266 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1185 



the same througliout, and the temperature at 

 the highest level would be the same as below." 

 Density could not be the same, for the air is 

 compressible. Finally, a student may wonder 

 at the apparent accuracy with which down- 

 pours of rain are measured in all kinds of 

 places, when he sees, for instance, that in a 

 rainstorm lasting " 0.0083 " hours it rained 

 at a rate of 480 mm. per hour (p. 216). 



The volume will probably be of greatest 

 value as a reference accompaniment to a well- 

 ordered course in meteorology. As a reference 

 book for the advanced student, however, it is 

 lacking in footnotes or bibliography; but it 

 offsets this with its wealth of tables computed 

 only with difficulty, and of illustrations and 

 diagrams drawn from valuable, inaccessible 

 sources. Charles F. Brooks 



Washington, D. C. 



Cancer, Its Cause and Treatment. II. Vol- 

 ume. By L. Duncan Bulkley. New York, 

 Paul B. Hoeber. 1917. 



The author believes, as he explained in his 

 preceding book and as he further elaborates 

 in the second volume, that cancer is essentially 

 excessive intake of animal proteid which is 

 a constitutional disease, due to a faulty nitro- 

 gen metabolism. He maintains that it is an 

 excessive intake of animal proteid which is 

 responsible for the great prevalence of cancer. 

 There are additional factors in the etiology of 

 cancer, but they are of relatively minor im- 

 portance. In the second volume the author 

 records in greater detail his investigations 

 into urinary and blood changes in cancer and 

 some results of his treatment which consists 

 essentially in a vegetarian diet aided by a 

 certain cathartic. In addition the author ac- 

 cepts the views of Ross, according to which 

 cancer is due to a lack of balance in partic- 

 ular mineral salts of the body, especially in 

 the salts of potassium. Dr. Bulkley finds the 

 conclusions of Ross confirmed in his owia prac- 

 tise, in which he noticed that a prescription 

 containing potassium acetate gave eminently 

 satisfactory results in the treatment of cancer. 

 Leo Loeb 

 "Washington Universitt Medical School 



THE VANISHING INDIAN 



The progress of miscegenation among many 

 of the Indian tribes has progressed to a degree 

 that is surprising even to those who for many 

 years have been studying the Indian. While 

 the total number of " Indians " as recorded 

 by the census increases from decade to decade, 

 the fact is that this increase is due wholly to 

 that of mixed bloods; the full-bloods of pure 

 strain are in most localities rapidly disappear- 

 ing and in a considerable proportion of the 

 tribes have become actually extinct or are on 

 the point of extinction. 



Two remarkable examples of this fact have 

 just been experienced by the writer. For 

 years a growing necessity in American Anthro- 

 pology has been to determine the physical type 

 of the Shawnee, once a large tribe and one of 

 considerable historic importance. No great 

 difficulty was apprehended in this task, as the 

 tribe is still well represented. The most 

 promising part of the tribe was that of the so- 

 called " absentee " Shawnee, on the Shawnee 

 Agency in eastern Oklahoma. They count 

 569 individuals, quite a few of whom are gen- 

 erally regarded as " full-bloods." 



Due to a grant of $100 from the Committee 

 of One Hundred on Research of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 the writer was able to visit the tribe during 

 the early part of August of this year. To his 

 great disappointment the task of finding 

 some pure-bloods became exceedingly diffi- 

 cult. Quite a few of the Indians were found 

 to be " full-bloods," but on inquiry into the 

 family history it was generally learned that 

 the subject was a mixture of Shawnee with the 

 Oneida, Delaware, Creeks, or some other tribe. 

 In conclusion, there were found but three in- 

 dividuals who so far as they or their friends 

 knew were full-blood Shawnee. Two of these 

 were old women and one an old man, all near 

 or over 70 years of age, and two of the three 

 were sister and brother. 



The next tribe visited were the Kickapoo, 

 the main body of which to the number of 211 

 is settled about McLoud, Oklahoma. They 

 were said by the old Shavtmee to be practically 



