

1891] Archeology and Ethnology. 931 
of North America. He showed that civilized languages had little or 
no inflection, while the more primitive a language the greater the 
extremes of inflection, which is the case with Volapük. ‘‘To go to 
Volapiik for a modern language would be like taking up the old wooden 
plow in agriculture again.”’ 
Mr. E. P. Vining, of St. Louis, Mo., criticised the map, disputed 
some of the propositions, and declared our knowledge of the Indian 
language of early times to be too indefinite and uncertain to forma 
foundation for so extensive a scheme of localization. 
Dr. Thomas Wilson presented a collection of fifty or more of gold 
ornaments from his department of prehistoric archeology in the 
National Museum, taken from prehistoric graves chiefly in the province 
of Antioquia, United States of Colombia, lately procured; also a 
series of prehistoric jade implements from Mexicoand Central America, 
All of them were beautifully wrought, and many of them had been 
sawed into two or more parts, and holes drilled for suspension as for 
amulets. Dr. Wilson said these were one of the varieties of jade called 
jadeite, the component parts of which were silica 59.4, alumina 25.8, 
soda 15.3. Hedescribed other varieties of jade,—nephrite, which was 
' silica, magnesia, lime; fibrolite, silica and alumina ; pectolite, silica, 
lime, and soda ; and said pectolite was local in Arizona and New Mexico, 
implements made of it in prehistoric times being found among the ruins 
of the cliff dwellers of those territories. Nephrite was local in Alaska 
and British Columbia, where the wrought implements were found 
belonging to both historic and prehistoric times. These jadeite imple- 
ments were confined to Mexico and Central America, though none of 
the raw material had been found nearer than New Zealand and the 
Asiatic coast. On this, with some addition, he said Prof. Putnam 
had founded the theory of the migration of the Central American and 
Mexican aboriginal population from Asia. If the theory be true, he 
did not believe that it had been, as claimed, by way of Behring Strait, 
because throughout the length of the continent no trace of such a pas- 
e had been found. On the contrary, similar implements made of a 
different material coming from the Yukon and other rivers had been 
found for a thousand miles over this route between Behring Strait and 
Mexico, Prof. Morse called on Prof. Putnam (who had just come in), 
and he expanded his theory, which in turn was attacked by Major 
Powell, who prophesied that jadeite would yet be discovered in that 
country. Prof. Putnam replied when it was there would be time 
enough, etc. 


