3*72 Canadian Record of Science. 



'' On p. 10, of the catalogue is appended the following 

 remark : ' As to the origin of the stone weapons and uten- 

 sils, the Thlinkeets can give no other information hut that 

 they are very old.' The specimens bear now the numbers 

 2303 and 2316." 



Prof. Meyer then proceeds to describe in detail the two 

 implements above referred to. The colours of the first 

 (No. 2303) are said to be, by Eadde's scale, grass-green, 

 yellow-green, and yellow-green-grey ; the specific gravity 

 2*96. The second and larger implement (No. 2316) is grass- 

 green, yellow-green-grey, and green-grey ; the specific 

 gravity, 2-92, and the hardness less than usual in nephrite, 

 owing to an incipient decomposition, which is clearly appar- 

 ent on microscopical examination Under the microscope, 

 the mineral is found to possess a very peculiar netted 

 fibrous structure, which is minutely described by Prof. 

 Arzruni. It is said to resemble closely a nephrite from the 

 Kitoj Biver in Siberia. 



An analysis by Dr. Frenzel of this specimen (No. 2316) 

 shews it to be a nephrite, with large proportions of alumina 

 and water. An analysis of a specimen from Point Barrow, 

 also quoted, clearly resembles the last, but contains less 

 alumina and water. 



"As already stated, nephrite axes which were known to 

 come from North America, have been previously believed 

 to have originally been derived from Asia ; they were 

 asssumed to be the first stage of the supposed advance of 

 nephrite eastward. Prof. Fischer was not the only one to 

 contend for this view till even quite lately, as seen in par- 

 ticular in the X Vth Vol. of ' Archiv. fur Anthropologic,' 

 (1884, p. 164) ; where it is said that a nephrite borer from 

 the Mackenzie Biver agrees very well with the Siberian 

 nephrite, and that it would therefore be difficult to prove 

 that the rough material is of North American origin, a 

 view which after the above communication is now indefen- 

 . sible. Nordenskiold has also in his work ' The Yoyage of 

 the Vega ' broken a lance for the same contention.* In the 



* Prof. T. W. Putnam in a communication to the Massachusetts 

 Historical Society in 1868 still maintains the probable Asiatic origin 

 of jadeite objects found in Central America- 



