20!: 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXI. No. 532 



As for the "mathematical probability " referred to by Dr. 

 Ball, it is illusory. We And " interwoven chains of customs and 

 belief " of the most seemingly fanciful and artificial character 

 in nations so remote that the theory of transmission is impossible 



such as Niblack shows between New Zealanders and Haidahs, 



or as Morgan adduced between Iroquoiean and Dravidean tribes. 

 These do not depend on transmission, nor yet on chance, but on 

 the unalterable principles of human psychical development, 

 ■which proceeds under fixed laws, operates largely on the same 

 or similar materials, and produces identical or analogous results. 



In conclusion, I repeat what I have said more than once 

 before, that I challenge any one to cite a single American lan- 

 guage showing clear traces of Asiatic or any other foreign in- 

 fluence; or a single native American art or industry obviously 

 traceable to foreign culture. D. G. Brinton. 



Philadelphia, April 5. 



on a sufficiently grand scale to insure that they will without fail 

 be seen and widely reported. The monthly distribution of the 

 displays belonging assuredly to this cla?s during the past 420 

 years, is as follows : 



January • 6 



February 17 



March 14 



April 8 



May 3 



June''' 



July 4 



August 4 



September 14 



October 21 



November 12 



December 3 



Total 106 



M. A. Veedek. 



Since 1572 there have been 100 auroras seen as far south as the 

 Mediterranean in Europe or Virginia in this country, and exhibit- 

 ing features constituting displays of the first magnitude. In 

 making up this list, the records consulted have been sufficiently 

 complete to insure that very few, if any, displays, having the geo- 

 graphical extent indicated, have been omitted. The list comprises, 

 practically, all the really great auroras during the past 420 

 years, few, if any, of which would have failed to be visible even 

 in full moonlight or strong twilight. It is a very curious fact, 

 that very few of these splendid displays reported from large 

 numbers of localities and attracting the attention of even the 

 most indifferent, fall near the solstices, while they are most 

 numerous near the equinoxes. This peculiarity has long been 

 known, but that the distribution is real and not f actitious.depending 

 upon twilight in the summer and cloudiness in the winter, is 

 best shown by admitting only those auroras which are certainly 



The Palaeolithic Man Once More. 



In the first number of the new Journal of Geology, published 

 under the auspices of the University of Chicago, Mr. W. H. 

 Holmes, in the capacity of co-editor in "Archeologic Geology," 

 has given to the world a long and labored article, in which he 

 endeavors to demonstrate that because he has failed to find any 

 evidence of the existence of the palceolithic man in the Trenton 

 gravels, therefore no such evidence has ever been found by any 

 one else. In his characteristic style he designates as "gravel 

 searchers, unacquainted with the nature of the object collected 

 and discovered, and little skilled in the observation of the phe- 

 nomena by means of which all questions of age must be deter- 

 mined," several of the foremost men of science of our time, who 

 claim to have discovered such evidence there. As he also makes 



CALENDAR OF SOCIETIES. 



Anthropological Society, Washington. 



Apr. 11. — Frank Hamilton Gushing, Zuni 

 Song and Dance. 



Biological Society, Washington. 



Apr. 8.— J. W. Cbickering, The Botani- 

 cal Landscape ; Frederick V. Coville, Char- 

 acteristics and Adaptations of a Desert 

 Flora; C. W. Stiles, Notes on Parasites, — the 

 Cause of "Measly Duck," with Microscopic 

 Demonstration ; R. R. Gurley, Natural Se- 

 lection as Exemplified by the Cackling of 

 Hens. 



Geological Society, Washington. 



Apr. 13. — Symposium — Subject: The 

 Age of the Earth, taking as a basis for dis- 

 cussion the article by Mr. Clarence King in 

 the American Journal of Science for Jan- 

 uary, 1898. The discussion was opened by 

 Mr. Gilbert, and many others participated. 



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