234 SCIENCE. 
can in many instances be interpreted by 
comparison with Mexican carvings and 
with Mexican modes of symbolic expression 
of sacred objects and religious ideas. The 
symbolic animals carved on bone or in 
stone and the perfection of the terra cotta 
figures point to the same source for the 
origin of the art. 
In connection with the art of the build- 
ers let us consider the earth structures 
themselves. The great mound at Cahokia, 
with its several platforms, is only a reduc- 
tion of its prototypeat Cholula. The forti- 
fied hills have their counterparts in Mexico. 
The serpent effigy is the symbolic serpent 
of Mexico and Central America. The prac- 
tice of cremation and the existence of altars 
for ceremonial sacrifices strongly suggest 
ancient Mexican rites. We mustalso recall 
that we have a connecting link in the an- 
cient pueblos of our own Southwest, and 
that there is some evidence that in our 
Southern States, in comparatively recent 
times, there were a few remnants of this old 
people. It seems to me, therefore, that we 
must regard the culture of the builders of 
the ancient earthworks as oneand the same 
with that of ancient Mexico, although modi- 
fied by environment. 
Our Northern and Eastern tribes came in 
contact with this people when they pushed 
their way southward and westward, and 
many arts and customs were doubtless 
adopted by the invaders, as shown by cus- 
toms still lingering among some of our In- 
dian tribes. It is this absorption and ad- 
mixture of the peoples that has in the 
course of thousands of years brought all our 
American peoples into a certain conformity. 
This does not, however, prove a unity of 
race. 
It is convenient to group the living tribes 
by their languages. The existence of more 
than a hundred and fifty different lan- 
guages in America, however, does not prove 
a common origin, but rather a diversity of 
[N. 8S. Von. X. No. 243. 
origin as well as a great antiquity of man 
in America. 
That man was on the American continent 
in quaternary times, and possibly still 
earlier, seems to me as certain as that he 
was on the Old World during the same 
period. The Calaveras skull, that bone of 
contention, is not the only evidence of his 
early occupation of the Pacific coast. On 
the Atlantic side the recent extensive ex- 
plorations of the glacial and immediately 
following deposits at Trenton are confirma- 
tory of the occupation of the Delaware 
Valley during the closing centuries of the 
glacial period and possibly also of the in- 
terglacial time. The discoveries in Ohio, 
in Florida and in various parts of Central 
and South America all go to prove man’s 
antiquity in America. Admitting the 
great antiquity of one or more of the early 
groups of man on the continent, and that 
he spread widely over it while in the 
paleolithic and early neolithic stages of cul- 
ture, I cannot see any reason for doubting 
that there were also later accessions during 
neolithic times and even when social in- 
stitutions were well advanced. While 
these culture epochs mark certain phases 
in the development of a people, they cannot 
be considered as marking special periods of 
time. In America we certainly do not find 
that correlation with the Old World periods 
which we are so wont to take for granted. 
We have now reached the epoch of care- 
ful and thorough exploration and of con- 
scientious arrangement of collections in 
our scientific museums. It is no longer 
considered sacreligious to exhibit skulls, 
skeletons and mummies in connection with 
the works of the same peoples. Museums 
devoted primarily to the education of the 
public in the esthetic arts are clearing their 
cases of heterogeneous collections of ethno- 
logical and archeological objects. Museums 
of natural history are being arranged to 
show the history and distribution of animal 
