228 
self, and still more of some of his succes- 
sors, seem to have been conducted on the 
principle of applying practically, and in all 
possible bearings, an established and indis- 
putable scientific truth, instead of testing 
by further evidence a novel and ingenious 
hypothesis.” 
At the close of this instructive paper are 
the following words: ‘‘If these conclu- 
sions, deduced from an examination of 
Canadian crania, are borne out by the 
premises, and confirmed by further investi- 
gation, this much at least may be affirmed: 
that a marked difference distinguishes the 
northern tribes, now or formerly occupying 
the Canadian area, in their cranial confor- 
mation, from that which pertains to the 
aborigines of Central America and the 
southern valley of the Mississippi; and in 
so far as the northern differ from the south- 
ern tribes they approximate more or less, 
in the points of divergence, to the charac- 
teristics of the Esquimaux: that intermedi- 
ate ethnic link between the Old and the 
New World, acknowledged by nearly all re- 
cent ethnologists to be physically a Mongol 
and Asiatic, if philologically an American.” 
The third paper of the meeting to which 
I shall refer was by another of our former 
Presidents, the then well-known student of 
Indian institutions and the author of the 
‘League of the Iroquois’ (1851). In this 
paper on ‘The Laws of Descent of the 
Iroquois,’ Morgan discusses the League as 
made up of five nations each of which was 
subdivided into tribes, and he explains the 
law of marriage among the tribes, the family 
relationship and the descent in the female 
line as essential to the maintenance of the 
whole system. He then says: 
‘Now the institutions of all the abo- 
riginal races of this continent havea family 
cast. They bear internal evidence of a 
common paternity, and point to a common 
origin, but remote, both as to time and 
place. That they all sprang from a com- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. X. No. 243. 
mon mind, and in their progressive devel- 
opment have still retained the impress of 
original elements, is abundantly verified. 
The Aztecs were thoroughly and essentially 
Indian. We have glimpses here and there 
at original institutions which suggest at 
once, by their similarity, kindred ones 
among the Iroquois and other Indian races 
of the present day. Their intellectual 
characteristics, and the predominant fea- 
tures of their social condition, are such as 
to leave no doubt upon this question; and 
we believe the results of modern research 
upon this point concur with this conclusion. 
Differences existed, it is true, but they were 
not radical. The Aztec civilization simply 
exhibited a more advanced development of 
those primary ideas of civil and social life 
which were common to the whole Indian 
family, and not their overthrow by the 
substitution of antagonistic institutions.” 
After calling attention to the fact that a 
similar condition exists among certain 
peoples of the Pacific Islands, he writes : 
‘‘ Whether this code of descent came out of 
Asia or originated upon this continent is 
one of the questions incapable of proof; 
and it must rest, for its solution, upon the 
weight of evidence or upon probable in- 
duction. Its existence among American 
races whose languages are radically 
different, and without any traditional 
knowledge among them of its origin, indi- 
cates a very ancient introduction; and 
would seem to point to Asia as the birth- 
place of the system.” 
It would be interesting to follow the suc- 
ceeding meetings of the Association and 
note the recurring presentation of views 
which the quotations I have given show to 
have been most seriously discussed over a 
generation ago. An historical review of 
the literature of American anthropology 
during the present century would also be 
interesting in this connection. It is prob- 
able, however, that a review of this litera- 
