242 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 321 



Lore. The second, entitled " The Supernatural among- the Omaha 

 Tribe of Indians," was afterwards pulalished in Vol. I. No. 3, of the 

 " Proceedings of the American Society of Psychical Research." 

 The third paper was on " Winter Life among the Winnebago In- 

 dians ; " and the fourth, on " The Heathuska Society of the Omaha 

 and Ponka Indians and Indian Music." The last is now in press 

 as a publication of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology. 

 Commendation of the original and important work of Mrs. Steven- 

 son and Miss Fletcher would be quite superfluous. 



" Legends and Historical Sketches of the Iroquois Indians " 

 (Washington, 18S7) is the title of a privately printed pamphlet by 

 Mrs. Laura M. Scofield, containing material previously presented to 

 the society in two papers. Two valuable communications have been 

 given orally by corresponding members : viz., " Reminiscences of 

 Life among the Iroquois Indians in the Province of Quebec," by the 

 late Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith; and "The Sioux Indians," by Miss 

 Mary C. Collins of Dakota. 



A number of members at one time found a most interesting field 

 for study in the Basque races, and their results were presented in 

 a series of brief papers. Mrs. Seaman discussed the home life of 

 the Basques ; Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Tullock, their literature ; Mrs. 

 McDonald described their marriage customs ; and Miss Spofford, 

 their music. Miss Cathcart also condensed the results of pro- 

 longed study into an account of the spread of the Turanian races 

 into Europe. 



These papers on the Basques are all compilations, but personal 

 observation is again represented in such communications as the 

 following : Mrs. Carter, our esteemed president, has given an ad- 

 mirable account of the Hawaiians, while Mrs. Jean M. Lander ably 

 described some customs and manners of Scotch Highlanders. 

 Mrs. Melissa A. Bryan offered some notes upon the Japanese ; 

 Mrs. Louise F. Hunt talked about Russia ; and Miss Elisa R. 

 Scidmore has quite recently presented a chapter from her forth- 

 coming work on Korea. 



The division of technology is represented by several papers, three 

 of them being especially noteworthy and interesting. Under the 

 title " Habitations of Man," Mrs. Hannah L. Bartlett summarize 

 her researches concerning the dwellings of a large number of civil- 

 ized people. An account of house-building in Alaska came from 

 Mrs. Ella F. Thomas, as one result of a two-years' stay in that 

 land. To these Mrs. Carter added some facts concerning the 

 habitations of the Hawaiians. Mrs. Matilda G. Bancroft of San 

 Francisco acknowledged her membership in our society by send- 

 ing a paper on " Ceramic Art of the Pacific Coast ; " and Mrs. 

 Mary E. Brown of New York, a corresponding member, read what 

 has since appeared as the chapter on " Chinese Music," in her 

 book entitled " Musical Instruments and their Homes " (New York, 

 1888). Another interesting and important contribution, from Mrs. 

 Scofield, is on " Petroleum and Natural Gas and their Relations to 

 Man." 



Only two papers maybe classed as arch^ologic. The departure 

 of Miss Sarah A. Scull for Greece in the spring of 1886 has already 

 been mentioned. Her destination was Athens, where for over two 

 years she was connected with the American School of Classical 

 Studies, and pursued original researches among the ruins of Hel- 

 las. Her work and that of her associates was the theme of a most 

 interesting discourse with which the society was lately favored. 



An account has been given of studies in a similar direction, 

 though not so detailed in character. The communication of Mrs. 

 Mary Parke Foster on " The Ancient Ruins of Mexico " was based 

 on material collected during a seven-years' residence in our neigh- 

 boring republic. During this time some expeditions into almost 

 unknown territory were made, and certain ruins explored for the 

 first time by a foreign lady. 



In the division of sociology appears a recent account of the evo- 

 lution of a community. In this Mrs. McGee followed the develop- 

 ment of a religious body from its origin in Germany through various 

 stages to its present state as the most successful communistic or- 

 ganization in America. Two years ago the study of folk-lore was 

 commended by Miss Ellen Wier Cathcart, and Mrs. Mary Olm- 

 sted Clarke gave some negro song games which had not been 

 discovered by either Mr. W. H. Babcock or Professor H. C. Bol- 

 ton. 



