1286 General Notes. [ December, 
ANTHROPOLOGY .! 
AssociATion Nores.—The meetings of the British and the 
American Association in codperation brought together many an- 
thropologists of distinction, and the papers read were of uncom- 
mon interest. 
At the British Association the important feature was the ad- 
dress of vice-president Tylor on some American aspects of 
anthropology. A few of the topics discussed in the paper were: 
The effect of a quarter of a century’s research the giving to 
Quaternary man a more and more real position. 
Did man likewise inhabit America at the same period? 
Are the present Eskimo the remnant of such an early race? 
(Upon this last point Mr. Tylor suggested a yachting cruise 
down the coast of Labrador to fix the locality of Vine-land.) 
_ The recent advances of zodlogy and geology have given new 
breadth and facility to the discussion of the relation of the North 
American aborigines to Asiatic peoples. 
The only safe method of philologic research is the combina- 
tion of dictionary and grammar. Attempts to trace analogies « 
words in Asiatic and American languages have proved no corre- 
spondence beyond what chance coincidence would produce. 
The comparison of peoples according to their social framework 
has not assumed a great importance. a 
The tendency to treat everything prehistoric as necessarily 0 
great antiquity is growing weaker. ee 
e northward drift of ancient American civilization is evi- 
denced by the distribution of maize, tobacco and cocoa, and the ` 
spread of agriculture. 
r. Horatio Hale read a treatise on “ The origin and nature of 
wampum.” It was a notable fact, he said, that while the partly 
civilized Indians of Central and South America carried on com- 
merce without money, among those of the United States and 
Canada a monetary currency was in common use. Their wam- 
pum was formed in the shape of small disks or cylinders, of 4 
shells perforated through the center and strung together on Q 
strings of deer’s sinew. The system had been found so convent- 
ent for purposes of exchange that it had even been adopted by 
some of the early colonists. In most cases the material was 
the conch periwinkle and Venus mercenaria. The colors were 
white and purple, or black—which was twice as valuable as the 
white, on account of its rarity. These shell arrangements | 
fered from the cowries of the East Indies. In course of time 
they came to have a social and political significance. Im d 
acts of state policy were confirmed by the gift or exchange ° 
jem. On the occasion of treaties belts of wampum were peo 
sented. Each-belt had its own device woven in white on a aars 
1 Edited by Professor:Orıs T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D. C. 
