562 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1223 



tion of inclusions in sloping and rolling coun- 

 try may have been similarly eflfected ■without 

 leaving distinguishahle traces. It is the fail- 

 ure to recognize these important considera- 

 tions that has led in many cases to the confi- 

 dent and regrettable announcements on the 

 part of students respecting the original asso- 

 ciation of human remains with the remains of 

 fossil animals of the earlier periods. 



It is not the Vero evidence, however, which 

 requires particular attention at this time, 

 since the interpretations favoring great an- 

 tiquity are fully offset by the interpretations 

 of anthropologists of long experience in the 

 consideration of problems of the history of 

 man in the world and the evidence relating 

 thereto, but because questions of wide range 

 have been opened through the revamping by 

 Dr. Hay of a large body of so-called evidence 

 of geological antiquity which has long been 

 discredited and relegated to the historic scrap 

 heap where it should still remain.'- 



There is a peculiar and very strong fascina- 

 tion in the idea of hoary antiquity and on the 

 part of many students a disposition to dis- 

 cover parallels between the early events of hu- 

 man history in the old and new worlds, and the 

 gathering of data bearing on these ideas be- 

 comes an obsession. Had certain of our 

 archeologists in past decades not m.et with 

 strenuous opposition glacial man in America 

 would long ago have been fully " established." 

 We should now have in our museums large 

 collections of American paleolithic imple- 

 ments duplicating in nearly every respect the 

 paleoliths of Europe and no end of bones of 

 Pleistocene man and if now such views as 

 those of Dr. Hay are allowed to .prevail we shall 

 have to accept the conclusion that American 

 man had advanced to the pottery-making stage 

 in the middle or early Pleistocene, and that 

 after the lapse of a vast period the art was re- 

 vived by the same or another people using the 

 same materials, employing similar methods 

 and attaining identical results in the same 

 region— a marvel without parallel in the his- 

 tory of man. 



^American Anthropologist (N. S.), Vol. 20, 

 No. 1. 



It is manifestly a serious duty of the aroheol- 

 ogist and the historian of man to continue to 

 challenge every reported discovery suggesting 

 tie great geological antiquity of the race in 

 America and to expose the dangerous ventures 

 of little experienced or biased students in a 

 field which they have not made fully their own. 



Dr. Hay has published a map giving loca- 

 tions of finds of traces of man attributed to 

 the Pleistocene, these in cases being associated 

 more or less intimately with remains of 

 Elephas imperator. But this association is 

 open to different interpretations and I feel 

 justified in raising the danger signal in each 

 and every case since, if left alone, lamentable 

 errors may become fixtures on the pages of his- 

 tory. I therefore hasten to relabel the map 

 " Danger Signals for the Student of Human 

 History." 



I do not wish for a moment to stand in the 

 way of legitimate conclusions in this or any 

 other field of research, but illegitimate deter- 

 minations have been insinuating themselves 

 into the sacred confines of science and history 

 with such frequency and persistence that no 

 apology is required for these words of caution. 

 W. H. Holmes 



Department of Anthbopologt, 

 U. S. National Museum 



NOTE ON SUDAN III 



The toxicity of this dye, used so extensively 

 in the study of problems connected with 

 fat metabolism and vital staining, is a ques- 

 tion of considerable importance; on this ac- 

 count a preliminary notice is presented of the 

 finding that the preparations now on the mar- 

 ket are of very doubtful purity. 



Mendel and Daniels once stated that large 

 doses of this dye fed to cats were harmless, 

 provided the dye was pure. A preparation 

 put up by an American manufacturer was 

 given by them in large doses to two cats, which 

 subsequently died within a comparatively 

 short time, apparently from the effect of some 

 impurity in the dye. 



Some years later Salant & Bengis in their 

 pharmacological study of fat soluble dyes 

 stated that rabbits fed 1.7 gm. per kilo died in 



