Proceedings of the A. A. A. S. 505 



Association, New York as a city did not meet expectations. 

 The social element was not as strong as at former meetings, 

 and certainly was not in keeping with what the people of 

 New York are capable of, when they are inclined to be hos- 

 pitable. Canada was, as regards numbers, somewhat feebly 

 represented; in papers presented, rather strong. Below 

 we give abstracts of most of the Yice-Presidents' addresses, 

 and of that of the retiring President. The next meeting 

 is to be held in Cleveland, under the presidency of J. W. 

 Powell, of Washington. 



The Prehistoric Chronology of America. 



In Section H (Anthropology) the address given by Yice- 

 President Brinton was " A Eeview of the Data for the Study 

 of the Prehistoric Chronology of America." He said : 



The prehistoric period of America dates back from the 

 discovery of the several parts of the continent; and the 

 problem is to reconstruct the history of the various nations 

 who inhabited both Americas in this period. A review of 

 the means at our command to accomplish this divides them 

 into six classes : 



1. Legendary — This includes the legends or ti-aditions of 

 the native tribes. These often bear a strong resemblance 

 to Semitic or other oriental myths ; but the similarity is a 

 coincidence only, and tlfose writers have been led astray 

 who count it for more. The annals of the Mexicans, of the 

 Mayas of Yucatan and the Quichuas of Peru, carry us 

 scarcely five hundred years before the voyage of Columbus, 

 although the contrary is often stated. The more savage 

 tribes practically remembered nothing more remote than a 

 couple of centuries. 



2. Monumental — The most famous monuments are the 

 stone buildings of Mexico, Yucatan and Peru. By many, 

 these are assigned an antiquity of thousands of years, but 

 a calm weighing of the testimony, places them all well 

 within our era, and most of them within a few centuries of 

 the discovery. The celebrated remains of Tiahuanuco in 

 Peru are no exception. Much more ancient are some of the 



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