SCIENCE 



NEW YOKE, DECEMBER 22, 1893. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY— NO. XXXVI. 



{Edited by D. G. Brinton, M. D., LL. D., D. Sc.) 



The WOMAN'S Anthropo_oqioal Society of Washington. 



It is pleasant to record that this Society held its one 

 hundredth meeting in Januarj^, 1893 ; and in memory of 

 this interesting occasion, it has issued a modest pamphlet 

 with a sketch of its industry since its organization in 

 1885. It has had three presidents, Mrs. Tilly E. Steven- 

 son, Mrs. Carter and the present incumbent, Miss Alice 

 C. Fletcher. The Society is divided into six sections, 

 occupied respectively with the six branches, archeeology, 

 child-life study, ethnology, folk-lore, psychology and 

 sociology. This division might be open to some ques- 

 tion, especially as to the distinction between ethnology 

 and sociology; but if it is found to be a good working 

 basis, that is enough. The finances are reported in a 

 flourishing condition, and the attendance, as well as the 

 membership, reveals a steady advance. 



So far as I am aware, there is no other anthropological 

 society composed exclusively of women ; although there 

 are distinguished anthropologists of the female sex in 

 many countries. It seems contrary to the true spirit of 

 science for any scientific society to be composed exclu- 

 sively of one sex. The pursuit of truth, especially that 

 of general laws by inductive methods, should be epicene, 

 and severed from all sex relations. The result of the 

 opposite course in this instance is indicated by . the fact 

 that three-fourths of this report are taken up with an 

 article on "The Woman's Movement." Good indeed, but 

 much better fitted for a political congress than an anthro- 

 pological society. "When women become scientists, they 

 should for the time forget sex in the search for truth. 



The Palaeo-Asiatics. 



Th'S is the name given by some ethnographers — Rus- 

 sian and German — to a number of tribes, including the 

 Kamschatkans, Ghiliaks, Koriaks, Youkagirs, etc., now 

 inhabiting the islands and extreme northern and eastern 

 coasts of Siberia ; the theory being, that at one time their 

 ancestors occupied most of northern Asia and the Japa- 

 nese Archipelago, but were dispossessed by the Chinese, 

 Mantchu, and other Mongoloid peoples. They are small in 

 stature (about 1.50 — 1.60), strongly built, head round, 

 nose flat, eyes small and oblique, hair straight, beard 

 scanty. 



Some interesting studies bearing on this question have 

 been recently issued by Professor Gustave Schlegel, of 

 Leyden, to whose fruitful researches in the Chinese 

 annals I have before alluded (see Science, Sept. 9, 1892, 

 March 24, 1893). He advances cogent reasons for be- 

 lieving the "Land of Little Men' of these ancient chron- 

 icles was Japan, and the small people from whom it 

 derived its name were the Koriaks, who, he argues, in- 

 habited these islands before the arrival of the Ainos, and 

 were driven out by them. He supports this by the 

 archceological observations of Prof. E. S. Moi-se, which 

 point in this direction. The Ainos themselves, he in- 

 clines to think, are the nation referred to in the Annals 

 as the inhabitants of ''The Land of White People," and 

 connects them with the European white race, both from 

 the color of their skin, the character of their hair, and 

 their full beards, traits which distinguish them broadly 

 from their Mongolian neighbors. 



Other identifications suggested by Professor Schlegel 

 are the "Land of Gentlemen" with a part of Corea ; the 

 "Land of the East" with Kamschatka ; the "Land of Pro- 

 fligate Devils" also with Kamschatka ; and the "Land of 

 Tall Men" with the islands of the Ainos. 



The Etruscan Problem. 



That in the centre of the classic world a nation arose, 

 attained a high state of civilization and remarkable artis- 

 tic and literary culture, flourished for five hundred years, 

 then disappeared, leaving some of the grandest monu- 

 ments of history, and thousands of inscriptions and 

 extensive texts in its language, — and yet that modern 

 scholars have been unable to decipher positively a word 

 of this language, or discover an affinity with any other 

 nation or race, — this is certainly an unique example. 



The efforts are, however, bravely continuing. 



In a little-known jjrovincial journal, the Zeitschrift des 

 Insterburger Allerthutiisverein, 1893, Heft III, Dr. G. Klein- 

 schmidt has an article headed, "Zwei Lemnische Inschrif- 

 ten," undertaking to show that the two well-known in- 

 scriptions from the island of Lemnos, in Etruscan 

 characters, can be interpreted by the Lithuanian and Let- 

 tish languages. As these are pure and ancient forms of 

 Aryan speech, his argument has just as much in its favor 

 as those of the great Etruscologist Deecke, who also 

 claims Etruscan as an Indo-Germanic tongue. 



Quite opposed to that view is the opinion — not novel — 

 of Signor Gaetano Polari, who in a brief paper called 

 "The New Etruscology," printed at Lugano, urges and 

 illustrates the similarity of Etruscan to the Basque 

 language. 



Approaching the question from the side of physical 

 anthropology, Professor Giuseppe Sergi, of Rome, in a 

 careful article in the Nuova Antologia, Sept., 1893, an- 

 nounces that a prolonged and minute study of the 

 genuine Etruscan remains of skulls, etc., throughout 

 Italy, has convinced him that beyond doubt they must be 

 classed with the Lybian stock, of North Africa. He will 

 shortly bring out the technical demonstration of this. It 

 gives me a natural pleasure to mention this, as the many 

 points of similarity between the culture, religion and 

 languages of these two peoples were first pointed out by 

 myself, — as Professor Sergi kindly acknowledges. 



The Study of Folk-Lore in Italy. 



Few nations can claim the wealth of folk-lore possessed 

 by Italy, and it is a pleasure to add that no nation is more 

 diligent in the collection and sifting of this interesting 

 anthropologic material. 



Quite recently, a new society for this purpose has been 

 added to the considerable number of those already exist- 

 ing ; this one at Rome, under the guidance of the 

 distinguished Professor De Gubernatis. In Sicily, Signor 

 Pitr6 has been most successful in exciting an interest in 

 the subject, and the "Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradi- 

 zioni Popolari," which he brings out, is always rich in 

 useful observations. Our own eminent folk-lorist, Mr. 

 Charles G. Leland, who makes his home largely in Italy, 

 has published some most curious investigations of the 

 survival of Etruscan rites in the superstitions of to-day 

 in that ancient land. 



In the province of Naples, Dr. Stanislas Prato, Profes- 

 sor in the Royal Lyceum at Lucera, is a diligent collec- 

 tor, and has published largely, though but little in book 

 form. Among his essays may be mentioned a critical 

 dissertation on the "Twelve Words of Truth," "Le Dodici 



