1890.] Archeology and Ethnology. 495 
have no entirely reliable results, it seems to me that by heating ordinary 
olive oil to 80°—go0° C. for twelve or twenty-four hours, a suitable 
medium may be obtained. 
Finally, I would like to remark that I am the last person to defend 
the view that these drops, exhibiting protoplasma-like movements, are 
directly comparable to protoplasm. Composed as they are of oil, their 
substance is entirely different from protoplasm. They may be, how- 
ever, compared with the latter, in my opinion, firstly with regard to 
their structure, and secondly with regard to their movements. But as 
the latter depend on the former, we may assume that the amceboid 
movement of protoplasm itself depends on a corresponding physical 
constitution, 
These drops, too, resemble organisms inasmuch as they continue 
for days to exhibit movements, due to internal causes, which depend 
on their chemical and physical structure. I do not believe that up to 
this time any substance has been artificially prepared which, in these 
two points, viz., structure and movement, has so much resemblance to 
the most simple forms of life as have these reticulated drops, I ho 
therefore, that my discovery will be a first step towards ippica 
the problem of life from the chemico-physical side, and towards passin g 
from vague and general hypotheses of molecular constitution to the 
surer ground of concrete conceptions of a chemical and physical nature. 
It is, however, a special satisfaction to me to hear that in your coun- 
try, which has given rise to so many and so celebrated men in biolog- 
ical science, my investigations are followed with interest and sympathy. 
With friendly greetings, I am yours sincerely, 
O. BÜTSCHLI. 
ARCHÆOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY. 
The Use of the Phonograph in the Study of the Languages 
of the American Indians.—At the meeting of the American Folk- 
Lore Society in Boston, on April roth, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes read a 
paper on experiments which he had lately made with the phonograph 
in recording the songs, legends, and folk-lore of the Passamaquoddy 
Indians 
The necessity for some means of accurately recording and preserv- 
ing the languages of the Indians has lately been met by the invention 
of the phonograph. This instrument has now been brought to such a 
