OCTOBEE 19, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



611 



this subject which proclaims itself as ' scien- 

 tific ' must expect severe scrutiny. 



Mr. Drahms would have been well advised, 

 and would have served better the cause of sci- 

 ence, had he been content (like some French 

 prison chaplains) to set down a brief and simple 

 record of those things which during his resi- 

 dence in San Quentiu he has himself seen and 

 known. Havelock Ellis. 



BOOKS KECEIVED. 



Physiology for the Lahoraiory. B. M. Beown. Boston, 



Ginn & Co. 1900. Pp. viii + 167. 

 Laboratory Directions for Beginners in Bacteriology. 



Teeanus a. Mooeb. Boston, Ginn & Co. 1900. 



2d edition. Pp. xvi + 143. 



SCIENTIFIC JO VRNALS AND ARTICLES. 

 The current issue of the American Anthropol- 

 ogist, Vol. II, No. 3, July-September, 1900, is 

 of unusual interest, almost the entire field of 

 anthropology being covered by the ten articles 

 which comprise the principal part of its 200 

 pages. In his paper on ' Obsidian Mines of 

 Hidalgo, Mexico,' Professor W. H. Holmes, of 

 the National Museum, describes the process em- 

 ployed by the natives in obtaining obsidian 

 during the centuries necessary to produce the 

 flakage so thickly covering hundreds of acres 

 on the mountain slopes, one heap alone being 

 estimated to contain twenty or thirty thousand 

 cubic feet of this artificially flaked material. 

 The process of flaking is also described and il- 

 lustrated. A complementary article, ' The Ob- 

 sidian Razor of the Aztecs,' by Dr. George Grant 

 MacCurdy, of Yale University, describes and 

 explains the distinguishing features of obsidian 

 fracture, and shows that to them is due, in a 

 measure at least, the excellence of obsidian as a 

 material for knife and razor making. Early 

 last spring Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, of the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology, made an examination 

 of some remarkable but little-known cavate and 

 pueblo ruins (the latter still standing several 

 feet in height), northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona, 

 and he also conducted some excavations therein. 

 The results of these observations are now ex- 

 ploited (with several excellent views and 

 ground-plan drawings) under the title ' Pueblo 

 Ruins near Flagstaff, Arizona.' Judging from 



the character of the houses, the pottery and 

 other art products, and his knowledge of the 

 traditions of the Hopi Indians, the author is in- 

 clined to attribute these now-ruined pueblos to 

 that tribe. An excellent article by Mrs. Alice 

 Carter Cook is devoted to ' The Aborigines of 

 the Canary Islands,' based on information ob- 

 tained from personal observation in the archi- 

 pelago and intimate acquaintance with the 

 early Spanish literature of the subject. Every 

 phase of the life of the people is described, and 

 type pictures of the inhabitants and their curi- 

 ous dwellings ai-e given. Still another corner 

 of the world is treated in Mr. R. H. Mathews' 

 paper on ' The Wombya Organization of the 

 Australian Aborigines,' in which various un- 

 usual customs are also set forth. Dr. Swan M. 

 Burnett presents a scholarly essay on ' Giuseppe 

 Mazziui — Idealist : A Chapter in the Evolution 

 of Social Science,' in which is given some por- 

 tions of the great reformer's labors, with the 

 underlying principles for which he contended 

 with such courage and persistency as have 

 rarely been equalled in the history of human 

 endeavor. A ' Grammatic Sketch of the Ca- 

 tawba Language ' of South Carolina is given by 

 Dr. A. S. Gatschet. This almost extinct tongue 

 belongs to the Siouan stock, and but few exam- 

 ples of it have ever been published . Mr. Gerard 

 Fowke, whose wide experience in archeologic 

 investigation of the Mississippi drainage area, 

 and his familiarity with the supposed Norse re. 

 mains in Massachusetts (first discovered and 

 described by the late Professor E. W. Horsford, 

 and later by his daughter. Miss Cornelia Hors- 

 ford) make his study of the ' Points of Differ- 

 ence between Norse Remains and Indian Works 

 most closely resembling them ' of double inter- 

 est. Mr. Harlan I. Smith, of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, presents the de- 

 tails of his ' Archeological Investigations on the 

 North Pacific Coast in 1899,' conducted under 

 the auspices of the Jesup Expedition, and H. 

 Newell Wardle discusses the interesting ' Sedna 

 Cycle ' of the Eskimo which sheds new light on 

 the mythology of the most northerly inhabitants 

 of the globe. The usual ' Book Reviews,' discus- 

 sion of 'Periodical Literature,' and 'Notes 

 and News ' complete the number. (G. P. Put- 

 nam's Sons, Publishers, New York.) 



