196 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 299 



the Kwakiutl. The tribes of the interior, on the other hand, live in 

 underground houses, and are hunters as well as fishermen. The 

 hero of the Salish myths seems to be the Sun, and legends are 

 found referring to the murder of the old sun and the origin of a 

 new one. I am not equally sure that the legend of the Great 

 Transformer originated among the Salish. On the coast he is un- 

 doubtedly considered the deity, but he is of far less importance 

 among the Ntlakapamuq of Thompson River. I do not know 

 whether the legend is known to the Salish of the interior of Wash- 

 ington Territory, but we know that it is known to the Chinook of 

 Columbia River. It is also the foundation of the Nutka mythol- 

 ogy- 

 Patriarchate prevails among the Salish. The division into 

 gentes, however, is not very clear. There exist prerogatives of 

 certain groups of families, particularly regarding the winter dances 

 and the use of masks. The latter is undoubtedly derived from the 

 north, as masks are few, and as it seems that they are not used by 

 the inland tribes. 



The study of the use of masks calls our attention to another in- 

 teresting fact. The masks of the most northern one of these 

 peoples, the Tlingit, have certain remarkable ornaments, represent- 

 ing figures of animals, which are attached to the faces. Beside 

 this, they are not as conventional as those of the southern tribes- 

 The masks of the Eskimo of southern Alaska have the same pecul- 

 iarities, and this leads us to conclude that a mutual influence ex- 

 isted here. A careful study of the religious ideas of these tribes 

 reveals another fact that strengthens the foregoing conclusion. 

 The TUngit as well as the Eskimo believe that there are two re- 

 gions to which the souls go after death : those dying a violent 

 death go to heaven ; those dying of sickness go to a lower world, 

 which the Eskimo believe to be under ground, while the Tlingit say 

 that it is outside the world, on the same level with the earth's sur- 

 face. 



I have attempted in the preceding remarks to elucidate a few 

 points regarding the history of North-West American culture. 

 I have shown that it is not uniform, and that it is derived from 

 various sources. Those facts seem to be the most convincing which 

 prove that various tribes belonging to the same linguistic stock 

 have not the same social organization and customs. Unfortunately 

 the available material is not sufficient to complete our inquiry. A 

 knowledge of the tribes of Gardner Channel and of the Salish of 

 the interior, as well as of their southern neighbors, is indispensable 

 in tracing the origin of the legend of the Great Wanderer. 



One of the results of our inquiry is the discovery of the deep in- 

 fluence wrought by the Kwakiutl upon the development of their 

 neighbors. It may be that this influence is still more important 

 than it seems at present. The foundation of the mythology of 

 the Kwakiutl tribes is obscure, as they themselves are much in- 

 fluenced by another great group of tribes, — the Tlingit and Haida. 

 These two tribes will form one of the most interesting objects of 

 further researches. Their languages are very much alike in struc- 

 ture, while their vocabularies show great differences. Their cus- 

 toms and traditions are alike ; but the Haida are influenced by 

 their southern neighbors, through their frequent intercourse with the 

 Tsimshian. The fact that the arts of the Tlingit and Haida are 

 not of the same character is important, as it seems to prove that 

 the arts are of foreign origin, but attained their highest stage of 

 development here. 



The legends of the Tsimshian favor the theory that they reached 

 the coast much later than the other tribes. The Nutka, finally, are 

 so much influenced by the Kwakiutl, that a study of their customs 

 does not reveal any facts as to their origin. F. BOAS. 



The increase of population of France is steadily growing less- 

 In the past year the number of births was 899,333 ; of deaths, 842,- 

 797 ; or 23.5 and 22 per thousand respectively. The excess of 

 births over deaths has decreased since 1881 from 108,229 to 56,536, 

 or 48 per cent. The Revue Scientifique, from which we take these 

 figures, comments in a very interesting editorial on the connection 

 of these facts with the question of retrenching immigration into 

 France, which is at present favored by the government and by the 

 people, and shows that the only remedy is to open France to an 

 unrestricted immigration from neighboring countries. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS IN WASHINGTON. 

