


a aa 
1891.] 7 Archeology and Ethnology. 929 
ARCHEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY. 
Proceedings of the Section of Anthropology (H) of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science.— 
Washington, D. C., August 17-25, 1891.—The section held its first 
session in the Chemical Hall of the Columbian University on Wednes- 
day, August 19th, at 2 P.M., Prof. Joseph Jastrow, of Madison, 
Wisconsin, vice president of the section, and Mr. W. H. Holmes, of 
Washington, D. C., secretary. 
Vice president Jastrow’s annual address was entitled ‘‘ The Natural 
History of Analogy.” He described the study of analogy in its 
bearings on various forms of culture, and went on to indicate that this 
form of argument is used only with great caution by societies of to-day. 
Analogy was, however, a very predominant method of argument 
amongst primitive people. The speaker defined analogy by speaking 
of instances of a further degree of resemblance from a given degree 
of resemblance. The various types of agreement differing slightly 
from the standard were also treated. In almost all savage customs and 
beliefs, the professor said, abundant instances of reasoning by analogy 
were to be found. In magical practices, in interpretations of omens 
and dreams, in medicinal practices, and social and tribal customs 
striking instances of analogous argument abounded, e Zulu who 
chews a bit of wood to soften the heart of the man he wants to buy an 
ox from; the fetish determining by whether a stick stands or falls 
whether a war shall be kept up or allowed to stop ; the medicine man 
who performs incantations over some personal belonging of his victim 
or by the use of out-of-the-way drugs,—all these were instanced as the 
results of analogy or the feeling of analogy. Similar traits in children 
were described and illustrated. He said that an abundant field of 
illustration was found in the popular superstitions, folk lore, and 
customs that have survived from a lower to a higher culture. The 
modern dream book, household medicinal practices, charms, and, in 
the more elaborate system of details of astrology, the doctrine of 
sympathies, and kindred pseudo-sciences were the fields from which he 
took his illustrations. From this progressive scientific thought has 
reached its present place instead of the shifting position once occupied 
by the argument of analogy. ‘‘ That which was serious reasoning to 
our forefathers,’ he said in conclusion, ‘now takes its place as 
a 
proper instrument for amusement and lies at the basis of a joke. This 
