90 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 55. 



tains, as in some parts of Siberia, there are 

 no glaciers, and there has been no glacia- 

 tion in the ordinary sense, but that in its 

 stead we have the singular phenomenon of 

 the Ground ice formation, a state of aifairs 

 in which ice plays the part of a more or 

 less regularly interstratiiied rock, above 

 which are the clays containing remains of 

 the mammoth and other animals, showing 

 that they became extinct not because of the 

 refrigeration of the region, but coincidently 

 with the coming of a warmer climate. 



In anthropology, in addition to large col- 

 lections obtained fi-om the living tribes, voca- 

 bularies, etc., the names and boundaries of 

 all the tribes were obtained for the first 

 time, the Eskimo were shown to exist on 

 the Asiatic coast as immigrants driven by 

 war from America, and a very ancient con- 

 fusion of these people with the Asiatic 

 Chukchi was definitely cleared up. The 

 data obtained in regard to the various 

 branches of the Eskimo stock brought wel- 

 come confirmation to the theory of Rink 

 on the origin of this people — a theory which 

 would probably have been by this time more 

 widely known if it had been more sensa- 

 tional and less scientific. 



The patient examination of many village 

 sites, shell heaps, and middens throughout 

 the Aleutian chain resulted in the discovery 

 that the successive strata, judged by the 

 implements found in them, showed a grad- 

 ual progress in culture from that of the low- 

 est, a crude Eskimo type, to that of the up- 

 permost stratum, which contained the evi- 

 dences of Aleut culture of the type immedi- 

 ately before their subjugation by the Rus- 

 sians. This was, I believe, at that time the 

 first instance in which the paleontologic 

 method, if I may call it so, had been applied 

 to the study of American shell-heaps. 



In biology the first object of the work 

 planned by Kennicott had been the determi- 

 nation of what constituted the fauna and 

 flora, and from that knowledge the determi- 



nation of the relations between the Asiatic 

 and American assemblies. This was ac- 

 complished in essentials, though it need not 

 be said that the details will still supply an 

 opportunity for study for many a year to 

 come. The enumeration of the greater 

 part of the population of mammals, birds 

 and fishes has been accomplished and the 

 plants have been fairly well collected, so 

 that we know that the fauna and flora, de- 

 duction being made of circumboreal species, 

 are essentially American and not tinctured 

 to any marked extent with Asiatic ingredi- 

 ents. Among the lower animals the brachi- 

 opods, hydroid zoophytes and corallines; 

 part of the sponges; the limpets, chitons 

 and nudibranchs among the mollusks, 

 have been monographically studied. The 

 Crustacea, insects, and a large part of the 

 the mollusks yet remain to be worked up in 

 a similar manner. 



To close the record of achievement, I may 

 mention the biblography of Alaskan litera- 

 ture, prepared by Mr. Baker and myself, 

 which, up to May, 1879, when it went to 

 press, comprised 3,832 titles in eleven lan- 

 guages. Since it was published by the 

 Coast Survey nearly as many more have 

 been accumulated, and the list probably 

 will continue to increase from year to year. 



Since mj"- field work closed, in 1880, 

 Alaskans have not been idle. The pros- 

 pector has invaded the recesses of the land, 

 and surveys, explorations and mountain- 

 eering have been almost constantly carried 

 on. The tourist has discovered the country 

 and written books which, although they 

 have the resemblance of one pea to another, 

 have nevertheless carried tidings of Alaska 

 to most corners of the Union. Alaska in 

 one sense is no longer unknown, and she is 

 even beginning to be understood and ap- 

 preciated. The missionarj' has been up 

 and down in the land, and has done much 

 good in many ways, not without occasional 

 mistakes. 



