148 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XX. No. 501 



the other. Otherwise he will not be able to compete with the 

 white race in the economic struggle for land or the political 

 struggle for power." 



This is a sad conclusion, but it is that which is supported by the 

 history of both the Red and the Black races, and is that which is 

 illustrated by the histories of so many of the Polynesian islands, 

 where the circumstances were most favorable to the developmeat 

 of the best relations between the natives and the Europeans. The 

 psychic traits of races are as unalterable as the shade of their hair, 

 aod ineFitably for them define thu future of their stock and limit 

 Its possibilities. 



The Land Fu-Sang. 



Now that the discussion of the various discoveries of America is 

 in order, that which is referred to in Chinese annals as far back 

 as the seventh century, in connection with the name Fu-Sang. 

 should receive attention. It was first brought to the notice of 

 scholars in 1761 by the French orientalist, Ue Guignes, and of 

 course created some sensation. Various writers since then have 

 warmly espoused his views, among vrhom may be mentioned in 

 our own country Charles G. Leland and E. P. Vining, both of 

 whom have issued volumes in proof of De Guignes's identification. 



The coiqj de grace seems to have been dealt the theory by Gus- 

 tave Schlegel in his book published in Leyden this year entitled 

 " Fou-Sang Kouo ; le Pays de Fou-Sang." He is a Chinese 

 scholar of acknowledged competence, and takes up ihe story as 

 recited in the original, with as many side-lights as he can bring 

 to bear ujion it. 



The result of his researches is to knock every pin from under 

 the notion that any part of America could have been intended in 

 the description of Fu-Sang. As far as any real land can be dis- 

 cerned through the fog of exaggeration and fable which encircles 

 the whole account, it is that of the island Krafto or Saghalien, 

 and the people described resembled the Ainos more than any 

 otheis. A variety of arguments are adduced to show that Mexico 

 is out of all question; and 'therefore those fanciful archa3ologists 

 who have been ready to find Buddhistic elements in American 

 religions will have to look for them elsewhere than in the legend 

 of Fu-Sang. 



Another Failure in Ethnic Osteology. 



The trenchant criticisms of Professor Sergi of Rome have 

 already been referred to in these notes. He has recently pub- 

 lished another of these ia which he attacks and apparently demol- 

 ishes the favorite theories of Professor KoUmaun of Basel, in re- 

 lation to the analogy existing between the face and its mem- 

 bers. The latter has long maintained that there is a constant 

 correlation between the elements of the face of such a nature 

 that to long faces correspond high orbits, narrow nasal apertures, 

 and elongated palatine vaults; and to wide faces the converse of 

 these characters; and that the types of races expressed in head- 

 forms will be a composite of the cephalic and facial indices. 



Professor Sergi arrives at quite a different conclusion. He 

 points out from various series of skulls that in the purest types 

 the craniological criteria vary very widely. In every race indi- 

 vidual examples present the utmost diversity. As to any fixed 

 correlation between the shape of the face and the facial indices, 

 which is the crux of Kollmann's argument, it is a pure chimera. 

 He presents a series of measurements, tabulated from African 

 and American crania, which leave no doubt as to the accuracy of 

 his assertions; and Dr. Colignon, who reviews his work for 

 L'Anthropologie, accepts its conclusions as incontrovertible. This 

 is another serious blow to that department of physical anthro- 

 pology which has set up a few anotomical features as more im- 

 portant than those of language and mind, as criteria of peoples. 



We are informed that in view of the general interest awakened 

 in the cholera. Dr. Klein's well-known little book on "The Bac- 

 teria in Asiatic Cholera," published by Macmillan, has been re- 

 duced in price to one dollar. Dr. Klein is lecturer at St. Bar- 

 tholomew's Hospital, London. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



#** Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The writer's name 

 is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



On request in advance^ one hundred copies of the 7iuniber containing his 

 communication will be furnished free to any correspondent. 



The editor loill be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character 

 of the journal. 



