March 18, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



451 



The name Cahokia applied to the mound 

 group perpetuates the name of an Illinois 

 tribe. There were formerly two groups of 

 small mounds near the center of the west- 

 ern half of Forest Park in St. Louis, the 

 area now -known as the world's fair site. 

 These were explored. The average dimen- 

 sions of the mounds of the smaller group 

 were, diameter 48 feet, elevation 3 feet. 

 Chert, potsherds and charcoal were found 

 on the original surface. They may have 

 been the remains of earth-covered lodges. 



George A. Dorsey, in discussing this 

 paper, said that the abandoned villages of 

 the Mandans, Pawnees and other plains 

 tribes had been noted by him, and that the 

 ruins of the fallen earth lodges did not 

 leave a mound, but rather a depression 

 with an enclosing rim. 



The Mounds of the American. Bottom of 

 Illinois: Report on a Group Heretofore 

 not mentioned and a Neiu Light throivn 

 upon Their Former Use: Dr. H. Kinnbr. 

 The great group of mounds of the Amer- 

 ican bottom w^re described, and their posi- 

 tion shown by means of maps. Special 

 attention was given to the Fish Lake group. 

 The speaker endeavored to show that the 

 earthworks were not of a ceremonial na- 

 ture, but were built for and used as places 

 of refuge during the time of floods. 

 Paper discussed by H. M. 'WHielpley. 



The African Pygmies: S. P. Verner. 



At the request of Mr. Verner, W J 

 McGee presented this paper. He stated 

 that Mr. Verner had spent considerable 

 time among the pygmy tribes of Africa 

 and, at the present time, was on his way 

 to that country to obtain a group of these 

 interesting people for the anthropological 

 exhibit of the Louisiana Purchase Exposi- 

 tion. These savages have rarely been 

 taken from their native wilds and the ones 

 to be brought to America will be the first 

 that have ever visited this country. 



Instead of having the regular afternoon 

 session in the room of the Central High 

 School, the section voted to accept an in- 

 vitation of Professor W J McGee to visit 

 the fair grounds and there listen to his 

 paper on 'The Department of Anthropol- 

 ogy at the "World's Fair.' 



Professor McGee 's paper was presented 

 in his office in the Washington University 

 building, and was illustrated with maps 

 and later by means of an inspection of the 

 grounds and buildings that are to be de- 

 voted to anthropology. 



WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30. 



The Future of the Indian: George A. 



Dorset. 



This interesting address was discussed by 

 W J McGee, PI. M. Whelpley, H. Kinner, 

 A. B. Reagan, Dr. Anita McGee, R. H. 

 Harper and C. E. Slocum. 



The Knife in Human Development: W J 



McGee. 



The history of the knife was carried 

 back to the time when a water-worn 

 boulder was used instead of a stone with 

 cutting edge. This primitive custom may 

 still be seen among the Seri Indians of 

 Tiburon Island in the Gulf of California 

 and of the mainland. The speaker cited 

 an instance in which a Seri woman was 

 pounding the flesh from the leg of a horse. 

 The implement with which she worked was 

 a rounded stone. In pounding with this 

 hammer it was broken in two, thereby pre- 

 senting cutting edges that might have been 

 used to advantage. Instead of utilizing 

 this superior form of tool she threw the 

 pieces away and sought another stone with 

 a rounded surface. When the edged tool 

 was first used the natural fractures were 

 no doubt utilized for a long period. Then 

 came artificial chipping with a slow devel- 

 opment toward the higher types of cutting 

 implements. 



