SCIENCE 



NEW YORK, OCTOBER 20. 1893. 



INDIAN RELICS. 



Br C. M. PLEYTE, KEEPER OF THE ETHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF 

 KATUBA ABTIS MAGISTKA, AMSTEBJDAM. 



Some time ago Mr. R. J. Neervoort v. d. Poll, well 

 known among entomologists, invited me to see bis ethno- 

 logical collection, the specimens of which amounted at 

 that time to about a hundred and fifty. Though his col- 

 lection has been brought together by buying and ex- 

 changing a new object here and there, it contains, as near- 

 ly every private collection does, weapons, utensils, dresses, 

 tools, etc., from all parts of the world. The greater part 

 of them, however, were brought back from Indonesia (the 

 Malay Archipelago), especially from the island belonging 

 to the Dutch crown, as well as from our colonies in the 

 West Indies, especially Surinam. This country was vis- 

 ited by Mr. v. d. Poll himself, some years ago, with the 

 purpose of completing his collection of insects. On his 

 return from his journey, after the determination of the 

 new additions had been finished, Mr. v. d. Poll went to 

 Paris in order to make arrangements for the publication 

 of these new specimens. It was on this occasion that he 

 had the good luck to fall in with some very good old 

 American Indian objects, the description of which I think 

 may interest the readers of Science. 



The reason why I think it worth while to publish them 

 in this paper is that they are really relics, gathered at a 

 time when the Indians had not yet experienced the influ- 

 ence of civilization so much as now-a-days, and, moreover, 

 as the person who collected them was no less than the 

 Prince Maximilian of Wied. Mr. v. d. Poll bought them 

 from a friend of the painter Bodmer, one of the Prince's 

 companions on his travels. Bodmer was rather badly off 

 in his last days. He had scarcely enough to live upon. 

 Therefore from time to time he sold some of the objects 

 which were left to him to his friends, very glad to receive 

 some money in exchange, and at last he gladly ac- 

 cepted the oiSer made by the lithograph N. N. for the 

 rest of his curiosities and original drawings made when 

 in America. The latter gentleman sold them to Mr. v. d. 

 Poll, who entrusted them afterwards to the Ethnological 

 Museum of the Royal Zoological Society Natura Artis 

 Magistra, at Amsterdam, so that the remnants of this ex- 

 pedition, till of late lying forgotten in private profession, 

 can now be studied by everybody who will take the trouble 

 to visit the museum above mentioned. 



The objects are nine in number. 



I. Pipe with nicely carved bowl of green soapstone, 

 somewhat in the shape of a very small tomahawk. The 

 bowl is fastened to a reed stem, provided with a small, 

 cylindrical, bone mouthpiece. Blackfoot Indians 



II. Tomahawk made of a cylindrical piece of green-and- 

 white spotted serpentine fastened in a wooden handle. 

 The latter is a wooden strip bent round the stone. The 

 two remaining ends are laid against each other and firm- 

 ly bound together with a strip of buffalo hide of a red- 

 dish color, ending in a loop. Mandan Indians 



III. Pair of moccasofts of yellowish leather. The instep 

 is richly decorated with blue and red porcupine quills. 



Mandan Indians 

 TV. Pair of moccasons of black leather, on the instep and 

 at the sides docorated with dyed porcupine quills. 



Blackfoot Indians 



v. Medicine bag made out of a dried dogskin from which 

 the hair has been scraped ofl:. The bag is split at the 

 chest, and is drawn together by means of a hard leather 

 ring round the neck. The head, legs and tail dangle 

 loosely at the bottom part of the bag. The tail is orna- 

 mented with red flannel. Mandan Indians 



VI. Medicine bag made out of a dried skin, the sides are 

 ornamented with dyed porcupine quills and bundles of 

 hair. Mandan Indians 



VII. Sheath for a knife, made of leather, richly decorated 

 with dyed porcupine quills and leather fringe. 



Mandan Indians 

 Vm. Leather jacket made of soft yellow leather, with 

 short sleeves, decorated all over with blue and black 

 bundles of hair fitted into little tin cones. On the front 

 the totem is embroidered with silk, a black circle with two 

 red ornaments in it. Blackfoot Indians 



IX. Buffalo robe, the outside still showing the hair, the 

 inside prepared and adorned with porcupine quills form- 

 ing a striped, square pattern with bird-shaped ornaments 

 at the sides. Blackfoot Indians 



The costume formed by the Nos. I., IV., VIII. and IX. 

 was taken from a Blackfoot chief, whose portrait, unhap- 

 pily enough, is not found in any of the editions of the 

 Princes famous work on North America. 



SCIENCE TEACHING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 



BY GEO. G. GBOFF, LEWISBUBGH, PA. 



Attention should be called to the very loose and im- 

 perfect manner in which many of the more popular text- 

 books for use in elementary and secondary schools have 

 been prepared. A few years ago copies of an element- 

 ary work on natural history were sent the writer for ex- 

 amination. After looking it over, the publishers were in- 

 formed by the writer that he could not endorse the b ook. 

 In reply, he received a printed list of names of several hun- 

 dred educators who strongly commended the work. This 

 list was carefully studied, but not a name known to 

 science could be found in it. The book referred to was 

 written in such a slipshod manner as to contain mislead- 

 ing errors of statement on every few pages. 



There is a very popular chemistry in use in secondary 

 and high schools, of which it is aflirmed that in the first 

 editions the author, said, "An old woolen shirt can be 

 made to yield its weight of sugar !" Be that as it may, 

 the errors still in the book after use in the schools for 

 nearly a generation are numerous enough. The follow- 

 ing may serve to illustrate : "We say. We are so 

 warm that we pant.' Really it is the reverse. The pant- 

 ing IS the cause of^our warmth." Speaking of the borax 

 beds of Nevada, the statement is made "There are hun- 

 dreds of acres covered to a depth of nearly two feet with 

 crude semi-crystalline borax." Of chloral hydrate it is re- 

 marked, "Taken in proper quantities it is entirely safe, 

 and is exceedingly pleasant in its influence." "Albumen 

 may thus be carried by the blood through the system, but 

 when once deposited, it cannot be dissolved and washed 

 away again." Probably no school books are so full of 

 errors as those hastily jjrepared to meet the demands of 

 the new temperance laws now in force in most of the 

 states, requiring the effects of alcohol and tobacco on the 

 body to be taught in the schools. 



One of the best of these books several times makes the 

 positive assertion that tobacco produces cancer in its users. 



