836 
CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 
THE PAPUANS AND MELANESIANS. 
In a short article in Globus (Bd. 72, No. 
9) Professor F. Muller sets in sharp con- 
trast from the linguistic side the Papuans 
and Melanesians. The latter he considers 
to be Malayo-Polynesians, deeply tinged 
with Papuan blood, and speaking languages 
which are Malayan in grammar, but with 
a vocabulary containing a considerable re- 
siduum of Papuan roots. They have a deci- 
mal system, while the Papuaus have only 
two numerals; the Melanesian dialects all 
have pronomial suffixes, which are wholly 
unknown in Papuan tongues; and other 
equally marked differences. 
Like the negroes of Africa, the Papuans 
have a large number of widely distinct lin- 
guistic stocks; while it is well known that 
the Melanesians and Malayo-Polynesians 
are monoglottie. Physically the Melane- 
sians are almost identical with the Papuans, 
but their tongues prove the deep influence 
of other blood. The purest examples of 
the Papuans are to be found in the interior 
of New Guinea, where they occupy a vast 
territory of which we know scarcely any- 
thing. 
In this connection should be mentioned a 
paper on ‘Observations on a Collection of 
Papuan Crania,’ by Dr. George A. Dorsey, 
with notes on their decorative features by 
Professor Wm. H. Holmes, lately published 
by the Field Museum, Chicago. The meas- 
urements are most carefully done. 
ETHNOGRAPHY AND HISTORIC SCIENCE IN 
AMERICA. 
Unper the above title Dr. F. Ratzel has 
an article in the Deutsche Zeitschrift fiir Ge- 
schichtswissenschaft, 1897, No. 3, appreciative 
of several recent works by American his- 
torical writers. He points out with force 
how the study of the aboriginal population 
of America has widened the range of his- 
torical views among us in the last quarter 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Von. VI. No. 153: 
of a century. “‘ Prescott described ancient 
Mexico as a curiosity which might have 
belonged to another planet. To-day the 
pre-Columbian culture of America pours 
light on the historic consciousness of 
Americans. Far beyond colonial history 
stretches the indefinite expanse of aborig- 
inal history. This close relationship of 
history and ethnography forces the prob- 
lems of the histories of races and peoples 
on the attention of every historical stu- 
dent.” : 
Just how that relationship is to be under- 
stood and brought into the writing of his- 
tory is a question which is not yet fully 
answered, as is easily evident from Dr. 
Ratzel’s paper and the appendix to it by 
Dr. K. Lamprecht, one of the editors of the 
Zeitschrift. Enough, however, that it is 
recognized by such high authorities as one 
which can no longer be neglected. 
D. G. Brinton. 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
BOTANICAL NOTES. 
ENUMERATION OF THE PLANTS OF EUROPE. 
SEVEN years ago (1890) Dr. K. Richter 
brought out the first volume of a work en- 
titled ‘Plante Huropez,’ which was in- 
tended to enumerate all the flowering plants 
growing spontaneously in Europe. The 
death ofthe author brought the undertaking 
to a standstill, and threatened to leave the 
work unfinished and fragmentary. Fortu- 
nately this calamity has been averted, and 
we are likely to see the work completed 
within a few years. Dr. M. Girke, of the 
Berlin Botanical Museum, has recently is- 
sued the first fascicle of the second volume, 
and a second fascicle is promised within a 
few months. 
The original plan of the work, which is 
practically unchanged by the new editor, 
included the systematic arrangement of all 
the European species under their proper 
orders and classes. The first description of 