A Pre-Aino Race in Japan. 



In the Report of the National Museum for 1890, just issued, are 

 two papers by Romyn Hitchcock, entitled respectively, " The An- 

 cient Pit-Dwellers of Yezo '" and " The Ainos of Yezo, Japan." 

 In these papers he advances the idea, which he evidently thinks 

 i^ new, that there was a race of people in Japan previous to the 

 Ainos, and these people he identifies with the Pit-Dwellers of 

 Yezo. He says, ' ' it has been supposed that the shell-mounds 

 were left by the Ainos. This is the opinion of Professor John 

 Milne." 5Ir. Hitchcock further says, " It has recently been 

 shown by the researches of Milne, Morse, Chamberlain, and 

 others that Japan proper was once inhabited by a race of people 

 different from the present Japanese, and from the comparison of 

 the remains found in shell-heaps and kitchen-middens in many 

 parts of Japan, even as far south as Kiushiu, with similar remains 

 found in Yezo, it is thought that the Ainos once inhabited Japan." 

 It is hardly necessary to inform Mr. Hitchcock that the writers 

 above mentioned did not require the evidences of shell-heaps to 

 convince them that the Ainos inhabited Japan, as historical 

 records in that country fully establish the fact. I have always 

 maintained, however, and in one case with an acrimony which I 

 now regret, that all the evidences point to the existence of a race 

 occupying Japan previous to the Ainos, citing these very shell- 

 heaps as proof. I am not concerned with the fact that he has 

 overlooked my views published at different times on the subject, 

 but I do object most emphatically to being represented by Mr. 

 Hitchcock as holding views directly the reverse of what I have 

 repeatedly urged; and as the point of a Pre-Aino race in Japan, 

 if established, is of some value, I do not intend to relinquish it 

 unless other claims to priority can be shown. While Mr. Hitch- 

 cock has not taken the trouble to look up my papers on the sub- 

 ject, he cannot plead ignorance of my views, as he has made 

 most ample use of a memoir by Mr. Basil Hall Chamberlain, pub- 

 lished by the University of Tokio, and should have seen the fol- 

 lowing statements in that publication (p. 44). Mr. Chamberlain 

 says: " Two theories may be held with regard to the former pres- 

 ence of the Ainos in Japan. One is that they have occupied the 

 whole country before the arrival of the Japanese. This theory 

 has been advocated by Professor Milne. . . . The arguments used 

 by Professor Milne are chiefly derived from archaeological finds. 

 ... To his arguments, which should be consulted at some length, 

 ... it has been objected by Professor Morse . . . that there is 

 no positive proof that the remains attributed by him to the Ainos 

 may not have been left by some still older race." There is, there- 

 fore, no excuse for this oversight or blunder on the part of Mr. 

 Hitchcock. 



Fifteen years ago I sent from Japan a communication to Nature 

 of London, entitled " Traces of Early Man in Japan." In this I 

 said: "The examination of a genuine kjoekkenmoeddmg, or 

 shell-heap, enables me to give positive evidences regarding a pre- 

 historic race who occupied this island." And when I designated 

 this race as pre-historic, I supposed every one familiar with 

 Japanese history was aware of the fact that the Ainos had pre- 

 ceded the Japanese in Japan, as the Indians had preceded the 

 English in New England. Hardly a popular book on Japan 

 had failed to allude to the fact, quoting early records of the 

 Japanese in proof of it. Over thirteen years ago I sent an article 

 from Japan to the Popitlar Science Monthly, entitled " Traces of 

 an Early Race in Japan." This was published in the January 

 number, 1879, and contained numerous engravings. In this paper 

 I said : " With every reason for believing that the Japanese came 

 from the south, displacing the Ainos, who came from the north, 

 the question next arises as to the original occupants of the island. 

 Did the northern people encounter resistance from a primitive 

 race of savages, or were they greeted only by the chattering of 

 relatives still more remote, whose descendants yet clamber about 



