June 11, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



913 



tags — that may be changed or taken away 

 entirelj'' without destroj'iug the value or 

 changing the nature of the thing. It is the 

 thing itself that is important, not its name. 



Sometimes the desire for innovations, 

 when it can find no other changes to make, 

 gives an old term a new meaning or substi- 

 tutes a high-sounding word for a simple 

 one. Occasionall3'^ these terms are poured 

 fourth in such quantities that it looks as 

 though their author had certainly invented 

 a new science. Surely nothing can be 

 more out of place than this cluttering up of 

 scientific literature with verbiage that calls 

 attention away from the subject under dis- 

 cussion. 



Those who have done most for the spread 

 of the knowledge of science have used the 

 simplest language and, just so far as possi- 

 ble, have avoided technicalities. They 

 have gone on the principle that what one 

 has to say should be so said as to be under- 

 stood by as many readers as possible, espe- 

 cially if the simplicity of the language 

 makes clear rather than obscures the mean- 

 ing. 



It is earnestly to be hoped that the more 

 sober-minded of our geologists, educational 

 institutions and scientific societies will dis- 

 courage the use of new tei'ms when they 

 are not absolutely necessary. 



Since the above was written we have 

 seen Dr. C. Hart Merriam's timely article 

 in Science (May 7, 1897, p. 731) upon a 

 ' useless and formidable,' ' disheartening 

 and ever increasing mass of terminology.' 

 We beg to commend it to geologists. 



John C. Beanner. 



Stanford XJnivebsity, Calif., May 15, 1897. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 SYSTEMATIC ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Schemes, sj'stems, plans, are of value in 

 sciences as both indicating the directions in 

 ■which investigations should be pursued and 

 the convenient arrangements of ascertained 



facts. Like definitions of scientific terms, 

 they are only provisional, suited to the pres- 

 ent sum of knowledge, but are none the less 

 useful for that. 



In the last number of the ' Centralblatt 

 fiir Anthropologic' (Heft. 2, 1897) the 

 well-known writer. Dr. Emil Schmidt, of 

 Leipzig, proposes the following comprehen- 

 sive scheme : 



Anthropology, the Study of the Human Species. 



I. Natural Historical Treatment. 



A. Physical Anthropology. 



a. Man as a zoological species. 

 h. The Races of Men. 



1. Descriptive treatment, Phylography. 



2. Investigation of physical principles, Phy- 



lology. 



B. Ethnic Anthropology. 



a. Descriptions of Peoples, Ethnography. 

 h. Investigation of psychical principles, Eth- 

 nology. 



II. Historical Anthropology or Prehistory ; investi- 



gation of the earlier and lower stages of 

 humanity. 



The neologisms, phylology and phylog- 

 raphy he introduces from (PdX-/], which he 

 explains as the physical, while 'iO^o? is the 

 social and psychical group. His objections 

 to previous schemes are also stated. 



ABORIGINAL CULTIVATION OF MAIZE. 



Agriculture in primitive America is the 

 more important as a cultural stage owing 

 to the total absence of the pastoral life. 

 Maize was usually the principal cultivated 

 plant, and for that reason a study by Mr. 

 Gardner P. Stickney on its use by the Wis- 

 consin Indians (Parkman Club Publica- 

 tions, No. 13) merits especial attention. It 

 is the result of close reading of the old 

 authors and of local investigation. His 

 conclusions are that the Wisconsin Indians 

 raised it in large quantities, enough for 

 their own wants, and an excess, which they 

 used in trade ; while even those tribes in 

 the area of the State who dwelt so far north 

 that it w'as an uncertain crop gave consid- 

 able attention to it, and sometimes raised 

 it in abundant fields. These tribes belonged 



