



463 



logical factor, which in this case can be shown 

 to be decisive. Perhaps the most suggestive 

 portion of the volume is at the end, where 

 Dr. Wissler brings out the ultimate common 

 derivation of the American peoples and those 

 of the great Mongoloid group in Asia. 

 Summed up, his conclusions are that a detach- 

 ment ol tlie parent Mongoloid group came 

 into America at a time when man had barely 

 attained the stage of making polished stone 

 implements. This period was not necessarily 

 contemporaneous with the same development 

 in Europe, for it may well have been even 

 earlier. After this detached portion of the 

 group had spread into the New World, cli- 

 matic changes cut oS the connection, and 

 forced both the parent and the derived group 

 toward the south. In the Old World, con- 

 tact with other differentiated groups gave to 

 the Asiatic branch culture stimuli; in the 

 New World these were lacking, and the people 

 developed in isolation. In the New World the 

 rate of progress along the culture road was 

 thus slower than in the Old, and we may well 

 ask what another thousand years of uninter- 

 rupted growth would have produced. 



Throughout the volume effective use is 

 made of maps showing the distribution of the 

 various features under discussion. If crit- 

 icism were to be made of these, it would be 

 in regard to the use of rigid rectilinear 

 boundaries. In spite of the author's justifi- 

 cation of this method on p. 242, it would 

 seem that his purposes could have been equally 

 attained by a little more adherence to the- 

 actual facts. It is also rather aggravating 

 to find several cases where the map and the 

 text do not agree. Thus on p. 59 it is said 

 that the loom was probably developed in the 

 area of intensive maize culture, and " from 

 there it was diffused around the north coast 

 of South America and down the east side," 

 yet in the map. Fig. 20, there is no indica- 

 tion of its extension beyond western Vene- 

 zuela. The plates and illustrations are in 

 general excellent, but one may question the 

 wisdom of reproducing the crude woodcuts 

 from Wood's antiquated volumes, when more 

 modern sources are available. 



In dealing with so large a body of evi- 

 dence, it is inevitable that many controversial 

 points should be touched upon, and reference 

 to a few of these may be made. There are 

 also a few cases of apparent contradiction, 

 and some errors of statement. Thus in the 

 chapter on food areas, the squash is said 

 (p. 18) to be cultivated in the northern half 

 of the eastern maize area, whereas in the list 

 of '■ Plants Cultivated by the Natives of the 

 New World before 1492" (p. 20) the area of 

 cultivation is given as " tropical America." 

 Again, on p. 12, the original inhabitants of 

 the Guanaco Area are said to have used the 

 lasso in hunting, although later (p. 35) this 

 instrument is declared to have been invented 

 only after the introduction of the horse by 

 Europeans. In showing the distribution of 

 tailored garments (Fig. 2.3) it is somewhat 

 doubtful whether the areas occupied by the 

 Montagnais and Nascopie in Labrador, and 

 by the Micmac in the Maritime Provinces, 

 should be included. In Fig. 24, showing the 

 distribution of types of footwear, the con- 

 siderable use of the sandal in the southeast- 

 ern states is not indicated. On p. Ill in 

 describing the houses of the Californians, a 

 somewhat incorrect impression is given, for 

 the large and solidly built semi-subterranean, 

 earth-covered lodges which were typical of 

 much of the Central Californian region, are 

 not referred to. In discussing the distribu- 

 tion of the grooved axe, its occurrence in 

 South America is said to be limited to Ecua- 

 dor, whereas it occurs outside this region, 

 from northwest Argentina to Guiana. 



In Chapter XIV., in discussing the several 

 culture areas. Dr. Wissler is right in saying 

 that the Eastern Woodland Area is one of 

 which the " characterization is difficult." 

 Granting this, it seems somewhat dubious to 

 select the Central Algonkin group as the 

 type, for if the northern is to be throvm out 

 because of its similarities to the Mackenzie 

 Area, the Iroquois and the Eastern because 

 of southern influence, this geographically 

 smallest portion lying southwest of the Great 

 Lakes is equally disqualified by this same 



