August 17, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



267 



A paper by Dr. Washington Matthews 

 gave a brief account of the progress made 

 by the Navahos in the art of weaving 

 blankets and then called attention to a new 

 style of weaving that is described by his 

 title — ' A two-faced Navaho Blanket.' The 

 web has totally different figures on the two 

 sides. These blankets are not numerous 

 and the art of weaving them is not en- 

 couraged by the traders to whom the N"ava- 

 hos sell the products of their looms. 



Harlan I. Smith reported upon the prog- 

 ress made by the party of archseologists 

 under his direction working in the interests 

 of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition in 

 1899. Shell heaps, cairns and graves were 

 examined in Washington and British Co- 

 lumbia. The results of these investigations 

 were described and in part illustrated by 

 lantern views. 



A second paper by Mr. Smith described 

 the cairns of southeastern Vancouver Island 

 and the adjacent coasts. These cairns con- 

 sist of rude stone vaults containing flexed 

 skeletons that have been buried without the 

 implements and utensils that are usually 

 deposited with the dead by the aborigines. 

 Alice C. Fletcher presented a valuable 

 paper entitled ' Giving Thanks ; a Pawnee 

 Ceremony.' The ceremony was witnessed 

 by the speaker, May 20, 1900, in a Pawnee 

 camp in Oklahoma Territory. The rite is 

 described and three points indicated upon 

 which it throws light. (1) The native be- 

 lief as to the causes which secure efficacy to 

 the medicine administered. (2) The inter- 

 mediary position of the doctor. (3) The 

 meaning and purpose of the fees given him 

 for his services. 



The paper by Francis La Flesche de- 

 scribed the proceedings of ' The Shell So- 

 ciety among the Omaha,' as witnessed by 

 the author when a boy and as he under- 

 stood it from the accounts of the secret 

 ritual during the past year by the older 

 members of the Society. 



Mrs. Zelia ISTuttall exhibited a cast of 

 Kollmann's reconstruction of the head of a 

 woman of the Swiss Lake-Dweller type, and 

 commented upon the difficulties in the way 

 of a successful reproduction. 



The program for Wednesday closed with 

 the paper by Roland Steiner upon ' Braziel 

 Robinson; possessed of two spirits.' This 

 account of a negro superstition is but one of 

 several score of interesting folk-lore tales 

 that Dr. Steiner has collected. 



W J McGee opened the morning session 

 of Thursday with an address upon ' The Ee- 

 sponsivity of Mind,' a discussion of cultural 

 coincidences in the Old World and the 

 New that lend support to the doctrine of 

 mental unity among mankind. 



' The Law of Conjugal Conation ' was 

 explained by the same speaker, who em- 

 phasized the importance of the role played 

 by personal affection in human develop- 

 ment. 



Charles E. Slocum exemplified the thesis 

 that ' A Civilized Heredity is stronger than 

 a Savage Environment,' in the story of 

 Frances Slocum abducted by the Delaware 

 Indians, at the age of five years, and re- 

 maining with them until her death, sixty- 

 eight years afterward. Her character fur- 

 nishes strong evidence in favor of the im- 

 portance of heredity. " She was plain and 

 practical in outward display, while in the 

 midst of those inclined to gaudineas ; she 

 was free from enervating habits, though 

 in the midst of indulgences ; industrious, 

 where idleness abounded; cleanly, while sur- 

 rounded by squalor ; accumulative, among 

 a wasteful race ; considerative and sound 

 of judgment, in the midst of impulsiveness ; 

 and patient in doing her duty according to 

 the best of her knowledge." Thus it was 

 shown that her English ancestry was a 

 stronger factor in molding her character 

 than her savage environment. 



' The Sedna Cycle, a Study in Myth Evo- 

 lution,' waspresented by H. Newell Wardle. 



