722 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 306. 



beautiful collection from the tribes living 

 near the boundary between Oregon and the 

 State of Washington. In the course of 

 this work, information has been secured on 

 the customs and languages of the Alsea, a 

 tribe which is on the verge of extinction. 



The industries and arts of the Indians of 

 the Great Plains have received their share 

 of attention. Th« work of the Museum 

 was directed particularly to an investiga- 

 tion of the Arapaho Indians. The funds 

 for this inquiry were given hy Mrs. Morris 

 K. Jesup. The work has resulted in a 

 most remarkable expansion of the ]S"orth 

 American collections of the Museum ; and 

 much information of great scientific value? 

 largely referring to the specimens collected, 

 has been obtained. 



A favorable combination of circumstances 

 has made it possible for the Museum to 

 collect from several points of the Arctic 

 coast of America interesting scientific data, 

 illustrated by numerous specimens. In this 

 way has been obtained an almost complete 

 series of collections illustrating the life of 

 the Eskimo, extending from Smith Sound 

 in the east, to the west coast of Hudson 

 Bay, and accompanied by notes on the 

 customs and beliefs of the various tribes, 

 which are in process of publication in the 

 Bulletin of the Museum. 



Besides these collections, which are due 

 to systematic investigation, additional ma- 

 terial has come into the possession of the 

 Museum by gift and by purchase. Some of 

 the important gifts of the Duke of Loubat, in 

 connection with Central American and Mex- 

 ican archeology, have already been men- 

 tioned. He also presented to the Museum 

 reproductions of ancient Mexican codices, 

 and archeological specimens from Guate- 

 mala and South America. The Museum 

 received as a gift from Mr. J. Pierpont 

 Morgan a beautiful collection of gold, silver 

 and copper objects from Peru. Mr. W. 

 Curtis James donated a collection from the 



Aino of Japan. Mr. Morris K. Jesup gave 

 the means for a collection illustrating the 

 domestic life of the Japanese. The Museum 

 is indebted to Mr. James Douglas for an 

 excellent collection of Apache basketry. 

 Mr. Jacob Schiff gave to the Museum a 

 collection illustrating the development of 

 the iron industry among African negroes. 

 A number of beautiful old pieces collected 

 in the early part of our century among 

 North American Indian tribes were given 

 to the Museum, prominent among which is 

 a donation made by Miss E. H. Cotheal. 



A rather remarkable addition to the col- 

 lections of the Anthropological Department 

 was made by the transfer of the missionary 

 exhibit arranged at the time of the ' Ecu- 

 menical Council ' in April of this year. 

 This collection gives an excellent start for 

 the development of special exhibits illus- 

 trating the religions of primitive people. 

 Among the purchases made by the Museum 

 a large archeological collection from Il- 

 linois, the valuable Stahl connection from 

 Porto Eico, the Gibbs collection from 

 Turk's Island, and the Finsch collection 

 ■from Melanesia, are worthy of special men- 

 tion. 



The new exhibits, just made accessible 

 to the public, are proof of lively activity, 

 and of a genuine interest taken by liberal 

 patrons of science in the development of one 

 of the most important scientific institutions 

 of the City. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 Gfrundlinien der anorganischen Chemie. By W. 

 OSTWALD. 14 X 22 cm. , pp. xix + 795. Leip- 

 zig, Wilhelm Engelmann, 1900. Price, linen 

 bound, 16 ; half leather, 18 marks. 

 The educational importance of this book is 

 so great that it will not be amiss to paraphrase 

 certain portions of the preface, the quotation 

 marks referring to the ideas and not to the 

 words. 



"The object was to present the newer the- 

 ories and their consequences at the beginning 



