456 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. A^OL. V. No. 116. 



provided by Mr. Morris K. Jesup, President 

 of the Museum, wlio has done so much 

 already for the advancement of science and 

 for furthering the work of the American 

 Museum of ^Natural History. In 1895 he 

 fitted out the Peary Relief Expedition,which 

 extended the needed assistance to Lieut. 

 Peary and thus resulted in important ad- 

 vances in our knowledge of northern Green- 

 land and in valuable additions to the Mu- 

 seum. He also contributed the means for 

 the Jesup Collection of North American 

 woods, which is the best existing collection 

 of North American foresty. 



The explorations on the coasts of the 

 North Pacific Ocean are intended to cover 

 a period of six years, during which time the 

 investigations are to be carried on in both 

 Asia and America. 



There are few problems that are of greater 

 importance to our knowledge of the early 

 history of the American race than its rela- 

 tions to the races of the Old World. The 

 discussion of this problem has been going 

 on for a long period, but its study has never 

 been taken up in a systematic manner. 

 While some investigators maintain that 

 American culture has grown up spontane- 

 ously, others claim to recognize traces of 

 Asiatic culture in America. Two ways of 

 connection between the New World and the 

 Old have been suggested : the one leading 

 over the islands of the Pacific Ocean to 

 South America; the other leading along the 

 coasts of the North Pacific coast to our 

 continent. The problem that it is proposed 

 to take up relates to the northern area. In 

 recent time F. Ratzel, Otis T. Mason and 

 Franz Boas have published studies which 

 favor the theory that an early exchange of 

 cultural achievements took place between 

 northeastern Asia and western America, 

 but it cannot be said that this opinion has 

 been established beyond doubt. It is com- 

 bated notably by D. G. Brinton. 



Still more doubtful is the racial relation- 



ship between the peoples of Asia and 

 America, and when Boas expressed the 

 opinion that the peoples of British Colum- 

 bia are more closely related to the Asiatic 

 race than any other North American In- 

 dians he did not bring forward any material 

 from the Asiatic side to sustain his asser- 

 tion. The final solution of these questions 

 requires a systematic study of. the whole 

 area. Anthropologists will appreciate the 

 generosity of Mr. Jesup, who makes it pos- 

 sible to investigate this important problem 

 energetically before the destructive in- 

 fiuences of civilization have destroyed the 

 primitive cultures entirely. 



Our knowledge of the ethnology of the Pa- 

 cific coast of Siberia is largely based upon the 

 reports of early travelers. Steller's descrip- 

 tion of Kamchatka supplies a gap that can- 

 not be filled to-day. The circumnavigations 

 of the globe of the last century and of the 

 beginning of this century have furnished 

 us with fragmentary material from these 

 regions, but the only contribution that can 

 claim any great scientific value is that of 

 Schrenck on the peoples of the Amoor. 

 Notwithstanding this work, and the publi- 

 cations of Middendorf, Gastrin, Schiefner 

 and Radlofi", the types of man, the lan- 

 guages, customs and mythologies of the 

 whole region are practically unknown. 



On the American side our information is 

 somewhat fuller. From southern Alaska 

 and the Aleutian Islands we have the lin- 

 guistic works of Vemiaminofi", the great 

 Russian missionary; of Dall, Pinart, Krause 

 and Emmons. From Arctic Alaska we 

 have mainly the work of Murdoch on the 

 Eskimo of Point Barrow. Investigations 

 in British Columbia have been carried on 

 for a number of years under the auspices 

 of the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, mainly by Boas, but much 

 remains to be done. 



Work on the Pacific coast of America 

 will be commenced this spring in fields that 



