804 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 308. 



The book is the record of popular lectures 

 delivered at Konigsberg. Teachers of chem- 

 istry will approve the skill and ease with which 

 subjects seemingly difficult to present are made 

 clear to the average reader. Among the topics 

 treated are lighting, food, explosives, glass, 

 soda, photography, paper, dyes, tanning, metal- 

 lurgy, alloys. This work in the original or in 

 the excellent English translation, should be in 

 every school library and public library, for 

 there is no other popular book giving the same 

 information, while the information is given in 

 an admirable way. 



E. Rbnouf. 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE 

 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HIS- 

 TORY, NEW YORK, IN 1900. 

 The Thompson River Indians of British Columbia. 

 By Jambs Teit, Mem. of the Am. Mus. of 

 Nat. History, Vol. II, and of Anthropology, 

 Part IV, Vol. I. The Jesup North Pacific 

 Expedition. New York, April, 1900. Pp. 

 163-390. Pis. XIV-XX. Figs. 118-315. 

 Map. 4to. 

 Basketry Designs of the Salish Indians. By Liv- 

 ingston Fabrand. Same Series, Part V. 

 April, 1900. Pp. 391-400. Pis. XXI- 

 XXIII. Figs. 316-330. 4to. 

 Archeology of the Thompson River Region, British 

 Columbia. By Haelan I. Smith. Same 

 Series, Part VI. May, 1900. Pp. 401^54. 

 Pis. XXIV-XXVI. Figs. 331-380. 4to. 

 Symbolism of the Suichol Indians. By Carl 

 LuMHOLTZ. Same series, Part I, Vol. III. 

 May, 1900. Pp. 1-228. Pis. I-IV. Figs. 

 291. Map. 4to. 

 Traditions of the Chilcotin Indians. By Living- 

 ston Fareand. Same Series, Part I, Vol. 

 IV. Pp. 1-54. 



The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, organ- 

 ized in 1897, has for its aim the history of man, 

 past and present, dwelling on the coasts of the 

 North Pacific Ocean. Beginning at the Amur 

 River in Asia, the exploration will extend 

 northwestward to Bering Sea and thence south- 

 eastward along the American coast as far as 

 the Columbia River. 



The generous patron, whose liberality made 

 possible both the research and the enjoyment of 



it by the public through this series of mono- 

 graphs, is Mr. Morris K. Jesup, during the last 

 twenty years President of the American Museum 

 of Natural History, New York City. The execu- 

 tion of the tedious and difficult task is intrusted 

 to the Anthropological Department, of which 

 Professor F. W. Putnam is chief, the respon- 

 sibility of the exploring and publishing falling 

 on the shoulders of Professor Franz Boas. No 

 pains or expense has been spared in the paper, 

 the printing or the illustrations of the mono- 

 graphs. We do not like the size, 11 x 14 inches, 

 although Berlin, Dresden and Philadelphia 

 have set the bad example. 



The Thompson River Indians and the Thomp- 

 son River region come in for the lion's share of 

 attention. This stream is a branch of the 

 Eraser River, in middle British Columbia, its 

 headwaters almost touching those of the Co- 

 lumbia and Mackenzie. The tribe here studied, 

 better known as the ' Couteau ' or ' Knife ' 

 Indians, belong to the Salishan family. There 

 are 209 of them, and Dr. Boas finds their num- 

 ber decreasing. Mr. Teit, author of the mono- 

 graph, is an old resident of the region, con- 

 versant with the language, and he has done 

 his work under one of the foremost of ethnolo- 

 gists. His descriptions of dress, food, arts, 

 trade, travel, transportation, warfare, social 

 life, fine art, folk-lore and religion, supple- 

 mented by pictures drawn from specimens, and 

 photographs made on the spot, form an ideal 

 contribution to knowledge. From his minute 

 examination it is shown that the Thompson 

 River Indians and their ancestors were an up- 

 land people, influenced greatly by tribes farther 

 eastward, little by those on the coast. They 

 are not high in the scale of social organization 

 or religion, and, like other Salishan tribes, have 

 absorbed much and given out little. 



Dr. Farrand's paper on basketry patterns is 

 most timely. It not only rounds out Mr. 

 Teit's studies, but it enters a new and inviting 

 field. The basket fever is now raging, in most 

 contagious form. The materials, patterns, 

 stitches, colors and general designs are quite 

 well understood ; but no one dreamed until re- 

 cently that there were mines of folk-lore in the 

 patterns. The reader will find in Mr. Farrand's 

 paper about forty of these from Thompson 



