1885. | ~ Anthropology. 1243 
ANTHROPOLOGY.’ 
Dr. Rav’s Preuistoric FisHinc.—No. 599 of the Smithsonia 
Contributions to Knowledge, is entitled “ Prehistoric Fishing in 
Europe and North America.” By Charles Rau. Washington: 
Published by the Smithsonian Institution. 342 p., 405 ills., 4to. 
This is an attempt at constructive anthropology. The author has 
sedulously examined archzological literature for accounts and 
illustrations of discoveries bearing on the fisherman’s art. Placing 
these objects side by side with similar modern forms whose uses 
are known, the author has been able successfully to bring before 
us in his true attitudes the ancient artisans of the class under con- 
sideration. Access to the immense collections of the National 
Museum, and familiarity with the staff of the United States Fish 
Commission during many years, as well as the codperation of 
archzologists at home and abroad, have strengthened Dr. Rau 
for his work and enabled him to prepare a monograph upon pre- 
historic fishing which will remain the standard authority upon 
that subject. . 
he volume is divided into two parts, that relating to Europe, 
I12 pages, and that relating to America, 224 pages. In the ac- 
count of European fishery the chronological order is followed. 
Discarding the Tertiary, Dr. Rau discusses the implements of the 
drift, caves and rock-shelters, shell-deposits, lake-dwellings and 
bronze age which may have been associated with fishing. In the 
account of American fishing a different plan is pursued, each 
genus or species of apparatus related to fishing receiving atten- 
tion in the following order: Fishing implements, utensils, boats 
and appurtenances, prehistoric structures connected with fishing, 
representations of fishes, aquatic mammals, etc., artificial shell- 
deposits. This portion closes with a large number of extracts 
from the old writers upon aboriginal fishing in North America, and 
an appendix on prehistoric fishing in South America. 
There are many classific concepts according to which the 
anthropological objects in a museum may be arranged and their _ 
significance discussed,’ and each one of these is of great im- 
portance. Principal among them are race, nation, material, 
geographic distribution, chronology, evolution, structure and 
craft or function. These concepts are not antagonistic, but 
mutually supplementary, the only question in the curator’s mind 
being which of them to place first, and in what order the others 
shall be placed. In the archzological department of the National 
Museum Dr. Rau places the concept structure at the head of the 
list. By all odds this is the best for archzological materials, be- 
cause it not only enables the curator to have a sure place for 
every object, but it enables him or the student visitor to take up 
each craft exhaustively. There is no doubt that the immense 
_ 1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D. C. 
