124 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



sirable, however, to extend somewhat the scope of the work, and to at- 

 tempt the preparation of but one volume instead of two. Mr. Wilson, 

 the present curator, has taken up the work of the DepartQient where 

 it was left by the death of Dr. Ran, and proposes to complete the lit- 

 erary work which his predecessor had on hand. That work when com- 

 pleted and published will stand as a catalogue of the objects in this 

 department of the Museum, a work for which there is great need and 

 almost constant demand. 



The existence of man on the American continent, especially in the 

 United States, during the paleolithic period of the Stone Age has for 

 many years attracted the attention and excited the interest of prehis- 

 toric anthropologists in Europe as well as in America. Dr. Eau had 

 promised himself to give it his serious attention as soon as he should 

 complete the work he had then in hand. His death prevented his car- 

 rying out this intention. The need for it was pressing, and the discov- 

 ery of paleolithic implements in great numbers in the immediate neigh- 

 borhood of Washington City seemed to present an opportunity not to 

 be neglected. 



Special investigations were begun, studies were made in the lield, 

 local archaeologists were asked to assist, to which they responded with 

 alacrity. A result of all this was the issuance by the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution of Circular 36, which appealed to the archaBol- 

 ogists of the various localities of the United States to give such infor- 

 mation concerning the paleolithic implements, their existence, plente- 

 ousness, and geographic distribution as they might be able. This cir- 

 cular was issued in January, 1888, and the first response was received 

 on February 6. The names and addresses were obtained principally 

 from our own books, supplementing them with such museuQis and col- 

 lections as might be publicly known. Up to the 30th of June there had 

 been received two hundred and nine responses. A paper discussing 

 fully the objects of this circular and the information received in reply 

 is published in Section m of this report. 



GENERAL REVIEW OF THE YEAR'S WORK. 



From the middle of February until the 1st of June the entire office, 

 after the current daily work required, devoted itself almost exclusively 

 to the answers to Circular 36 and the replies thereto, and the further 

 necessary correspondence engendered thereby, and also to the arrang- 

 ing, cataloguing, and assorting the paleolithic implements received. 



The outcome of this office work has established the fact of the gen- 

 eral distribution of these paleolithic implements over the United States, 

 aud, consequently, the existence of a paleolithic period on this conti- 

 nent. It at least establishes the existence and general distribution in 

 America of a civilization closely corresponding to that of the earlier 

 l)aleolithic period in Europe. 



Without stopping to argue or demonstrate the truth of this conclu- 



