444 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 534. 



A Tale of the Hudson River Mohican Lan- 

 guage. J. Dynley Prince. Read by 

 title. 



The Settlement and Transfer of Upper 

 Louisiana. Paul Beckwith. Read by 

 title. 



The Use of Study of Anthropology in 

 School. Amos W. Farnham. Read by 

 title. 



After the reading of the foregoing titles 

 the meeting was turned over to the Amer- 

 ican Folk-Lore Society, the paper by Will 

 S. Monroe having been placed on their list. 



Dr. George A. Dorsey presided at the 

 meeting. 



A 'Report of the Committee on Officers' 

 was read by W. W. Newell. The following 

 officers were elected for 1905 : 



President — Alice C. Fletcher, Washington, D. C. 



First Vice-President — Roland B. Dixon, Har- 

 vard University. 



Second Vice-President — \\'illiam A. Neilson, Co- 

 lumbia University. 



Councilors — Franz Boas, New York; J. W. 

 Fevvkes, Washington; James Mooney, Washing- 

 ton; A. N. Tozzer, Harvard University. 



Disenchantment by Decapitation. Address 

 of the retiring president, George Lyman 

 KiTTREDGE. Read by W. W. Newell. 



Influence of European Contact on Aborig- 

 inal Institutions. Alexander F. Cham- 

 berlain. Read by title. 



T]te Kiowa Supernatural. James Mooney. 



A very instructive paper concerfiing the 

 interrelation between the known and the 

 unknown. The making of medicine and 

 its importance to the tribe. One case cited 

 of the Ute Indians killing a Kiowa who was 

 a medicine man. They saw by the painted 

 design on his body that he was a great man. 

 They took his medicine and hoped to profit 

 by it. The Kiowas learned later that the 

 house in which it was kept was struck by 



lightning. The new owners then di.sposed 

 of the medicine. 



Mr. AV. W. Newell called attention to 

 the presence of Miss Mary Speers, a lady 

 who had collected negro songs. He asked 

 that she be allowed to sing some of these 

 southern melodies. In preparing these 

 songs she demonstrated the need of study- 

 ing the tone of the singer- as well as the 

 notes of the song. Four selections were 

 rendered. 



Superstitions of School Children. AVill 

 S. Monroe. 



Mr. Monroe has been collecting the .su- 

 perstitions and games of children for sev- 

 eral years. One thousand children were 

 questioned concerning good and bad luck. 

 The predominating good luck charm among 

 the girls was a pin ; among the boys, a 

 horseshoe. The number of superstitions 

 among the members of both sexes at differ- 

 ent ages were noted and tabulated. These 

 consisted of arrival of company supersti- 

 tions of which there were twenty-three; 

 those concerning the weather, love and 

 marriage, sickness and death, and the num- 

 ber thirteen. He found that the thirteen 

 superstition does not figure to any extent 

 and was not found in children under ten 

 years of age. 



The Tale of Three Wishes. AA^illiam AY. 

 Newell. 



A negro story of a man who had three 

 wishes. One should have been for salva- 

 tion. Other wishes are made and he is 

 given to the devil. AVhen he is being car- 

 ried away he begs the devil to pick a pear 

 for him. He is so insistent that the devil 

 finally climbs the tree to obtain the fruit. 

 One of the wishes that the man had made 

 was to the effect that any one caught .steal- 

 ing his fruit would have to stay in the tree; 

 thus he had the devil in his power. A 

 second time he gets the devil into his purse 



