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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1121 



velopment of the present time. The study of the 

 pre-Columbian period in the "Western Hemisphere 

 rnnst be based on the sciences of archeology and 

 anthropology. The American governments have 

 not yet recognized the importance of these two 

 sciences as a means for deepening their knowledge 

 of American history, and thus is to be explained 

 the absolute neglect of the monuments and other 

 archeological materials constituting the necessary 

 basis for the study of the history of the pre-Co- 

 lumbian epoch. On account of this complete ne- 

 glect the doeimients which existed on the surface 

 of the earth and beneath the soil — documents 

 which must serve as the source for the study of 

 early American history — ^have unfortunately al- 

 ready been largely destroyed or removed from the 

 American continent. It is, therefore, urgent that 

 better protection should now be given the ruins 

 that remain. 



During the century of the conquest the peoples 

 constituting the existing nations occupied the 

 whole continent. There was thus formed a kind 

 of historic unity, which implies the duty of study- 

 ing the pre-Columbian period, as well as that of 

 the later period. The cooperation of all the 

 countries in this common task is all the more neces- 

 sary, because, notwithstanding numerous points of 

 difference, the continent appears to have pre- 

 sented a historic unity from the earliest times up 

 untU the development of the great native civiliza- 

 tions. The solution of the common historic prob- 

 lems is impossible unless all the countries advance 

 along this line with equal step. It is, therefore, 

 desirable that an agreement should be entered into 

 by the different countries for the purpose of pro- 

 tecting the vestiges of antiquity within their re- 

 spective territories in their own interest and in 

 the common interest. The best way to accomplish 

 this end is by means of appropriate uniform laws 

 in all the countries. 



The Study of the Convenience of Uniform Laws in 

 all the American Countries, to Protect and Stim- 

 ulate the Collection of Anthropological and 

 Archeological Material and Data, and to En- 

 courage the Study of the Same: Samuel Lainez. 

 In this report the author considers carefully the 

 importance of the study of American anthropology 

 and archeology; he examines the great problems of 

 these sciences and their solution; indicates the 

 work of investigation effected up to the present 

 time and what is yet to be done in this vast field, 

 and as a result of his study formulates 13 propo- 



sitions with a view to stimulating and protecting, 

 by means of uniform laws in all the American na- 

 tions, the investigations whose object is the col- 

 lection and study of anthropological and archeo- 

 logical material and data. 



Service of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 



Philadelphia to American Anthropology: S. G. 



Dixon. 



Anthropology excited the interest of the earliest 

 naturalists in America. The first contributions to 

 American anthropology show that among the 

 earliest members of this institution were those who 

 took an active part in American anthropology. 

 True to the traditions of the older natural science 

 institutions, the Philadelphia Academy shows by 

 its publications that man was considered as an 

 animal to be studied structurally. One of the first 

 contributions to the subject was the great collec- 

 tions of human crania presented by Dr. Samuel 

 G. Morton, which has been supplemented by Meigs 

 and others. The collections of the academy have 

 furnished material for important papers by Mor- 

 ton and the late Dr. Harrison Allen, besides many 

 other students of anthropology. 



Among the contributors to the literature of the 

 subject are Brinton, Gabb, Halderman, Holmes, 

 Hrdlidka, Leidy, Meigs, Moore, Morton and Put- 

 nam. One of the lines of work of a substantial 

 character done by the academy consisted in fur- 

 thering the Arctic expeditions of Kane, Hayes and 

 Peary, the last mentioned adding to our knowledge 

 of the Greenland Eskimo. The Philadelphia Acad- 

 emy maintained a chair of anthropology for many 

 years under Dr. Daniel G. Brinton. The Phila- 

 delphia Museum is rich in ethnographic and 

 archeological specimens. Collections gathered by 

 famous expeditions, begin n i n g in 1805 vrith Lewis 

 and Clark, were followed by Keating, Poinset, 

 Meittal, Townsend, Eusemberger, Sharp, Gabb and 

 Peary; but the most comprehensive of all have 

 resulted from many expeditions of Clarence B. 

 Moore, whose archeological collections from the 

 southern states have no parallel. 



The Archives of the Indies: History of and Sug- 

 gestions for their Exploitation : EoscoE B. Hill. 

 The Archives of the Indies, founded at the close 

 of the eighteenth century, is one of the richest 

 collections of materials for colonial history in ex- 

 istence. Successive and proposed additions from 

 Madrid and Simancas will make the collection 

 cover completely the colonial history of the former 

 oversea dominions of Spain. 



