262 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol.. I., No. 9. 



the author sums up the result of his researches in a 

 few sentences. 1. His existence is completely demon- 

 strated. 2. He had spread himself to the north as 

 far as 33° 35'. 3. The Chell^enne epoch of Mortillet 

 has not yet been met with in Russia. 4. The Mous- 

 terian epoch, on the contrary, is well represented, as 

 well in Poland (Zawisza) as in the Crimea (Merej- 

 kowsky). .0. The epoch of Solutr^ has not been 

 observed. 6. The epoch of La Madeleine has been 

 •well identified in Poland and in the Crimea. Re- 

 garding the neolithic age, the author believes that in 

 Russia there is no such hiatus separating it from the 

 paleolithic as seeras to have existed in France and 

 Belgium. Count Ouwarof has enjoyed and utilized 

 rare opportunities for extensive researches over the 

 vast Asiatic and European territory under the dom- 

 ination of the Czar. — j. \v. p. [574 

 The human fauna of the District of Colum- 

 bia. — With reference to the former aborigines, Prof. 

 Otis T. Mason stated that the remains were of three 

 kinds, — so-called drift implements on the surface, 

 chipped implements on the surface, and soapstone 

 quarries. While former censuses had stated the 

 population of the district, the health and police 

 records had not been published in such form as to 

 give good results. The death-rate is as follows for 

 seven years : — 



In this table should be noticed the preponderance 

 of colored deaths, the diminishing death-rate, and 

 especially the better health of the excessive colored 

 population. 



The crime of the district was also discussed, and 

 some very interesting facts elicited. In the census 

 year the arrests were as follows : — 



All births in the district are not recorded, so that 

 it is impossible to draw safe conclusions regarding 

 the natural increase of population. The sources of 

 inform.ation, in collating the material for this paper, 

 were the census-office, tlie board of health, and the 

 superintendent of police. — [Biol. soc. Wash.; meet- 

 ing March 2. ) [575 



Bandelier's investigations in New Mexico. — 

 The language, manners, and arts of the modern In- 

 dians were examined with minute care. The ruins 

 ■which antedate the sixteenth century, according to 



architectural characters, are divided as follows: 1. 

 Cave-dwellings; 2. Cliff-houses; 3. One-story build- 

 ings of stone, forming scattered villages; 4. Large 

 houses with retreating stories. "There appear to 

 be, in fact, but two types of aboriginal architecture 

 in New Mexico, — the many-storied communal house 

 and the one-story building of stone. The latter is 

 either found in villages on the level ground and on 

 gradual slopes, or clustering on rock-shelves, and 

 scattered in recesses like the so-called cliff-houses. 

 The cave-dwellings appear as an incidental form, re- 

 sulting from the ease with which the rock was hol- 

 lowed out, or from the existence of natural cavities, 

 which, from their size and the security of their posi- 

 tion, afforded advantages superior to those of in- 

 dependent buildings." — (Bull. arch. inst. Amer., 

 No. 1.) .J. vr. p. [576 



Mohammedans in the -world. — A writer in the 

 Missionary herald makes the following calculation of 

 the Mohammedans in the world: Turkish empire, 

 20,000,000 ; Persia and the Caucasus, 12,000,000 ; 

 India, 41,000,000; East Indies, 23,000,000 ; China, 

 5,000,000; Egypt, 8,000,000; Morocco, 2,750,000; Al- 

 giers, 2,920,000; Tunis, 2,000,000; Tripoli, 750,000; 

 Sahara, 4,000,000; Soudan, 38,000,000; Zanzibar, .380,- 

 000; Central Asia, 14,000,000; total, 173,800,000.— 

 (MIhs. herald, March, 1883.) j. w. p. [577 



The manuscript Troano. — After the brilliant 

 feats in paleograpliy of Grotefend and ChampoUiou, 

 — the foi'mer in deciphering the cuneiform ; the lat- 

 ter, the hieroglyphics of Egypt, — nothing seems too 

 hard for the student of philology. Of all the outstand- 

 ing languages, the Maya of Yucatan presents the 

 greatest temptation to the decipherer. In the forth- 

 coming fifth volume of Contribiiiions to North-Ameri- 

 can ethnology, published by Major J. W. Powell, 

 Dr. Cyrus Thomas presents a monograph upon the 

 Manuscript Troano, already published separately, and 

 occupying 237 quarto pages, illustrated by 31 plates 

 and 101 figures. This volume is the result of years 

 of study, and the last word in an elaborated form 

 of many preliminary utterances and publications. 

 In typography, illustrations, and indexes, it realizes , 

 our ideal of a jaook, yielding the maximum of infor- 

 mation and pleasure for the minimum of effort 

 on the part of the reader. In an Introduction, by 

 Dr. Brinton of Philadelphia, are clearly set forth 

 the phonetic system of Central-Americans, the de- 

 scription thereof by Spanish writers, references to 

 Maya literature in the native language, the existing 

 codices, and the previous efforts at interpretation 

 that have been made. Dr. Thomas clearly defines 

 his method in his preface : " I have studied the 

 manuscript somewhat in the same way the child un- 

 dertakes to solve an illustrated rebus, assuming as a 

 stand-point the status of the semi-civilized Indian, 

 and endeavoring, as far as possible, to proceed upon 

 the same plane of thought." The results attained are 

 as follows : 1. The work was a I'itual or religious cal- 

 endar. 2. The figures in the spaces are symbols, or 

 pictographs, relating to religion, habits, occupations, 

 and customs. 3. It was prepared for people living 

 away from the sea. 4. They were sedentary, agri- 

 cultural, and not warlike. 5. The evidences of hu- 

 man sacrifice are very meagre. 6. The cross was a 

 religious emblem. 7. Although the figures move 

 from right to left in pairs, the characters are in col- 

 umns, to be read from the top downwards, columns 

 following each other from left to right. 8. There is 

 no rule "for the arrangement of parts in compound 

 characters. 9. The characters are not true alpha- 

 betic signs, but syllabic; some are itleographic; others 

 abbreviated pictographs. 10. The work was written 