 Photographs made on Surfaces Feebly Sensitive lo Light ; Making Pic- 

 tures on Printing-Paper and Wood without Previous Preparation of 

 the Surface. — A Town in Florida where they deserve to have Yel- 

 low-Fever : Dr. Posey's Report on the Sanitary Condition of Mac- 

 clenny. — Do we carry an Electric Battery within us? — Floating 

 Wrecks a Source of Great Danger to Ocean Navigation : The In- 

 ternational Marine Conference to discuss the Subject. — The " King 

 Devil." — How to see Insects and Plant-Roots under Ground. 

 Surfaces Feebly Sensitive to Light. 

 Some interesting experiments have recently been made by Mr. J. 

 W. Osborn of Washington, on the sensitiveness of different sur- 

 faces to light, the results of which he has described in a paper, of 

 which the following is an abstract : — 



" In thinking and speaking of substances sensitve to light," says 

 Mr. Osborn, " photographers and others are apt to remember only 

 the haloid salts of silver ; chromic acid, under restraint, acting 

 on organic matter ; asphaltum, and a few salts of iron and plati- 

 num ; which short catalogue does, in fact, include all the sensitive 

 bodies used in practical photography." But, as every one knows, 

 this list may be indefinitely extended (if the degree of sensitiveness 

 be disregarded), and Mr. Osborn has prepared a number of speci- 

 mens to show such extension in certain directions. Broadly, he 

 says, the results should not be regarded as new, though in the 

 manner of their preparation and presentation some novelty may be 

 claimed for them. 



Three specimens were prepared to show colored commercial pa- 

 per which had been bleached by light, and which give, therefore, a 

 negative when exposed under a negative. On other sheets exposed, 

 papers colored for the purpose with eocine and methyl violet are 

 shown, and they establish the fact that these colors, under the lu- 

 minous influence, give rise to colorless compounds. 



" The duration of the exposures required to produce these pho- 

 tographic effects," says Mr. Osborn, " is very considerable when 

 the change is carried to its maximum ; varying from twenty to 

 thirty-five or forty hours in direct sunlight, which is the only kind 

 of exposure employed in the experiments. Indications of photo- 

 chemical action are, however, visible in much less time. A piece 

 of eocine paper exposed under two strips of black lace showed a 

 faint positive after half an hour ; also a piece of methyl violet pa- 

 per, similarly exposed, showed gradually increasing strength of the 

 positive after one, two, and three hours. 



" The fact that printing and writing papers become brown by 

 age is familiar to most persons ; but that this change is essentially 

 photographic is not a common belief. Pieces of newspaper were 

 taken from the New York Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and Washing- 

 ton Evening Star, and photographic images were impressed upon 

 them by simple exposure under a dense negative. These papers 

 were subjected to no preparatory treatment, establishing the fact 

 that the newspapers we read" daily are printed on papers sensitive 

 to light, and adapted for the production of positive pictures. 



" Pieces of white pine wood of different qualities were prepared, 

 upon which photographs were produced by exposures under stencil 

 negatives made by cutting openings in tinfoil and pressing it into 

 close contact with the surface of the wood by means of a plate of 

 glass properly clamped thereto. The exposure required to produce 

 these photographic images varies from thirty to fifty or sixty hours. 

 On a piece of poplar the picture was produced in twenty hours ; for it 

 seems probable, that, of all the woods in common use, poplar is the 

 most sensitive, and gives the darkest color when fully exposed. It 

 seems probable that the darkening of wood, which is very commonly 

 though rather vaguely attributed to the action of the air, is related to 

 the photographic effect obtainable on printing-papers. These are 

 now hardly to be had without an admixture of wood-pulp ; and the 

 present inquiry, inasmuch as it proves the phenomena to be strictly 

 photographic, may have a practical bearing if it points to means 

 which will keep printing-papers white indefinitely." 



The bleaching action of light upon a dried leaf is shown by one 

 specimen ; and by another, the fact that a piece of parchment, 

 though substantially white, becomes a little whiter where the light 

 has acted. As far as it goes, this would tend to show that the 

 " yellowing of parchments by age " is not a photo-chemical pro- 

 cess. The parchment had a very long exposure. 



