jANtJABT 23, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



147 



and sometimes through the rituals of religious 

 or other societies. These factors were illus- 

 trated by reference to the tribes of the North 

 Pacific Coast and the Gulf area. A possible 

 evolution was suggested in three stages, first, the 

 haphazard collection of hunters, fishers, or per- 

 haps agriculturalists, in a certain spot; second, 

 the development of social relations among them, 

 particularly through iatermarriage, and thirdly, 

 a religious seal or stamp of unity, though it was 

 not the writer's intention to set this up as a hard 

 and fast process of evolution. It was noted that 

 totemic clans among some tribes might have been 

 evolved in a similar manner. In conclusion, a 

 short comparison was made between the Indian 

 village and the modern city, attention being called 

 to the fact that in the latter the most important 

 determining factor is trade, while in the former 

 relationship, religious observances, and to some 

 extent motives of protection, were much more 

 prominent. 



The subject was discussed at some length by Mr. 

 J. N. B. Hewitt, who confined his remarks to the 

 village in the social organization of the Iroquois. 

 The basis of the social organization was actual or 

 fictitious blood kinship traced through the mother. 

 The cohesiveness of the several units was obtained 

 through the ties of duty and privilege subsisting 

 between clans imited by the marriage of their 

 sons and daughters. The elans were organized 

 into two phratries or sisterhoods of clans, one of 

 which represented the masculine and the other the 

 feminine, in nature. This division was maintained 

 in all public meetings. The one side was, there- 

 fore, called the "father side," and the other, the 

 "child side," which of course was the "mother 

 side." Strong lines of actual or artificial kin- 

 ship and cleavage existed between these two 

 groups. 



The clans' totems have no especial religious 

 significance at present, that is, there are no cere- 

 monies in honor of them. That there were such 

 in early times is quite possible. The decadence 

 of the worship of the clan totem was probably 

 due to the unification of the clan government into 

 that of the tribe, and later, of the tribe into that 

 of the confederation. The great influence of the 

 council of women, composed of mothers only, in 

 the affairs of the village and tribe and confed- 

 eration was emphasized, and illustrated by the 

 effectiveness with which they could stop or pre- 

 vent a war. They needed only to forbid their 

 sons to engage in warlike activity under penalty 



of becoming outlaws to the tribe and confedera- 

 tion. The gradual adoption of the Tuscarora 

 tribe of North Carolina by the Iroquois League 

 on motion of the Oneidas as their sponsors, was 

 described, the Tuscaroras being first regarded as 

 infants, then as boys who were not allowed to 

 take part in the wars and councils of the League, 

 and then, finally, as warriors having their own 

 federal chiefs to represent them in the Federal 

 Council of the League. 



The 469th regular meeting of the society was 

 held November 25, 1913, the president, Mr. Stet- 

 son, in the chair. 



Dr. Daniel Folkmar, who has charge of the re- 

 port on "Mother Tongue" in the Bureau of the 

 Census, addressed the Society on "Some Eesults 

 of the First Census of European Eaces in the 

 United States." Statistics of the mother tongue, 

 or native language, of the "foreign white stock" 

 of the United States are presented in the report 

 soon to be issued by the Bureau of the Census. 

 It was prepared under the supervision of the chief 

 statistician, for population, assisted by the 

 speaker as expert special agent. There are pre- 

 sented, for the first time in the census, figures 

 directly relating to the ethnic composition of the 

 white population of the United States, in so far 

 as that is indicated by the native language. 

 This term is taken to mean the language of cus- 

 tomary speech in the homes of the immigrants be- 

 fore immigration. 



One of the most interesting facts disclosed in 

 this report is the great numerical preponderance 

 which is still held by the mother tongues of north- 

 western Europe, as a whole, notwithstanding the 

 high rank numerically which has been gained by a 

 few individual mother tongues from eastern and 

 southern Europe — especially the Italian, Polish and 

 Yiddish. These three now stand third, fourth and 

 fifth in rank. The English and Celtic mother 

 tongues are by all odds the ones most largely rep- 

 resented in the foreign white stock of the United 

 States. The number, 10,037,420, is considerably 

 greater than that of the German mother tongue, 

 which latter contributes more than one fourth 

 (27.3 per cent.) of the total foreign white stock 

 of the United States, as reported in 1910. Italian, 

 Polish and Yiddish come next in rank, but none 

 of them number as much as one fourth of the 

 German. To these three mother tongues, inter- 

 mediate in rank but considerable in numbers, may 

 be added the Swedish, French and Norwegian, all 

 belonging to northwestern Europe, except a por- 



