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1891. Archeology and Ethnology. 933 
strong infusion from the intellectual Noyes family. It is therefore 
noteworthy that of the oldest sixteen boys ten are in business as clerks, 
foremen, etc., one is a musician of repute, two are students of law and 
medicine, two at college, and only one following a manual occupation, 
being a mechanic. Of the oldest six girls, two are at college and one 
is a student of the kindergarten system,”’ 
Mrs, Zelia Nuttall’s paper on ‘* Relics of Ancient Mexican Civiliza- 
tion ° was, in her absence, read by Prof. Putnam. It described many 
Mexican antiquities, and threw a great deal of light on the civilization 
of ancient Mexico. The paper was illustrated with a number of small — 
reproductions of Aztec ornamental designs, and of a chief’s shield sent 
to Italy by Cortez, the only thing of the kind known to anthropolo- 
gists, which were collected by the distinguished lady. One of the 
drawings she presented represented four peculiarly horri ble-looking 
Aztec gods. 
Prof. Edward S. Morse, of Salem, read two very clever papers on 
the allied subjects of ‘‘ Bow Stretchers’’ and. ‘‘ Prehistoric Bows.” 
The first of these papers referred to the puzzling little bronze imple- 
ments found associated with Roman antiquities. The professor 
exhibited one of them, They are usually a couple of inches long, 
with three spurs of varying size and shape on one side, the ends of the 
main portion of the implement being two rings large enough to allow 
a man’s fingers to be thrust through. They have always Leen called bow 
stretchers on the supposition that prehistoric archers used them in draw- 
ing back thestrings of their powerful bows ; but Prof. Morse pointed out 
the fallacy of such a conclusion, and showed the impossibility of their 
being so used. What the little affairs were used for by prehistoric man 
is, and may always be, a conundrum to the world’s anthropologists. 
Incidentally Prof. Morse described the way various nations held and 
drew the bow-string, and said that in China the archer of to-day shoots 
his arrow by hooking his thumb around it, his thumb being protected 
by a peculiar ring, just like an immeasurably ancient bronze ring that. 
the professor had got from prehistoric graves that dated back to the 
bronze age of man. His second paper, on ‘Prehistoric Bows,’’ 
showed the great simplicity and similarity of the prehistoric bows 
found in Peru, Egypt, the peat bogs of Denmark, Holland, the Swiss 
lake villages, and other places. 
“ The Nez Perce Country,” written by Miss Alice Fletcher, was read 
by Mrs. Barnes. ‘This paper was an explanation of a map of the Nez 
Perce country, drawn by a native of the tribe, and showing the location 
of seventy-eight villages, and giving the Nez Perce names of mountains 


