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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 86. 



tion should always terminate in ' em.' Thus we should 

 have Eskimoan, Shoshoneean, Algonkian, Iroquoian, 

 Pawneean, and the like, as the names of the different 

 stocks. He was decidedly of the opinion that no 

 mode of classifying the Indian tribes other than by 

 their languages would be found satisfactory. The 

 physical differences are certainly not sufficient. The 

 arts are no criterion, as they are readily adopted by 

 one race from another. Institutions are more perma- 

 nent; but still in some cases they are adopted, and 

 they do not sufficiently distinguish the races. Myth- 

 ologies are more distinctive; and, indeed, it will gen- 

 erally be found that tribes speaking languages of one 

 stock have similar mythological beliefs. There are 

 in North America about eighty linguistic stocks, and 

 as many mythologies. The investigation and classi- 

 fication of these stocks and of the languages included 

 in them is an important part of the work which is 

 now engaging the attention of the U. S. ethnological 

 bureau. 



In the discussion which followed Major Powell's 

 communication, it was suggested that the establish- 

 ment of a complete ethnological nomenclature was 

 properly the work of an international commission, 

 such as had been found necessary in geology and in 

 electrical science. It would be a very suitable work 

 for a committee of the anthropological section in the 

 International association for the advancement of 

 science which seems likely to be formed. Professor 

 Max Miiller, it was mentioned, had proposed for sub- 

 families or groups the termination in ic, as Indie, 

 Persic, Tataric, Ugric. These and other suggestions 

 could be considered by an international committee, 

 whose conclusions would probably be generally adopt- 

 ed, and thus the confusion and uncertainty of names 

 which now cause much perplexity would be removed. 

 This suggestion was received by the section with indi- 

 cations of general approval. 



Mr. C. A. Hirschf elder's paper on anthropological 

 discoveries in Canada gave much very interesting in- 

 formation. His investigations have been quite exten- 

 sive, including the opening of over three hundred 

 Indian graves and mounds. The large number of In- 

 dian wares and relics found in these excavations now 

 form an important part of the collections of the Cana- 

 dian ethnological museum at Ottawa. A description 

 of the vast Huron ossuaries, or bone-pits, was given, 

 fully corroborating the accounts of the Jesuit mission- 

 aries. The earthworks of Canada are much more 

 numerous and important than has been generally sup- 

 posed. Most of these are considered by Mr. Hirsch- 

 felder to be the work of the Hurons and other tribes 

 known to us; but one, of evidently very ancient date 

 and peculiar character, he is inclined to ascribe to the 

 mound-builders of the Ohio valley, or a race akin to 

 them, as it bears a strong resemblance to the works 

 constructed by that people. It is situated on an ele- 

 vated ridge in the county of Elgin, a short distance 

 north of Lake Erie, and has much the appearance of 

 having been a stronghold in a hostile country. It 

 comprises about eight acres, the dimensions being 

 four hundred and twenty-eight by three hundred and 

 twenty-five feet. A double wall, separated by a ditch 



twenty feet wide and five feet deep, forms the de- 

 fence. The outer wall is thirty feet thick, and has 

 on the inside a ledge where a row of men could lie at 

 full length concealed from observation. All the ar- 

 rangements show that the fortress was intended to 

 have a strong garrison, and to be prepared to meet a 

 large assailing force. The numerous burials and 

 weapons in the vicinity seem evidences of a protracted 

 warfare carried on around it. The antiquity of this 

 singular fort is shown by the size of the trees. The 

 largest of these is over eleven feet in circumference, 

 and must have been nearly four hundred years old. 

 Various indications seem to show that the defenders 

 were finally conquered by overwhelming numbers. 

 A natural conjecture would be, that the mound- 

 builders had planted this outlying fortress in a con- 

 quered territory north of Lake Huron, whence they 

 were finally expelled by the native tribes. Mr. 

 Hirschf elder's paper contained much other informa- 

 tion of great interest. 



A very valuable paper on the Huron-Iroquois as a 

 typical race of American aborigines was read by Dr. 

 Daniel Wilson, evincing the wide research and care- 

 ful induction characteristic of the writer. The num- 

 ber and extent of the Huron-Iroquois nations were 

 described, with the characteristics which distinguished 

 them from other Indian tribes. The people whom 

 Cartier found at Quebec and Montreal were evidently 

 of this race, and the evidence tended to show that 

 they were of the Huron division of the race. The 

 crania of the Huron-Iroquois people, like those of the 

 northern Indians generally, were long and well de- 

 veloped. The contrast between their skulls and the 

 nearly globular crania of the Ohio mound-builders 

 was striking. The latter people were evidently very 

 numerous and well-organized, though they had not 

 attained an advanced degree of civilization. After 

 examining all the evidence on the subject, the con- 

 clusion to which he had been brought was, that the 

 mound-builders were a people of a not very high 

 type, who were under the control of rulers of superior 

 energy, a sort of Brahminical class, by whose direc- 

 tion their remarkable engineering works were con- 

 structed. 



In a subsequent paper Dr. Wilson described a skull 

 from the loess of Podbaba, near Prague; and one 

 found in alluvium at Kankakee, 111., along with the 

 tooth of a mastodon. He compared the former with 

 the famous Neanderthal skull, termed pithicoid by 

 Huxley, and showed that there was in certain points 

 a striking resemblance, and yet there was no evidence 

 in the former of deficiency of brain, and probably 

 would not be in the latter if we had the whole of it. 

 The Kankakee skull, though found under circum- 

 stances which seem to indicate for it as great antiquity 

 as that of the Neanderthal and Podbaba crania, is a 

 well-formed Indian skull of the usual type. There is, 

 however, no clear evidence that its contiguity to the 

 mastodon's tooth was not the result of accident. It 

 can only be said that they were found near together, 

 and that the discoloration is about the same in both. 

 Dr. Wilson is, however, inclined to believe that the 

 mastodon existed to a later time on this than on the 



