136 General Notes. [ February, 
Aztecs and ancient Mayas based on the Dresden Codex, which is 
clearly shown to be of Maya and not of Mexican origin at all. 
n page 75 the author reaffirms the view of Stephens, Ban- 
croft, as well as his own, “ that the Yucatan structures were built 
by the Mayas, the direct ancestors of the people found on the 
peninsula at the Conquest, and of the present native population.” 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL News.—Mr. H. R. Howland is the author 
of a brochure entitled “ Primitive Arts and Modes of Life,” the 
substance of which was read before the Buffaio Sociecy of Natural 
Sciences, March 15, 1879. The object of the author is to show 
how, in simple beginnings, out of the dire needs of humanity, 
have been born the arts of life as known to civilized man; how 
with patient toil he has wrought out, by means God-given, the 
problem of his growth and their advancement. 
A printed notice of four pages, announces the formation, in 
Boston, of the “ Archeological Institute of America,’ for the 
purpose of promoting and directing archeological investigation 
and research, by sending out expeditions for special researches, 
by aiding the efforts of independent explorers, by publication of 
reports of the results of expeditions which the institute may 
undertake or promote, and by any other means which may from 
time to time appear practicable. The institute consists of life 
members contributing at one time $100, and of annual members 
paying $10 per annum. Membership is now open to all persons 
interested in the objects of the institute, and who may desire to 
join it. The call is signed by Francis Parkman, W. W. Goodwin, 
Alexander Agassiz and other distinguished scholars. Prof. C. E. 
Norton is president, and Mr. Edward H. Greenleaf, Museum of * 
Fine Arts, Boston, Mass., secretary, to whom all communications 
should be addressed. 
- “ The Aboriginal Soapstone Quarries in the District of Colum- 
bia ” is the title of a brochure from the Twelfth Annual Report 
of the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, by 
Elmer R. Reynolds. The discovery of the soapstone quarry at 
Chulu, Amelia county, Virginia, seems to have kindled a great deal 
of enthusiasm in our archeologists with reference to aboriginal 
quarrying and mining. Dr. Reynolds is an indefatigable hunter, 
and his success in discovering soapstone quarries in the District 
of Columbia, almost under the shadow of the National Museum, 
is graphically described in the pamphlet before us. 
The Society of Biblical Archzology has for its object the study 
of the languages, remains and natural history of those lands with 
which the Jews were associated, from the earliest times to the 
close of the canon of Scriptures, with a view to the better under- 
standing of the Old and New Testament. In point of fact the 
history of the Jewish race demands an intimate acquaintance with 
the civilizations of the Nile valley, Mesopotamia, the slopes of 
the Lebanon range, and, in latest Biblical times, of that of Greece 
