October 30, 1!)03.] 



SCIENCE. 



571 



with that of the skeletons found during the 

 arclieological exiilorations, is being made in 

 order to determine the physical relations of 

 the Indians of California with those of other 

 regions. By correlating the physical char- 

 acters, the particidar cultures of the past and 

 present Indians, and the various linguistic 

 stocks or families still extant, it is hoped to 

 solve the great problem of the relationship of 

 the numerous groups of Indians in California, 

 and their relationship with peoples of other 

 parts of the continent and possibly with cer- 

 tain tribes of Asia. 



Nowhere in America has there been such a 

 diversity of Indian languages as in Cali- 

 fornia, a condition which has long puzzled 

 anthropologists. During the past five years 

 more investigations of these languages have 

 been made by the University and by eastern 

 institutions than in all previous time. These 

 Indian languages are now fast disappearing. 

 Several are at the present moment known 

 only by five or six, others by twenty or thirty 

 individuals, and hardly a year passes without 

 some special dialect, or even language, be- 

 coming extinct. For this reason it is desired 

 that students should be instructed in the 

 methods of recording and studying Indian 

 languages, and then devote themselves to 

 special research. The University is, therefore, 

 giving instruction in this branch of linguistics 

 with the hope of preparing students to carry 

 on the research before the opportunities pass 

 away. Similar reasons apply to researches in 

 other divisions of ethnology, and in archeol- 

 ogy; hence the training of students in these 

 subjects is also undertaken by the Department 

 of Anthropology. 



The oflScers of the department make a special 

 appeal to persons in all parts of the State 

 and adjacent regions for aid in this survey. 

 Hundreds of Indian objects are found an- 

 nually, which if carefully labelled as to where 

 and how found and sent to the university, 

 would, when brought together for comparative 

 study, aid in the settlement of many important 

 questions. The distribution of a particular 

 kind of stone implement or of an ancient 

 form of basket, and of many other objects of 

 Indian manufacture (even the peculiar stone 



of which an implement is made is of great im- 

 portance), will aid in determining the distri- 

 bution of a tribe or group of which other rec- 

 ords may be lost or so uncertain that just 

 such confirmatory evidence to establish a 

 particular point is required. 



Information relating to the location of caves, 

 shellheaps, old burial places, ancient village 

 sites, and scattered fragments or survivors of 

 nearly extinct tribes, is earnestly solicited, 

 that such may be investigated by the depart- 

 ment and may be correctly recorded on its 

 ethnological and areheologieal maps of the 

 State. 



The university is by this survey carrying 

 on a research of great importance in obtain- 

 ing a knowledge of the first peopling of the 

 Pacific Coast and of the early migrations, and 

 of the relationships of the recent and present 

 Indians, a research that is required by an- 

 thropologists and by all interested in the early 

 history of man. This work has been well be- 

 gun, but assistance of many kinds is needed 

 for its progress. This assistance it is hoped 

 will be given to aid the University of the State 

 in an undertaking of such general interest. 



Two volumes of the publications of the de- 

 partment, relating to the languages, myths 

 and customs of certain tribes of California, 

 are now in press and are to be followed by 

 others as the material is prepared. 



Correspondence leading to aid in this sur- 

 vey is solicited by the Department of Anthro- 

 pology of the University of California. 



Bexj. Ide Wheeler, 

 President of the University. 

 F. W. Putnam, 

 Director of the Department of Anthropology. 



Bekkei.ey, Calikokxia, 

 October 15, 1903. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Professor Raphael Pujipelly, of Newport, 

 R. I., has recently returned from a summer's 

 journey in Turkestan, where he made a recon- 

 naissance under the auspices of the Carnegie 

 Institution of the ancient human occupation 

 of the region in relation to its physiography. 

 The other members of the expedition were 

 Professor W. M. Davis, of Harvard; ^fr. 



