322 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 256 



(d) Wyman (J.) [Remarks on a cluck's wing, etc.] Proceedings 

 Boston Society of Natural History, v. 1855, p. 169. [As I say in 

 my 'Bibliography,' Bn//. (7.S. Geogr.Surv. Terr., v. 1880, p. 952, 

 this is a paper " showing mechanism of flexion and extension, con- 

 tributing to fixity of the limb, independently of muscular action." 

 Wyman evidently discovered it himself, and was ignorant of Berg- 

 mann's discovery.] 



{a) Bergmann (Dr. C), ' Ueber die Bewegungen von Radius 

 und Ulna am Vogelflugel,' Miiller's Archiv f. Anat. u. Phys., vi. 

 1839, pp. 296-300. [This is an important, interesting, and so far 

 as I know a novel paper on the peculiar mechanism of the fore-arm 

 of birds, before mentioned in none of the works of Meckel, Cuvier, 

 Tudemann, Wagner, etc. The sum of his paper is, that sliding 

 motion lengthwise of the bones, whereby extension of the fore-arm 

 upon the arm, and flexion of the same, respectively reproduce the 

 same movements at the wrist.] 



The last four paragraphs are extracted from my ' Bibliography of 

 Ornithology,' most of which is still unpublished. 



It is fortunate that the mechanism of the wing does not permit 

 the primaries to lock in the manner that has been supposed, for, if 

 it did so, birds could not fly. 



One point more, and I hasten to conclude remarks that I wish 

 were not necessarily so ungracious. The ' fixing of the wing ' of 

 a mortally wounded bird, in the manner described by Professor 

 Newberry, does not bear on the case. It is simply a muscular ri- 

 gidity, due to nervous shock, and of a part with the convulsive mus- 

 cular action which, under similar circumstances, results in the well- 

 known 'towering' of hard-hit birds. Elliott Coues. 



Smithsonian Institution, Washington, Dec. 21. 



The recent discovery of the power possessed by soaring birds to 

 set their wings when fully expanded, and to remain locked in- 

 dependent of muscular action, explains to my mind a phenomenon 

 that has puzzled me for many years. It has been my custom for 

 many seasons to spend a few days each fall duck-shooting at the 

 lakes bordering the Illinois River in central Illinois. The birds 

 were almost invariably shot in mid-air, while flying rapidly by, and 

 often, when not killed at once, they would set their wmgs and sail 

 gradually down to the water or ground, which they would reach 

 dead, the distance being from one hundred yards to a quarter of a 

 mile, apparently corresponding to the height of the bird when shot. 

 And it v/as a maxim with duck-shooters on these lakes, "That 

 bird is killed, for he has set his wings." 



Besides the ducks, I have seen this phenomenon illustrated in the 

 wild turkey and prairie-hen. In wing-shooting the wild turkey, 

 if it set its wings, and gradually came to the earth a quarter of a 

 mile or more away, we always marked the spot, well expecting to 

 find the dead body when we reached it. With Mr. J. S. Newberry, 

 I trust that some student of anatomy will take up this subject, and 

 ■demonstrate it to a certainty. W. S. Strode, M.D. 



Bernadotte, 111., Dec. 22. 



Eskimo and Indian. 



Considering the intimate knowledge of the Eskimo language 

 possessed by the two gentlemen who have passed their criticisms 

 upon my remarks on the subject of the past relations of the Eskimo 

 and the Indian, it would be of little avail for me to enter into any 

 lengthy argument upon the matter, although I still consider that 

 there is room for difference on many of the points raised. On a 

 later occasion, I intend elsewhere to treat the subject, both in its 

 ethnographic and philological aspects, on somewhat broader lines 

 than in the article referred to. The evidence in favor of some re- 

 lation in the past between the Eskimo and the Iroquois seems to 

 me to be convincing, aside altogether from philological data. Kohl- 

 meister and Kmoch (p. 37) state that there is a legend among the 

 Eskimo that the " Greenlanders originally came from Canada, and 

 settled on the outermost islands of the coast, but never penetrated 

 into the country before they were driven eastward to Greenland." 

 Dr. Brinton (in his Myths of the New World, p. 24, note) says, 

 "" It is curious that the traditions of the Tuscaroras, who placed 

 their arrival on the Virginian coast at about 1300, spoke of the 

 race they found there (called Tacci or Dogi) as eaters of raw flesh, 

 and ignorant of maize." Dr. Rink {Tales and Traditions of the 



Eskimo, p. 1 1) has the following interesting passage in rem : " In 

 the most remote ages the Eskimo, on their trading expeditions, ap- 

 pear to have overpassed their present southern limits. This may be 

 gathered partly irompure Eskimo words being found in the lan- 

 guage of more southern tribes, partly from the sagas of the old Scan- 

 dinavians, who seem to have met travelling Eskimo, even to the 

 south of Newfoundland." With regard to the general subject, M. 

