484 RECORDS 



stained. This Academy owes him much, and here his name 

 should be cherished. 



-(Signed), 



"J. J. Stevenson, 

 ** Alexis A. Julien." 



Theodore G. White, 



Secretary. 



SECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PYSCHOLOGY. 



April 23, 1900. 



Section met at 8:15 P. M., Prof. J. McK. Cattell presiding. 



The minutes of the last meeting of Section were read and ap- 

 proved. 



The following program was then offered : 



Dr. Livingston Farrand, Recent Researches in Central 

 Australia. 



Dr. Franz Boas, The Eskimo of Cumberland Sound. 



Summary of Papers. 



Dr. Farrand's paper called attention to certain points of partic- 

 ular significance in Messrs. Spencer and Gillen's book, ** The Na- 

 tive Tribes of Central Australia," which appeared last year. 

 Special emphasis was laid on the suggested origin of the religious 

 side of totemism as indicated in the " Intichiuma" ceremonies of 

 the Arunta tribe, which are directed apparently solely towards 

 the end of increasing the supply of the totem animals and plants 

 of the district, each totem group being charged with the treat- 

 ment of its own totem object and its multiplication for the bene- 

 fit of the other members of the tribe. The well-known prohi- 

 bition against killing and eating the totem seems to hold in this 

 region, but tradition and ceremony point to a time when this 

 was not the case. This economic explanation of the custom is 

 he first satisfactory one yet offered and is plausible for the 

 tribes under discussion even though it may not hold for other 



