660 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 852 



in an illustrated article the " Pottery of the 

 New England Indians " ; this falls into three 

 groups, Archaic Algonquian, Later Algon- 

 quian and Iroquoian. " The Slip Mound," 

 which is described by William C. Mills, be- 

 longed to the highest culture of pre-Columbian 

 man in Ohio; the builders of the mound had 

 an intertribal trade, as evidenced by the cop- 

 per from the Lake Superior region, the ocean 

 shells and alligator teeth from the far south, 

 and mica from North Carolina. Mr. Warren 

 K. Moorehead in his " Study of Primitive 

 Culture in Ohio " establishes Professor Put- 

 nam's classification of the remains into the 

 Port Ancient and Hopewell cultures and adds 

 an earlier one of the " Glacial Kames." The 

 Hopewell culture, to which the Seip Mound 

 belongs, migrated from the south, and the 

 original contention of Professor Putnam that 

 the southern people had short heads and the 

 Fort Ancient people had long heads has been 

 proved. Marshall H. Saville gives a beauti- 

 fully illustrated paper on the cruciform struc- 

 tures of Mitla and its vicinity; the form of 

 the cross was connected with the cult of 

 Quetzalcoatl and is proof of the widespread 

 range of the Nahuan pantheon, for we find 

 his worship throughout the area of the Mayan 

 culture, as well as in diSerent parts of Mexico. 

 George B. Gordon deals with the treatment of 

 the macaw in Mayan art at Copan, and C. W. 

 Mead with the fish in ancient Peruvian art. 

 Mrs. Zelia Nuttall shows that the art of dye- 

 ing cloth by means of the Purpura patula has 

 been continued in Mexico from pre-Columbian 

 times to the present day, and points out that 

 in the old and new world alike these are found 

 in the same close association: (1) the purple 

 industry and skill in weaving; (2) the use of 

 pearls and conch-shell trumpets; (3) the 

 mining, working and traJficing in copper, 

 silver and gold; (4) the tetrarchial form of 

 government; (5) the conception of "four ele- 

 ments"; (6) the cyclical form of calendar. 

 The tribal structure of the Omaha is lucidly 

 described by Miss Alice C. Fletcher, and in a 

 well-illustrated memoir A. M. Tozzer describes 

 several religious ceremonials of the Navaho, 

 who borrowed, to be sure, but they were by 



no means simply borrowers : they adapted and 

 developed and, in many cases, especially in 

 regard to the sand pictures, they did every- 

 thing but actually invent the idea. Papers 

 on linguistics are given by F. Boas (L-oquois), 

 Roland B.DLson (Wintun) and John E. Swan- 

 ton (Siouan). S. A. Barrett describes the 

 elaborate numerical system of the Cayapa of 

 Ecuador and Charles P. Bowditch discusses 

 some dates and numbers of the Dresden Codex. 

 It is characteristic of the trend of American 

 anthropology that there is only one paper on 

 physical anthropology, that of Ales Hrdlicka, 

 on the stature of the Indians of the southwest 

 and of northern Mexico. There are a few 

 papers which deal with non-American sub- 

 jects, such as: Charles Peabody's essay on 

 certain quests and doles, which is a very inter- 

 esting study on a neglected branch of Euro- 

 pean folk-lore, and F. N. Eobinson's notes on 

 the Irish practise of fasting as a means of 

 distraint, it being regarded as a procedure 

 which it was in some way dangerous to resist. 

 G. L. Kittredge in a learned essay brings evi- 

 dence of a tradition of very long standing 

 which asserts that Hercules set up pillars at 

 both ends of the world, that is at the eastern 

 end as well as the western. Professor Put- 

 nam, as some of his students have assured me, 

 is a stimulating teacher, which, however, could 

 be readily inferred from the mark his pupils 

 have made in our science, and doubtless he has 

 thoroughly appreciated the development of his 

 ideas in very excellent scheme of instruction 

 in primitive industries suitable for a normal 

 college course by Harlan I. Smith. 



This brief notice of an important collection 

 of essays may fittingly conclude with an en- 

 dorsement of the final paragraph of the dedi- 

 cation of the volume to Professor Putnam by 

 Professor Boas : 



May many years of health, and strength be 

 granted you to see the ripening of your plans 

 and the achievements of your younger friends, 

 whose progress has always been a chief pleasure 

 to your life! 



Alfred 0. Haddon 

 Blue Hill Meteokoloqical Obseevatoet, 

 December 7, 1910 