 Petitot (' De la pretendue origine orientale des Algonkins,' Bull. 

 Soc. d'Anthrop. de Paris, vii. p. 248) expresses himself thus : " Ce 

 qui est bien certain c'est que les Inini ne sont pas sans poss^der 

 de nombreux rapports de moeurs, decoutoumes, de physionomie, de 

 traditions, et meme de langue avec leurs voisins les Pieds-Noirs les 

 Tetes-Plates, et meme avec les Esquimaux." Elsewhere the same 

 writer observes, " II n'ai pu trouver dans I'esquimau du Mackenzie 

 un seul mot qui provint de I'idiome deni-di?idjie. II aura plus de 

 correlation grammaticale avec le cris, dialecte algonquin ... si 

 dans cette langue les pronoms ne precedaient aussi la racine verbal 

 comme en <//«/, au lieu de la suivre. La consonnance des mots y est 

 k peu pr^s la meme. Dans les deux langues on remarque quantite 

 de mots commen^ant par une voyelle et termines en ak, ik, ok, in, 

 it" {Vocab. Fran(ais-Esgui7?iai[, Introd. p. v.). This, to be sure, 

 may not be strong evidence, but it points in a certain direction. 

 From a comparative study of the Eskimo and Iroquois-Algonquin 

 languages, it is certain there is much to be learned. If I have not 

 succeeded in proving, from philological evidence, relations in 

 the past between these people, I can only wait until others shall 

 have done so. Mr. Murdoch has referred to the lack of phonetic 

 vocabularies, and the errors consequent upon the use of such as are 

 at present available. Surely, all the blame cannot be laid upon in- 

 vestigators, who endeavor to do good work with poor material. A 

 glance at the ' Eskimo Bibliography,' lately compiled by Mr. PiUing, 

 is sufficient to convince one that a very great portion of Eskimo lin- 

 guistic material (and presumably the most valuable, because the 

 most recent and scientific) is still in manuscript in the Library of 

 the Bureau of Ethnology and other great institutions. When this 

 shall have been published, and so distributed throughout the con- 

 tinent, so as to insure facility of access to students, then, I trust, 

 the evidence of past relations between the Eskimo and Indian will 

 be forthcoming, and the fact of their occurrence be capable of proof 

 on scientific grounds. Elsewhere I have discussed the broad ques- 

 tion of the pre-history of the Eskimo race, judging them to have 

 been the dolichocephalic people who formerly extended over a 

 great portion of the North American and perhaps of the South 

 American continent. They have been intruded upon and pushed 

 back by more warlike and aggressive races. Not a little interesting 

 is the remarkable correspondence of the Botocudos and other South 

 American tribes in many respects to the Eskimo ; and the same 

 remarks apply to some of the so-called ' fossil-men ' of Brazil. 



A. F. Chamberlain. 



Toronto, Dec. 17. 



Weather-Predictions. 



Perhaps it can hardly be said that there is a science of weather- 

 prediction at the present time ; yet interest in the subject is increas- 

 ing, and there are several persons in this country who are issuing 

 daily scientific forecasts. While the basis upon which forecasts 

 shall be issued admits of little discussion, yet it is far otherwise 

 with their verification, and it would seem that much confusion has 

 arisen on this account. The following comparison of weather-fore- 

 casts is given with the hope that others will enter the field outlined, 

 and that a general discussion may clear up some of the misty 

 points. The forecasts were made during October for Boston, 

 Mass., by Mr. Clayton at Blue Hill, and by the writer at Washing- 

 ton, D.C. The predictions were for ' fair,' ' rain,' and halfway be- 

 tween, or ' threatening.' 



The verifications were to be by the observations at Boston, made 

 at 7 A.M., 3 and 10 p.m., each day. As there was no specific record 

 of ' threatening,' the amount of clouds was to determine this con- 

 dition. The prediction was made at Blue Hill at 2 p.m. each day 

 from an examination of the Signal Service observations made over 

 the country at 7 A.M., together with a study of the local conditions 

 at 2 P.M. The Washington prediction was necessarily made from 

 the 7 A.M. observation alone. The interval predicted for was from 



