April 20, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



307 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[ Correspondents are requested to be as brie/ as possible. _ The 

 writer's name is in ail cases required as proof of good faith.] 



Uiiited States geologists, sandstones, and the 

 KeTveenaTvan series. 



Having objected to certain current views in geol- 

 ogy and lithology, especially those of one of the pre- 

 ceeding U. S. geological surveys, it is with great pleas- 

 ure I obsei've that some of the officers of the present 

 TJ. S. geological survey, in recent publications, take 

 concordant grounds, in several points, with those pub- 

 lished by myself between 1877 and the summer of 1880. 

 These are: 1°. The necessity for the essential union 

 of field and microscopic work, the former to dominate 

 in points relating to the origin of rocks, from the ina- 

 bility of the latter to do what it was claimed it could; 

 and as a reaction against the present too exclusive 

 sedimentary theories ; 2°. That propyUte has no ex- 

 istence as a rock species, but is an altered state of 

 other rocks (principally andesite), its erection into a 

 distinct species being due to erroneous microscopic 

 and other observations; 3°. That the conglomerate 

 beds of Keweenaw Point are formed in the main from 

 the debris of granitic and old rhyolitic and trachytic 

 rocks (the basaltic debris is subordinate). 



Apropos of Mr. G-. P. IMerrill's letter in Science, 

 No. 8, it is proper to state, that, since sandstones are 

 detrital rocks, the minerals contained in them would 

 of necessity have the same inclusions as they had in 

 the rocks from whose detritus the sandstones are 

 formed; and that it has long been known to litholo- 

 gists, and fully published in the past, that the quartz 

 of sandstones contains fluid inclusions (both with 

 and without moving bubbles), glass inclusions, tri- 

 chites, etc. 



Owing to some remarks in the same number, it is 

 necessary to add somewhat to my previous letter upon 

 Keweenaw Point geology. The evidence advanced 

 by Logan, which Dr. Hunt finds so convincing, was 

 mainly a difference in dip between the traps and 

 sandstones when several miles apart; and all the evi- 

 dences, as Logan says, only " seem to support the 

 suspicion that the sandstones may overlie unconform- 

 ably those rocks, which, associated with the trap, con- 

 stituted the copper-bearing series." The ' Keweena- 

 wan series ' was first founded on obseiwations on 

 Keweenaw Point; and it, of course, is to live or die 

 there. The observations mentioned in my previous 

 letter are clear, definite, and positive, and substan- 

 tiate the views of Whitney, Selwyn, and Winchell. 

 They include and explain those of the Michigan and 

 Wisconsin geologists on which the series was based; 

 and, until they are disproved, they definitely show that 

 the Keweenawan series has no separate existence, 

 but overlies, and is continuous with, the eastern sand- 

 stone. Dr. Hunt's argument is based on the dictum 

 that the traps underlie the eastern sandstone; and 

 hence his argument is void. Over two years ago the 

 attention of Messrs. Selwyn, Hunt, Irving, and Win- 

 chell was called to my observations; and, until they 

 disprove them, it is difficult to see why they should 

 ignore them, and enter upon an interminable theoret- 

 ical discussion regarding a series which those obser- 

 vations showed did not exist. 



Cambridge, Mass., M. E. WADSWOKTH. 



April 3, 1883. 



The Ainos of Japan. 



A note in Science of March 30, on the Ainos of 

 Japan, seems to call for a word of comment. A 

 residence of four years in the Island of Yesso, in the 



capacity of a government official, threw me in almost 

 daily contact with the Ainos, and presented oppor- 

 tunities for studying this most interesting people, 

 which enable me to speak with some degree of 

 assurance concerning them. 



That the Ainos of Japan have no race affinities 

 with the Japanese is not to be denied: in fact, all 

 authorities upon the subject, especially those who 

 have studied the people in their own home, are unan- 

 imous upon this point. It would seem, however, 

 that, with regard to the Aino population, there is a 

 diversity of opinion, which makes glaring discrepan- 

 cies in the records given. Having personal acquaint- 

 ance with some of the authorities which Dr. 13rauns 

 cites, — i.e., the missionaries of Hakodate, — and 

 having had abundant opportunity to verify the gov- 

 ernment statistics by inspection of Aino settleruents 

 in various parts of the island, I cannot but feel justi- 

 fied in the statement that the figures given by Dr. 

 Braims, and so often stated at random by otliers, are 

 far too large. Statistics compiled for me from the 

 government records show the following population, 

 by provinces: — 



The province of Chisuma includes all of the Kurile 

 Islands, while the other provinces are embraced in the 

 Island of Yesso. Of the 1,0.58 Ainos in tlie province 

 of Ishicari, 750 were brought from Saghalien when 

 that island was ceded to Russia in exchange for the 

 Kuriles, about the year 1876, and are those spoken 

 of by Mr. Brauns as found near Sapporo. With 

 regard to the number of Ainos found on the Asiatic 

 continent, no reliable statistics are to be found; but 

 it is probably large. 



The tribute which Mr. Brauns pays to the Aino 

 character is certainly worthy of indorsement; and it 

 would be a pleasure to add to what he says, were it 

 not that want of space forbids, and that these facts 

 will shortly appear in a more permanent form, as 

 they are embodied in a book now nearly ready for 

 the publisher. It only remains to add, that, while 

 the figures given are undoubtedly very near the true 

 population of the various Aino settlements, they 

 cannot be taken as more than closely approximate. 

 D. P. Penhallow. 



Houghton Fai-m, Mountainville, N.T., 

 April 2, 1883. 



PREHISTORIC TREPHINING. 



On prehistoric trephining and cranial amulets. By 

 Robert Fletcher, M.R.C.S. Eng., Act. asst. 

 surg. U. S. army. Washington, Government 

 printing-office, 1882. 32 p., 9 pi , cuts. 4°. 

 This brochure, which is a part of vol. v. of 



the Contributions to North-American ethnol- 



