62 Report of the President 



in connection with the above coordinated investigation. In 

 addition, some other special investigations were undertaken. 

 Mr. Max Schrabisch is exploring the out-of-the-way corners of 

 New Jersey for rock shelters used by prehistoric man. His 

 work has proven them to be rather numerous and to have in 

 them traces of different culture levels, a feature so far rare in 

 North America. 



Reports from Mr. V. Stefansson received during this year 

 have been of more than usual interest. Aside from the novel 

 discovery of an apparent strain of European blood among far 

 outlying groups of Eskimo, his later discoveries of an archaeo- 

 logical nature deserve notice. He found traces of pottery in 

 old village sites, an art so far attributed only to the Alaskan 

 Eskimo. Further he reports that the type of culture indicated 

 by other artifacts is similar to the ancient type in Greenland 

 and Southampton Island, suggesting a prehistoric similarity 

 throughout the entire stretch of Eskimo tribes. As the expe- 

 dition is still out, further details cannot be given. 



Detailed reports of the various museum expeditions men- 

 tioned above are being prepared for publication in the near 

 future. 



ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 



Ralph W. Tower, Curator 



Department of Anatomy and Physiology. — As in past 

 years, the department has been doing work to its full capacity in 

 the preparation of skeletons requisitioned by other departments. 

 For this purpose the work has been detailed in two divisions: 

 one has been concerned with the osteological preparations of 

 the large mammals and birds, while the other has been occupied 

 with the cleaning and mounting of all the small animals. The 

 preparation of 161 skeletons and 1,060 large and small skulls 

 has been completed during the year. Mr. Elwyn has used with 

 much success in certain instances a method of maceration in 

 an alkaline soap solution. This has proved unusually satisfac- 

 tory in the cleaning of skeletons of mammals and large reptiles, 

 but is not adapted to the preparation of fish and amphibia, in 

 which cases the pepsin digestion is much superior. The liquid 



