4 F 4 General Notes. [May, 



perhaps in the English editions of Evans' Stone Implements, in- 

 deed we do not know which to admire the more, the gorgeous 

 lithographs in Dr. Yarrow's paper or the life-like wood-cuts in 

 that of Colonel Mallery. 



The works of Major Powell, Dr. Yarrow and Colonel Mallery 

 are so well known that, did our space allow, there would be no 

 need of an extended review. It is sufficient to say that each 

 author has embodied in his sketch his best and latest thoughts. 

 The articles by Professor Holden and Mr. Royce are not so well 

 known, each author having traversed an untrodden field, or at 

 least having followed unbeaten tracks. 



Professor Holden attempts to apply the methods employed in 

 the interpretation of the ordinary cipher writing to the decipher- 

 ing of the inscriptions of Yucatan. The slabs in Stephen's and 

 other works are indicated by Roman numerals and letters, and 

 each hieroglyph has a number. A copy of the plates was then 

 cut up and each glyph pasted on a separate card, which also bore 

 the plate and glyph number, and the other numbers with which 

 the glyph corresponded. Thus each form is known and the 

 exact location where it appears. These cards may be arranged 

 in any way the student sees fit, and indeed the case of 1500 cards 

 has been deposited in the Bureau of Ethnology for the use of in- 

 vestigators. The rest of Professor Holden's paper is occupied 

 with the comparison of Palenque and Copan with Mexican hiero- 

 glyphics and bas-reliefs. 



Mr. Royce, formerly connected with the land division of the 

 Indian office, years ago conceived the idea of illustrating, by 

 means of colored maps and descriptive texts, the time and the 

 manner in which the aborigines of the United States have sur- 

 rendered their territory to the whites. Nothing in the way of 

 ethnologic work now going on has interested us more. Indeed, 

 one has no trouble to imagine, as the author proceeds, that he 

 can see the savage title vanishing as breath from a pane of glass. 

 The State of Indiana is given in the present volume, but Mr. 

 Royce's work, when finished, will include the treaty cessions of 

 the whole Union. 



In closing it is only justice to Mr. Pilling, the editor, to say 

 tint much of the attractiveness of the volume is due to his good 

 taste. The catalogue of manuscripts, pages 5 5 5-5 77, is a fore- 

 taste of what his great bibliography will be. 



Lubbock's Origin of Civilization. — Those who are now 

 active in ethnologic work should never forget the debt of grati- 

 tude they owe to those masters at whose feet they learned the 

 rudiments of their science. The Appletons, foremost of Ameri- 

 can publishers to foster science, have just issued the fourth edi- 

 tion of Sir John Lubbock's Origin of Civilization, which was, at 

 its first appearance, an epoch-making work. The opinions set 

 forth by Archbishop Whately and others, that all savages are the 



