WIE NCE 
NEW YORK, MARCH g, 1894. 
~ 
CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. NO. XLI. 
(Laiited by DP. G. Brinton, M.D., LL. D., D. Sc.) 
THE HIEROGLYPHS OF EASTER ISLAND. 
In a previous note (see Scence, May 8, 1892) 1 have 
referred to the curious carved hieroglyphs which the 
Easter Islanders were accustomed to preserve on batons 
or narrow tablets. The art is lost, and few of the batons 
remain, as the present generation burnt up most of them 
for firewood! A genuine one would now be worth its 
weight in gold—or, at least, in silver. The last and best 
work on the translation of the inscriptions has lately been 
published from the posthumous papers of Bishop Tepano 
Jatissen, apostolic vicar of Tahiti, who included in his 
diocese Easter Island also. He secured a few of the 
tablets, and some intelligent natives read them for him, 
explaining the meaning of each hieroglyph. These he 
collated, and they are printed in dictionary form, analyzed 
as far aS possible. They prove to be ideographic in 
character, and are read dowstrophedon. 
The Bishop took much pains to discover the origin of 
this writing, sending specimens of it widely over Oceanica 
for comparison. He finally decided that it was brought 
““more than a thousand years ago” from the Moluccas 
and the Spice Islands, almost an identical writing having 
been discovered on ancient stone monuments in the island 
of Celebes by Archbishop Claessens, of Batavia. 
This excellent study of Jaussen’s is a pamphlet of 
32 pages, entitled ‘‘L’Ile de Paques,” and may be had 
of Ernest Leroux, 28 Rue Bonaparte, Paris. It is indis- 
pensable for every student of the subject. 
PALOLITHIC VERSUS NEOLITHIC. 
In the Journal of the Anthropological Institute for 
February an important article appears from the pen of 
Prof. Boyd Dawkins, entitled ‘‘On the Relation of the 
Palzolithic to the Neolithic Period.”” His main point is 
to prove that nowhere in the Old or New World can we 
trace the transition in culture between these two periods. 
Everywhere there seems a gap or hiatus, sharply dividing 
the two, this break extending also to the fauna of the two 
epochs. 
This opinion was long ago maintained by Mortillet and 
other eminent archeologists, but has lately been denied” 
by J. Allen Brown and others. Professor Dawkins makes 
a strong plea for its correctness; but, after all, his argu- 
ment has the weakness inherent in reasoning ad ignorantia. 
The most he can show is that wot yet have the steps of the 
continuity of the periods been demonstrated; while it 
would surely be difficult for one familiar with the diligent 
studies of investigators not to be convinced that there is 
no such sharp line between the two cultures as was once 
-_-~ 
laid down. For instance, all must now concede that 
palzolithic man made pottery, which was long denied 
him. j 
An interesting part of Professor Dawkins’s article is 
that on the so-called palzolithic implements from the 
Trenton gravels, New Jersey. He has visited that locality 
himself and collected some of the specimens of which he 
speaks. His conclusion is, that there is no sufficient 
evidence for considering any of the Trenton finds as 
paleeolithic; and that the theories which have been built 
upon them by their finders will have to be discarded. 
Evidence of another kind than the mere rude form of 
implements is needed to determine the presence of pale- 
olithic man in ‘America. 
THE SO-CALLED ‘‘ CRIMINAL TYPE.” 
Tue all-important question among criminologists is, 
whether there is a peculiar physical type, which at once 
marks and condems the habitual criminal. Reference has 
already been made in these notes to the wide difference 
of opinion on this subject which obtained at the last 
International Congress of Criminal Anthropology (see 
Science, Nov. 18, 1892). In a paper read before the 
Russian Anthropological Society last October, Prof. E. 
Petri, of St. Petersburg, declared in favor of the reality 
of the ‘‘type,” maintaining that it had been denied 
because of lack of uniformity in modes of measurement, 
and in the technical nomenclature, as well as from a 
neglect of proper selection of cases. He argued that a 
so-called ‘pure series”’ of criminal types could be ob- 
tained, and would always show clearly defined contrasts 
to a series of non-criminal individuals. 
On the other hand, the legal profession almost unani- 
mously deny the existence of the ‘‘type.” Take, they 
say, a dozen criminals as they come into the dock, wash 
and dress them as neatly, and they will certainly look as 
well as the dozen men in the jury box impanelled to pro- 
nounce upon their misdeeds. To be sure, many criminals 
are such through want, misery and destitution, and these 
leave their traces; but as many more have not suffered in 
this manner; and a large class of crimes demand a well- 
regulated life for their commission; so the average is 
maintained. Of course, exception must be made in 
either case, of mental alienation, idiocy, insanity and the 
like. 
THE PLEIADES IN EARLY ASTRONOMY. 
THE prominent position which the group of the Pleiades 
occupies in many early myths and calendars has recently 
attracted the attention of several writers. Prof. Norman 
Lockyer, in his ‘‘ Dawn of Astronomy,” shows that the 
oldest temple on the Acropolis of Athens was oriented to 
observe the rising of the Pleiades about the year 1530 B.C.; 
thus connecting the worship of these stars with the primt- 
tive religion of the Hellenes. 
