422 



Thomas Thomsen. 



any complete perforation above, which also agrees with the speci- 

 mens of this nature preserved in the Museum (cf. Fig. 6), whereas 

 none of the alternative construction have been brought over as yet. 

 If this be the case, then we are still without a final conclusion of the 

 discussion regarding Fig. 5. And if I may be permitted to offer a hint, 

 I would suggest that Mr. Thalbitzer in his next work should consider 

 the possibility of ice harpoons. 



The instance above quoted will doubtless suffice to 

 show that the treatment of the material, and the results 

 arrived at, are very similar to what we find in the author's 

 last published work. The latter is. indeed, possibly superior 

 in some respects; Captain Amdrup, for instance, had been 

 careful to obtain reliable information on the spot as to 

 the uses of the implements in his collection, in addition 

 to which Mr. Thalbitzer has here had the advantage of 

 being able, during a period of two years, to draw upon 

 the firsthand knowledge of so experienced an authority as 

 Kolonibestyrer Johan Petersen 1 . 



The foregoing observations have been mainly con- 

 cerned with the scientific side of Gand. Thalbitzer's 

 work. I cannot however refrain from adding a few words 

 concerning his reference to the Museum with which I am 

 connected, and which he has made use of for the purposes 

 of his work, albeit, as we have seen, to so slight a degree, 

 and in a manner so peculiar, as greatly to impair the 

 scientific value of his work as a whole. 



On p. 328, we are told that "only a part" of the 

 Greenland collections "are said to have been set up in 

 cases" ; the reader will, however, look in vain for any de- 

 finite statement as to who has "said" so. The Museum 

 authorities, of whom it would be most natural to enquire, 

 have certainly never said anything of the kind. The fact 

 of the matter is, that since the general rearrangement of 

 the collections, made some ten years back, 1) all the Greenland objects 

 are fully exposed for scientific inspection in the gallery set apart for this 

 section 2) with the exception of supplementary specimens and fragments 

 from the finds made on the sites of Eskimo villages, which are placed 

 in the window cupboards 2 , everything is set out in glass cases where 



1 Thalb. II, p. 324. 



2 These cases, which, it need hardly be said, are likewise accessible for scien- 

 tific inspection, contain only matters of little importance to the scientist, 

 and nothing at all belonging to either Holm's, Amdrup's, Johan Peter- 

 sen's or Thalbitzer's collection. With regard to Holm's collection, Mr. 

 Thalbitzer states in one place, with a somewhat ambiguous expression, 

 that it "has lain" in the Museum since 1888; this is, however, according to 

 a later written statement of the Author himself, to be understood as mea- 

 ning that is has been on exhibition since that time. 



Fig. 6. 



