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452 General Notes. | April, 
cation, treaties, civilization are treated in an off-hand manner. 
The sociologists have racked their brains to find out how lower 
races got from mother-right to father-right. Now there is no 
doubt that the progress was gradual, consisting of several stages. 
Mr. Johnson gives us one of the steps and a very important one, 
illustrating also the saying: ‘‘ Where there is a will, there's a way 
to break it.’ Let us suppose that a bear man marries a deer- 
woman, the children are all deers. If he be a sachem his brother 
must succeed him or the son of a sister, or some descendant of 
a maternal line. His son, having to marry out of the clan, cam- — 
not succeed him. But if he marry his son to a bear woman, that 1 
is to one of his own clan, his grandson may succeed him, being — 
of the clan of their mother. It is in this way that chieftaincy or 
sachemship, or property is kept in the family. The daughters in 
all cases being of the clan of the mother, there would not be 
much ado in getting rid of daughters. Indeed, women were per ~ 
fectly free to chose whom they would out of their own clan. 
AMERICAN COPPER ARTEFACTs.—A very popular recent work © 
on archzology revives the assertion that the mound-builders un- 
derstood the art of smelting copper and bronze. It is with very 
great relief of mind that one turns from the confusing specula- 
tions upon which such theories are sought to be erecte ik: 
reads the statements of a patient plodder. The bulk of pe i. 
teenth annual report of the Peabody Museum is taken up W! $ 
monograph by Professor F. W. Putnam, on the copper wap 
from South America in the Peabody Museum. The ona . 
scribed and figured are beads, pendants, plates, bracelets, Ange 
rings, gorgets, bands, tubes, spools, sheaths, ear-rings, celts, 
heads, knives, harpoons, hoes, club-heads, morning-stals, í 
Concerning all of which we take pleasure in quoting “f the 
North America, outside of Mexico, before the coming ' 
Europeans, there is no evidence, as yet, that copper urged cut 
clusions until we have other information of the subject : 
seems yet to have been obtained.” the 
n 
BaByLonian TaLIsMAns.—No doubt our readers ae candle, 08 
p 'hese cylinders were among the very first peo ght 50 
draw attention to the long-forgotten Euphrates valley, OFS? uc 
d and his 
prominently to light by the researches of Layard am 
