THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT MONTREAL, 303 



the sacred purposes of religion. Mr. Gushing believes that the study of archse- 

 ology should be backwards and not forwards. By seeing these people in a savage 

 state, becoming acquainted with their primitive modes of life, their rude arts, 

 their struggles to survive and to equip themselves with what implements and 

 devices their limited ingenuity could plan, accurate analogies might be made of 

 the primitive condition of other races. For example, in South America where 

 large animals abounded, the savage tribes used their paunches, after they had 

 killed them, as their first holding vessel. After the lapse of time, when their 

 powers of ingenuity had expanded, and they were able to make a vessel of clay, 

 it took the shape of the animal's paunch. And, to complete the resemblance, it 

 had colored streaks up the sides to resemble veins. So with the Zunis. They 

 first made a rude basket out of grasses and strips of bark. Then they put moist 

 clay upon the interstices to stop the leakage and used it for cooking purposes. 

 The discovery that clay was fire-proof was speedily taken advantage of in the 

 structure and baking of a number of vessels, whose shape was determined by 

 some local circumstance or necessity. These vessels, then, gradually assumed 

 symbolic shapes, as we have mentioned. To understand their significance it was 

 necessary that he should first master the Zuni language, and this Mr. Gushing 

 has done so well that he speaks it like a native. Each vessel had its own pecul- 

 iar name, and once he got the etymology of it, the ritualistic significance of the 

 vessel was soon apparent. There was a peculiar bowl which was of the highest 

 religious value. It had a representation of the clouds where the gods were sup- 

 posed to dwell ; of the sea, as representing the water which the gods, when in 

 propitious mood, sent down to them in the form of rain, and for which they were 

 very grateful, as the climate was hot and dry ; of water beetles, which were types 

 of spring, as they were found in the water only in this season, ,and of certain 

 forms of flies as types of summer. Winter was omitted. They held that winter 

 was sent by the gods as a punishment, and they did not consider it as one of the 

 regular seasons. Mr. Gushing has reproduced every form of vessel and every 

 instance of architecture from the earliest history of this interesting period, and 

 his descriptions and expositions are fraught with the deepest interest. 



"Last evening Dr. Dallinger gave the most brilliant lecture of the meeting 

 on ' Researches of the Modern Microscope.' Queen's Hall was filled with an 

 audience made up of the most distinguished men of two continents. The lecture 

 was illustrated with the calcium Hght, and it has. never been my good fortune to 

 have seen anything to compare with it. Lord Rayleigh declared, at the close of 

 the lecture, that he had never seen it surpassed. The lecture embraced the re- 

 sults of over ten years of observation, of two observers. The observations were 

 made continuous, one observer working while the other slept, so the whole his- 

 tory of the bacteria was gathered up. One can judge of the minuteness of these 

 animals when we consider that 50,000,000 of them will occupy one-hundredth 

 part of a cubic inch. At some points of his investigations, Dr. Dallinger was 

 compelled to wait until more powerful lenses than had been known to the world 

 could be constructed. Perfect images of these infinitesimal animals were thrown 



VIII— 20 



