OcTOBER 1, 1897. ] 
of primitive people are not merely worthy 
of scientific study, but are of sufficient ex- 
tent and importance to serve as a basis for 
a distinct branch of science; and he illus- 
trated his idea by describing the elaborate 
ceremonies of different Indian tribes and 
discussing the rise and decadence of fiducial 
practices among the American aborigines. 
He suggested several terms -suitable for 
designating the study of ceremony, and in- 
vited the appointment ofa sectional com- 
mittee to consider the subject of nomencla- 
ture. After discussion of the paper by Dr. 
Peet and others, the section voted to appoint 
the committee suggested by Dr. Matthews, 
and Rev. Stephen D. Peet, Miss Alice 
Fletcher and Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing 
were appointed as such committee. 
Dr. Peet followed with a suggestive com- 
parison of Cherokee and European symbol- 
ism, in which many curious parallels were 
brought out. 
The next communication was ‘Kore- 
shanity: A Latter-Day Cult,’ by Anita 
Newcomb McGee, M.D. The author de- 
scribed briefly a cult or religious system 
founded by Dr. Cyrus R. Teed, or Koresh 
(the Hebrew form of the prename Cyrus), 
and detailed the curious cosmogony bound 
up with the religious teaching. Although 
it gained foothold only within a dozen years, 
the doctrine has spread with such rapidity 
that the adherents number many hundred, 
perhaps thousands, of whom about 150 
have entered a communistie organization 
with headquarters in Chicago and a colony 
in southwestern Florida. The communi- 
cation was discussed by Professor Morse, 
Professor Witmer and others. 
The work of the day ended with a paper 
on the origin of the week and holy day 
among primitive peoples, by Rev. R. J. 
Floody. Beginning with an account of the 
wide distribution of hebdomadal systems in 
different parts of the world,the author passed 
to explanations of the occurrence of such 
SCIENCE. 
609 
systems, and finally enunciated the propo- 
sition that such systems originated spon- 
taneously among peoples in that culture- 
stage in which adoration of the sun, moon, 
ete., prevails ; he held that the lunation of 
about 28 days is the simplest and most 
convenient time-measure longer than the 
day, and that it is naturally divisible, first 
into semi-lunations of relative dark and 
light, and then into quarter lunations de- 
fined by wax and wane with respect to full 
moon, ‘dead’ moon and intermediate half 
moon. An elaborate array of evidence in sup- 
port of the idea, derived from primitive cus- 
toms and also from folk-lore and even mod- 
ern customs, was presented, and the easy 
development of the sacred day in connection 
with the moon-defined seven-day period 
was pointed out. 
The morning session of August 11th was 
devoted to Mexican archeology. ‘The first 
paper was a brief account, by Professor F. 
W. Putnam, of recent researches by George 
Byron Gordon on the banks of the Ulloa 
River in Honduras, made for the Peabody 
Museum. Professor W. H. Holmes fol- 
lowed with an account of ‘The Building of 
a Zapotec City,’ in which hesketched briefly 
the history of the ruined city of Mitla, as 
viewed from the standpoint of the builder’s 
art. He illustrated the subject by select- 
ing an ordinary edifice and describing the 
several stages in construction, beginning 
with the preparation of the material by 
quarrying and cutting the stone, passing to 
the masonry construction and then describ- 
ing the roofing and surface embellishment; 
examples of the materials and of the quar- 
rying and cutting implements—almost 
wholly of stone—were exhibited. Dr. Sa- 
ville then noted ‘The Geographic Distribu- 
tion of a Certain Kind of Pottery found in 
Mexico and Central America;’ this ware 
is characterized by a peculiar steel blue- 
gray lustre, more nearly approaching a true 
glaze than any surface finish heretofore 
