July 15, 1892,] 



SCIENCE. 



31 



by the investigations of Dr. F. von Luschan of Berlin, on 

 the Tachtadschy of Lycia, published in the ArcMv fur An- 

 thropologie. This nomen gentile is not ethnic, but means 

 merely "wood-choppers," or "board-makers." It is applied 

 to a shy, secluded people, who live in the mountains, and 

 fell and dress trees as their main business. 



On measuring them. Dr. von Luschan found that they 

 had unusually short and high skulls, — hypsi-brachycephalic, 

 — and were of small stature, with dark hair and eyes. Com- 

 parison with some skulls from very old Lycian graves, and 

 with part of the present population of Armenia and other 

 portions of the region, led him to the conviction that in this 

 type — so markedly distinct from that of the Greeks and 

 Semites — he had before him the original of the most ancient 

 population of the land. He considers it certain that it ex- 

 tended over the whole southern half of Asia Minor; north- 

 east to the Caucasus; east to the upper Euphrates; but its 

 northern and western limits are not yet defined. He even 

 hints that the short, dark, brachycephalic people of central 

 Europe may be the western extension of the type. 



As to whence it came, he is not without an opinion. Not 

 from Europe, not from Africa, not from northern Asia, not 

 from southern Asia; all are excluded for sufficient reasons; 

 central Asia alone is left; and somewhere in that mysterious 

 matrix gentium he expects will he found the ancestral con- 

 nections of this well-marked type. There, then, we should 

 search for the linguistic analogies of the Cappadocian words 

 quoted from Professor Tomaschek in my previous article. It 

 would be a brilliant corroboration of a purely physical study 

 in anthropology to discover such analogy. 



Work of the Eleventh Census Among the Indians. 



It is not generally known — in fact, it is pretty hard to 

 find out — how much excellent anthropologic material is 

 annually collected and in part published by the various de- 

 partments of our central government. The army, the navy, 

 the surgeon -general's bureau, the Smithsonian, the National 

 Museum, and the specially created Bureau of Ethnology, 

 all pour forth every year quantities of valuable observa- 

 tions. 



Nor has the Eleventh Census been behind in this good 

 work, as is testified by the "Extra Census Bulletin," just 

 out, on the Six Nations of New York. It is but the fore- 

 runner of a series of such Bulletins on the remnants of our 

 aboriginal population, and is an excellent earnest of the 

 merits of its successors. 



The aim of these bulletins Is to supply first-hand and ac- 

 curate statements of the present social, religious, industrial, 

 vital, and political condition of the tribes; in other words, 

 they are ethnographic, in the right sense of the term. The 

 general editor is Mr. Thomas Donaldson, and in this instance 

 his collaborator is General Henry B. Carrington. A large 

 quarto of 89 pages, well indexed, with maps and photographs, 

 gives a most satisfactory account of the present status of the 

 Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, and Tus- 

 caroras. The action of the Census Bureau in this direction 

 is the more welcome, as in the rapidly changing condition 

 of the native tribes, not many censuses will have the mate- 

 rial with which to occupy themselves in this direction. 



The Extension and Study of the Nahuatl Language 



If we may judge of the superiority of a language by its 

 vitality, and by the impress it leaves on others with which 

 it comes in contact, we must assign a high place to the 

 Mexican or Nahuatl. It is still spoken in comparative purity 



by considerably over a million people, and it has made a 

 deep impression on the Spanish of most of the Mexican and 

 Central American States. 



For Costa Rica, this has been shown in a work issued in 

 the present year at San Jose de Costa Rica, by S*iior Juan 

 Fernandez Ferraz, formerly inspector-general of education 

 in that republic. It is entitled, "Nahuatlismos de Costa 

 Rica," and is a neat octavo of about 150 pages, with an intro- 

 duction on Nahuatl grammar of 75 pages. The alphabetical 

 list shows that a large number of terms in the current speech 

 of Costa Rica, which have assumed the form of Spanish 

 words, are derived from the Mexican tongue. 



A similar work for Nicaragua, written by the late Dr. C. 

 H. Berendt, is now preparing for the press under the effi- 

 cient editorship of Dr. K. Lentzner of Berlin. The Nahuas, 

 or a colony of them, once occupied a considerable tract on 

 Lake Nicaragua, and left the marks of their occupancy not 

 only in interesting ruins, but on the language of their con- 

 querors as well. It was in this Nahuatl Spanish dialect that 

 the comedy of Gueguence was written (published in Phila- 

 delphia, in 1883). 



It is agreeable to note in this connection that the study of 

 the Nahuatl finds zealous advocates in Mexico, among whom 

 the names of Pefiafiel, Palma, Hunt y Cortes, Altamirano, 

 Caballero, and Rosa, hold conspicuous places. 



Anthropology at the Columbian Exposition. 



Anthropology does not appear by name at the Chicago 

 "World's Columbian Exposition." This is to be regretted, 

 as it is a fine opportunity lost to inform the people of the 

 United States what this grand science is, and how its several 

 branches stand related to each other. 



It is represented, in fact, in " Department M," with a most 

 competent chief. Professor F. W. Putnam of Cambridge. A 

 descriptive pamphlet of this department which has just been 

 issued announces that it includes " Ethnology, Archaeology, 

 History, Cartography, Latin- American Bureau, Collective 

 and Isolated Exhibits," — rather a miscellaneous stock. It 

 is further stated that there will be a section on physical an- 

 thropology and an anthropological laboratory, which are 

 classified as a subdivision under the section of ethnology. 

 In spite of these defects in classiBcation, no doubt abundant 

 and excellent material will be provided for the student, 

 which he can work up in his own way. A correspondent 

 in Berlin informs me that Dr. U. Jahn, who has charge of 

 the matter there, has prepared, among other things, a series 

 of specimens of German houses of all varieties, to be erected 

 at Chicago, and in one of them, the rathhaus, he will ar- 

 range a complete exhibition of ancient and modern German 

 costumes, domestic utensils, home manufactures, etc. The 

 sections at Chicago on Folk-Lore, Games, and Primitive Re- 

 ligions will be under the supervision of Stewart Culin Esq., 

 of Philadelphia, who has lately been appointed General Di- 

 rector of the Museum of Archaeology attached to the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Vert numerous experiments have been recorded to show that 

 moisture is saved by cultivation. Frank E. Emery of the North 

 Carolina Experiment Station says: " During this hot, dry weather 

 every foot of plowed land should be kept well stirred on the sur- 

 face with any tool which tends to keep it from baking. A loose, 

 fine surface will hold down water like a wet blanket. A field 

 kept thus may give an increase in crop over one not cultivated 

 equal to that produced by a heavy application of fertilizers. Pre- 

 servation of the soil- water thus becomes of great importance. A 



