January 1, 1886.] 



SCIEXCF. 



5 



immediate vicinity, with the exception of some of 

 the paleolithic implements, and even these were 

 found within an extreme radius of four miles. 

 Second, the gatherings in this limited region have 

 been so long continued and so thorough, that the 

 result is a collection which shows en masse the 

 work of the peoples who inhabited the Delaware 

 valley at different periods, in a manner and to an 

 extent never before obtained from any part of this 

 country, and probably not from any other part of 

 the world. Third, the collection is the same 

 which formed the basis of Dr. Abbott's volume on 

 ' Primitive industry,' and has been arranged by 

 Dr. Abbott himself, under the direct supervision 

 of the curator. 



As now arranged, the Abbott collection exhibits 

 at one and the same time the sequence of peoples 

 in the valley of the Delaware, from paleolithic 

 man through the intermediate period, to the re- 

 cent Indians, and the numerical proportion of the 

 many forms of their implements, each in its time. 

 It thus forms an exhibition at once instructive to 

 the general visitor, and of great importance to the 

 serious student. It is indeed doubtful whether 

 any similar collection exists, where a student can 

 gather so much information at sight, as here, 

 where the natural pebbles from the gravel begin 

 tne series, and the beautifully chipped points of 

 chert, jasper, and quartz, terminate it in one direc- 

 tion, and the polished celts and grooved stone axes 

 in the other. 



The paleolithic implements from the gravel and 

 from the talus include nearly all found, some of 

 them coming from a depth of thirty feet in the 

 gravel ; with one exception, a black flint, they are 

 made of a hard, fine-grained argillite ; many are but 

 slightly chipped, while others are of well-defined 

 forms, similar to the paleoliths of the old world. 

 With these specimens are the human skull, under 

 jaw, and wisdom-tooth, found at different times 

 in the same grfvel as the implements. 



Following the paleoliths are the several thousand 

 rude and greatly weathered points and flakes of 

 argillite of various forms. The relative impor- 

 tance of the different sorts to the people who used 

 them is shown in an instructive way by grouping 

 and heaping, so that the eye at once takes cogni- 

 zance of this, while it detects at the same time the 

 individuality of the makers. These points belong 

 to the middle period of occupation of the valley ; 

 never found in the gravel, they are, as a whole, 

 much older than the mere surface specimens and 

 those from graves. 



To these latter, the work of the recent Delaware 

 Indians, belong the rude scrapers made by simply 

 splitting a pebble, the rudely chipped agricultural 

 implements of several kinds of stone, and the 



chipped scrapers, many of which are beautiful 

 illustrations of this kind of work. These, like the 

 arrow-heads, knives, and large spear-like imple- 

 ments shown in an adjoining case, are made from 

 jasper of different- colors, as well as from chert 

 and quartz, and are shown in great variety and 

 number. Of the other forms of implements, 

 also illustrated by many varieties of each, are 

 the hammer-stones, rubbing and polishing stones, 

 pitted stones, mortars and pestles, celts and axes. 



The ornamental stones are of various shapes, 

 some of them simply perforated ; the so-called 

 gorgets are in various stages of manufacture, and 

 there are several carvings representing human 

 heads. A few pipes cut out of stone illustrate the 

 Delaware type of tobacco pipe, while numerous 

 fragments of pottery show that they were also 

 made of clay. The potsherds exhibit a consider- 

 able variety of ornamentation, principally by in- 

 cised lines, though many are cord-marked, and 

 others have impressed designs. Two spear-heads 

 of hammered native copper and a little group of 

 miscellaneous objects are exhibited separately. 



Another group of specimens, not included in 

 the enumeration given above, though by no means 

 an unimportant part of the exhibit, are the chips 

 and refuse material of an Indian workshop. This 

 large mass was sifted from the dirt in a single 

 spot a few feet in diameter, evidently from where 

 some Indian long worked in fashioning various 

 implements. In the mass are thousands of chips 

 of stones of various kinds, broken specimens, 

 failures, hammer-stones, and nodules of jasper 

 brought to the place, but still unwrought. 



The collection and its arrangement are invalu- 

 able, unique, and of extreme importance to all 

 who wish to study the stone age of our Atlantic 

 coast. It reflects great credit upon the industry 

 and sharp-sightedness of the collector, and ex- 

 hibits as well the same perspicacity and serious 

 method that is a marked feature of the entire 

 museum. The problem of the exhibition of arche- 

 ological objects, so that they may themselves give 

 the most significant and instructive lessons, with- 

 out reflecting transitory theories, has found an 

 excellent solution at Cambridge. 



FIRST LESSORS IN PHILOSOPHY. 

 Professor De Morgan, in his wonderfully witty 

 6 Budget of paradoxes,' speaking of the dislike of 

 most people to discriminate beyond a certain 

 point, says, that, for the majority, " all such 

 things as distinctions are evasions, subterfuges, 

 come-offs, loop-holes, etc. They wculd hang a 



First lessons in philosophy, being an introduction to 

 metaphysic and logic for beginners. By M. S. Handley. 

 New York, Scribner & Welford, 1883. 16°. 