Last, but not least, must be mentioned the papers in somatology,, 

 some of which have also touched on psychology. Mrs. Clara Bliss. 

 Hinds, M.D., has long made a special study of anthropometry, and 

 has urged upon our members the value of proper measurements and 

 records in her paper already noted on " Child-Growth " and in 

 " How to Study Children." Mrs. Mary E. James presented an able 

 rhzemi! of studies made in the asylums of Brooklyn, N.Y., in her com- 

 munication on " Food in its Relations to Child-Growth." Under the 

 title" Comparative Human Growth," Mrs. Emma Hammond Ward 

 set forth some important but little known physiologic laws and their 

 mental and moral bearing upon the race. Here, too, must be in- 

 cluded Mrs. Scofield's paper upon " Life." Finally, the president 

 of the Washington branch in the Association of Collegiate Alum- 

 nse, Mrs. Anna Howes Barus, has treated us to " The Physical 

 History of College Women," an article based on statistics collected 

 under the direction of its author, and already published elsewhere. 



Such are the principal themes thus far discussed by our society. 

 In these brief notes it has been impossible to convey more than the 

 vaguest idea of their scope or character, or to indicate their value 

 as original contributions to knowledge. The purpose of this re- 

 port will have been served if some conception has been given ta 

 this new work undertaken by women, and of the progress already 

 made upon it. Mistakes have been made in the management and 

 work of the society. We do not claim perfection in any particular,, 

 but we do believe our organization to be the minute seed from 

 which a great forest will spring. 



There are hundreds of societies in which knowledge is cultivated 

 and fostered for its own sake, and in which many grand and useful 

 conceptions find birth ; there are in the United States several sci- 

 entific societies devoted wholly to anthropology ; but among all of 

 these the first to be organized and maintained by women alone is. 

 the Women's Anthropological Society of America. 



THE "EXCELSIOR CLASSES" IN AUSTRALIA. 1 



AbOITT five or six years ago, Mr. William Groom, a young work- 

 man in a silk-hat factory in Melbourne, used to observe with great 

 distress the large number of boys who were drinking in the saloons 

 of the city, especially on Saturday nights. The sight at last trou- 

 bled him so much, that he resolved to attempt some method of 

 diminishing the evil : so one evening he accosted a group of boys. 

 in a saloon, and asked them whether they really found any en- 

 joyment in that mode of spending time. They answered that 

 perhaps, after all, there was not much fun in it. Mr. Groom then 

 invited them to come next Saturday evening to his lodgings, and 

 said that he would try to furnish them with better amusement. 

 Some of the boys came ; and Mr. Groom, though feeling awkward 

 and embarrassed, did his best to entertain them with games, read- 

 ing, and a little personal talk. By degrees his unique power of 

 influencing boys became manifest ; numbers began to gather round 

 him ; and his work became know~n to few persons of wealth and 

 position, who, recognizing Mr. Groom's peculiar gifts, agreed ta 

 guarantee a sufficient sum annually to enable him to devote his. 

 whole time to the work among the boys. 



It may be mentioned, in passing, that Mr. Groom's most enthu- 

 siastic supporter is a young artist, belonging to a family of high 

 standing and influence in Victoria, who is himself carrying on an 

 interesting and valuable work in the Melbourne Hospital. Owing 

 to impaired vision, he is able to work at his profession only during 

 the morning hours : he therefore devotes three afternoons in the 

 week to visiting the patients in the surgical wards of the hospital, 

 — those in the medical wards having comparatively little superfluous 

 energy, — reading and talking to them, keeping them supplied with 

 books, and teaching them netting, macrame-work, and the con- 

 struction of picture-frames and a variety of other artistic and use- 

 ful objects. The various materials required he brings at each visit.. 

 In this way the wearisome hours]of the patients are lightened, some 

 useful minor industries are learned, and the sale of the products 

 gives the patients in many cases a substantial sum of money to- 

 make a fresh start when they are discharged from the hospital. 



1 Notes of a talk by William Grey, Esq,, of the Denison Club, London, to a few- 

 students of social science in the Johns Hopkins University, Jan. 12, 1889. 



