January 25, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



65 



relations between the United States and these tribes. This will 

 treat of the various negotiations for peace and for the acquisition of 

 territory, the causes rendering such negotiations necessary, and the 

 methods observed by the government through its authorized agents 

 in this diplomacy, as well as other matters of public concern grow- 

 ing out of the same. The eminent value of this work to the histo- 

 rian is self-evident, and the laborious care bestowed by Mr. Royce 

 upon the carrying-out of this plan promises that it will be at once 

 an exhaustive and clear treatment of this important part of the his- 

 tory of our Republic. 



The first paper of the volume is Professor Cyrus Thomas's trea- 

 tise on " Burial-Mounds of the Northern Section of the United 

 States." Since this paper was written, much evidence has accu- 

 mulated which has been outlined in a bulletin of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology. It corroborates the views expressed by Professor 

 Thomas in the present report. 



His conclusions, as set forth in this paper, are that different sec- 

 tions of the country were occupied by different mound-building 

 tribes, which, though belonging to much the same stage in the scale 

 of culture, differed in most instances in habits and customs to a 

 sufficient extent to mark, by their modes of burial, construction of 

 their mounds, and their works of art, the boundaries of the re- 

 spective areas occupied. He furthermore concludes that each tribe 

 adopted several different modes of burial, depending, in all proba- 

 bility, to some extent upon the social condition, position, and occu- 

 pation of the deceased. The custom of removing the flesh before 

 the final burial apparently prevailed very extensively among the 

 mound-builders of the northern sections ; the bones of the common 

 people being often gathered together, and cast in promiscuous 

 heaps, over which mounds were built. Usually some kind of reli- 

 gious ceremony was performed at the burial, in which fire played 

 a prominent part; but, notwithstanding the very common belief, 

 there is no evidence whatever that human sacrifice was practised. 

 The builders of the mounds had not reached a higher culture 

 than that attained by some of the Indian tribes found occupying 

 the country at the time of the first arrival of Europeans, Pro- 

 fessor Thomas concludes his treatise by expressing his opinion 

 that the mound-building age cannot have lasted longer than about 

 a thousand years, and that it continued to be practised in several 

 localities in post-Columbian times. 



There remain two papers to be noted, both of peculiar interest, 

 — the one by Dr. Washington Matthews, who gives a very detailed 

 description of one of the remarkable religious ceremonies of the 

 Navajo ; the other by Mrs. T. E. Stevenson on the religious child- 

 life of the Zufii. 



Dr. Matthews describes the long ceremonies of the Mountain- 

 Chant, and gives the long myth which is the foundation of these 

 ceremonies. His paper concludes with the original texts of the 

 songs, and translations of the same. It is impossible to give an 

 account of the interesting contents of this essay, which is full of 

 new facts of the greatest importance to the student of anthropol- 

 ogy- 

 Mrs. Stevenson's paper is of a somewhat similar character, treat- 

 ing of the connection between certain customs and myths. This 

 field of study, so ably taken up by Dr. Matthews and Mrs. Steven- 

 son, has so far received comparatively little attention ; and yet it is 

 one of the most important for the study of the human mind and of 

 the growth of institutions. 



The publications of the Bureau of Ethnology mark every one a 

 long step forward in our knowledge of man in America, and are 

 therefore anxiously awaited by all students. We hope that the 

 following volumes may be issued at shorter intervals, that the im- 

 portant material contained in them may soon become public prop- 

 erty. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



The Birds of the West Indies. By CHARLES B. CORY. Boston, 

 Estes & Lauriat. 8". 



In preparing the present work, Mr. Cory examined a large series 

 of birds from nearly all the islands of the West Indies, the com- 

 bined collections representing many thousands of specimens. He 

 made live trips to different parts of these islands, besides which a 



number of collectors were sent out, for the purpose of obtaining as 

 complete a series as possible. Several of these collectors were 

 engaged upon their task from six to eighteen months, and it is 

 fair to assume that their collections contained nearly all of the resi- 

 dent species of the islands which they visited. Some of these col- 

 lections proved especially interesting, being very rich in novelties, 

 the collections of one person containing no less than seventeen spe- 

 cies new to science. 



Most of the matter contained in the present work appeared origi- 

 nally in the Atik during the years 1886, 1887, and 1888 ; but since 

 that time a large number of species have been added to the West 

 Indian avifauna which were either new to science or had not been 

 previously recorded from that locality. Descriptions of these are 

 given in an appendix, unless included in their proper order in the 

 body of the work. A number of alterations and corrections have 

 been made in the original plates, and several new illustrations have 

 been added. No descriptions are given of well-known North 

 American birds, and the references to such are mainly restricted to 

 the citation of works and papers on West Indian ornithology. 



The excellent mechanical make-up of the book admirably supple- 

 ments the painstaking and thorough work done by Mr. Cory in its 

 preparation. 



Louis Lambert. By HONORfi DE BalzaC. Tr. by Katherine P. 



Wormeley, with introduction by George F. Parsons. Boston, 



Roberts Bros. 12''. $1.50. 

 Balzac seems to have written this story for the express purpose 

 of making known what he would call his philosophy, which is a 

 curious compound of mysticism and nonsense. The hero of the 

 tale, Lambert, is introduced when a boy, and considerable space is 

 given to his experience and reflections while at school. At a later 

 time, after a season in Paris, he falls in love with a titled lady, and 

 marries her. Unfortunately, however, he becomes insane just be- 

 fore his marriage, and remains so ever after, and dies while still a 

 young man. The " philosophy " of the book is contained partly in 

 his conversations and letters, but chiefly in some papers composed 

 after he became insane ; and these latter seem to be the dearest to 

 the soul of Balzac. The doctrine expressed in them is of the occult 

 kind, as will be seen from the following specimens : " Here below 

 all is the product of an ethereal substance, the common base of sev- 

 eral phenomena. . . . Will is a fluid, the attribute of every being 

 endowed with motion. . . . Facts are nought ; they do not exist ; 

 ideas alone exist. . . . All things here below exist only by motion 

 and by number. . . . There is a number which impurity cannot 

 transcend — the number wherein creation is finished. . . . Three 

 and seven are the two great spiritual numbers " (pp. 138-148). Be- 

 sides the story that gives name to the book, there are two others in 

 the volume; but there is little connection between them and Louis 

 Lambert ; and the second of them, Gambara, we have found in- 

 tensely disagreeable. The introduction to the book, which is as 

 long as the leading story, is partly a summary of Balzac's ideas, 

 and partly an attempt to reconcile them with the teachings of physi- 

 cal science, — an attempt which, as may be supposed, is not very 

 successful. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 

 GiNN & Co. announce " An Introduction to the Poetry of 

 Robert Browning," by William John Alexander, Munro professor 

 of English language and literature, Dalhousie College and Univer- 

 sity, Halifax, N. S., and formerly fellow of Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity, to be published in February. The book opens with an ac- 

 count of Browning's most striking peculiarities in method and style, 

 and attempts to find an explanation of these in the conditions 

 amidst which the poet has worked, and in the nature of the themes 

 which he treats. In the next place, an exposition is given of those 

 general ideas pervading his work, which can only be gathered from 

 the study of many of his poems, and yet are needful for the full un- 

 derstanding of almost any one of them. This exposition is contained 

 in a series of chapters on " Browning's Philosophy," " Christianity 

 as presented in Brownings Works," and " Browning's Theory of 

 Art." These chapters are followed by a brief chronological review 

 of his writmgs, and characterization of his development. The 

 various points treated throughout the introduction are illustrated 



