756 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 645 



tion at St. Louis. It is hoped that all mu- 

 seums of art as well as of science will be 

 largely represented at the gathering, and every 

 effort will he made to make the occasion one 

 of enjoyment as well as of instruction to those 

 who attend the sessions. 



All communications relating to arrange- 

 ments should be addressed to Dr. W. J. Hol- 

 land, the director of the Carnegie Museum. 



THE CARNEOIE INSTITUTION AND A DE- 

 PARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY 



The following letter urging the establish- 

 ment of a Department of Anthropology for 

 the purpose of investigating the problems of 

 anthropology in South America has been 

 signed by practically all students of anthro- 

 pology in the United States : 



April 3, 1907 

 To Dr. K. S. "Woodward, 



President of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington, D. C. 



Sir: — The undersigned were appointed by 

 the American Anthropological Association, the 

 Archeological Institute of America, the 

 American Folk-Lore Society, the Anthro- 

 pological Society of Washington, the Ameri- 

 can Ethnological Society, and Section H of the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science — the six societies of the IJnited 

 States entirely or mainly anthropological in 

 scope — to discuss the subject of the most im- 

 portant researches that should be undertaken 

 for the furtherance of anthropological science, 

 and to outline a plan of research of such im- 

 portance as to be worthy of the consideration 

 of the trustees of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington. 



The committee believes that the isolation of 

 the continent of South America from the 

 great land masses of the old world in recent 

 geological times makes the study of man's ap- 

 pearance on the continent and the develop- 

 ment there of the numerous tribes, languages 

 and cultures in early times, a problem the 

 solution of which would be of supreme im- 

 portance to anthropological science. 



In such a research the study of the racial 

 and cultural development of the peoples of 

 this continent and particularly of the con- 



tact of this remote area with other parts of 

 the world would be of fundamental im- 

 portance. 



Since it is not likely that any government 

 will take up such an international investiga- 

 tion, and as it is impossible for any of the 

 existing societies and institutions devoted to 

 anthropological research to engage in so ex- 

 tensive an undertaking, the committee re- 

 spectfully submits the following resolutions 

 to the Carnegie Institution of Washington: 



Resolved, That the trustees of the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington be respectfully re- 

 quested to establish an anthropological de- 

 partment for the purpose of investigating the 

 problem of the anthropology of South Amer- 

 ica, with special reference to the lines of con- 

 tact between the early inhabitants of that 

 continent and other continental areas. 



Resolved, That should such a department be 

 established its work should be based on the 

 following four lines of investigation : 



1. The antiquity of man in South America 

 with special reference to the discoveries made 

 in the Pampean formations. This work 

 should be in charge of a competent geologist 

 who should make a critical study of the strata 

 in which the human remains have been found 

 for which great antiquity is claimed. Asso- 

 ciated with the geologist should be a trained 

 archeologist who should make archeological 

 investigations in the region of the alleged dis- 

 coveries. 



2. While historically no relation has been 

 traced between the cultures of the more ad- 

 vanced tribes of the Andean Highlands and 

 those of Central America, there is a general 

 resemblance in fundamental types which seems 

 to indicate that either a very early connection 

 between North America and South America 

 existed or that the later cultures grew up on 

 the basis of an older type common to both 

 continents. This investigation would require 

 painstaking archeological researches extending 

 from Mexico southward into the most south- 

 ern regions to which the influence of Andean 

 culture extended. The investigation of the 

 ethnical relation between South America and 

 North America would require particularly an 

 exhaustive study of the early remains extend- 



