526 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 175 



painted on the blackboard, and, to show territorial 

 changes, filled in with colored crayons. This method 

 has the great advantage of growing before the class, 

 changing with the history. But it is wanting in 

 cleanness and accuracy, requires much disagreeable 

 labor, and involves destroying the boundaries of the 

 one period before putting on those of the next ; so 

 that the eye cannot compare the two stages. 



Accompanying this device, I have used that for 

 the pupils which you suggest; i.e., small uncolored 

 outline-maps, to be filled in for successive epochs by 

 the student himself. My class in medieval history 

 last year was required to make eighteen of these. 

 To get the outline-maps, we have copies made by the 

 hektograph process. Tracing-paper can be used to 

 get the first copy, thus bringing this scheme within 

 the reach of every teacher. 



We also use your scheme involving a series of wall- 

 maps for successive epochs. With other teachers I 

 have often felt the need of cheap printed outline- 

 maps, to be filled up in the course of the work. In 

 lieu of such outline-maps, we have gotten along 

 pretty well by the use of white holland, which is 

 sufficiently translucent to be used like tracing cloth ; 

 so that the labor of carefully drawing the map has 

 to be performed but once. This material we buy in 

 quantities, so that it costs but twelve cents and a half 

 per yard. To secure the requisite width, two or 

 more pieces can be sewed together. Being strong to 

 resist wear and tear, for maps it is about the most 

 satisfactory material with which I am acquainted. 



But the best device, by all odds, which we have 

 yet hit upon, is a system of ground-maps with super- 

 posable fractional maps. The original map we 

 mount on a soft pine back, and indicate every change 

 by overlaying it with fractional maps corresponding 

 in natural features to the original, but colored in 

 such manner as to show the altered political relations. 

 Thus, having a map of Italy divided and colored to 

 show its political condition before 1859, — with Sar- 

 dinia and Piedmont red, Austrian territory yellow, 

 Parma orange, Modena gray, Papal States brown, 

 Tuscany olive, and Naples purple, — we tell the story 

 of Magenta and Solferina ; then lay over yellow 

 Lombardy a red Lombardy, to show its acquisition 

 by Sardinia ; and a green Savoy and Nice over the 

 red Savoy and Nice, to show how France exacted 

 them as the price of her assistance. Then, on Victor 

 Emanuel's acceptance of the offered sovereignty of 

 Parma, Modena, Bologna, and Tuscany, a red patch 

 is tacked over these districts. So a red Sicily and a 

 red Naples are laid on when Garibaldi's work is 

 done. A red Ancona and Umbria finish the work 

 for 1860. In 1866 Venetia is covered with red ; and 

 in 1870, the remainder of papal territory. 



During the year we have worked out sets for the 

 territorial history of France from 1550 to 1870, of 

 Prussia from 1400 to 1866, of the Ottoman empire 

 from 1680 to 1886, of western Europe from 395 to 

 888, etc. From no other plan have we obtained re- 

 sults at all comparable with those of this year. 



The advantages of this device are apparent. It is 

 superior to the series of maps, because, 1°, it 

 changes with history ; 2°, a more definite concept of 

 the changed territory is obtained when it can be 

 taken off and handled as a piece of cloth ; 3 y , the 

 student can be set to work out the changes for him- 

 self, — to build up or take to pieces the map ; and, 

 4°, it is less expensive, involving but one or two 

 full-sized maps. It is superior to the blackboard 



scheme, because, 1°, it is clearer ; 2°, it is more ac- 

 curate ; 3°, it is easier to reproduce, and so not too 

 difficult for the student and the overworked teacher ; 

 and, 4°, it preserves both the original condition of 

 things and the changed order, each of which can be 

 reproduced in turn, and thus the exact nature and 

 extent of the change can be clearly and definitely 

 seen. 



Incidentally, the use of a soft-wood back has sug- 

 gested several little devices which we find quite help- 

 ful. For battles we use a bright red spear-head of 

 stiff cloth fastened with sealing-wax to the head of 

 a needle. These, being removable, are placed on 

 the map just where events call for them ; can be 

 made large enough to show across any room without 

 permanently disfiguring the map ; do not crowd 

 regions like the Netherlands, where many battles 

 have been fought, till the confusion is hopeless ; and, 

 finally, furnish, in putting them on, a useful exercise 

 for the student. Similarly, we use a yellow star on 

 a black circle for treaties of peace, and lines of 

 colored braid to follow expeditions, such as Alex- 

 ander's or the crusades. Doubtless other expedients 

 of the same nature will suggest themselves. 



F. M. Taylor. 



Albion, Mich., May 28. 



Some Ojibwa and Dakota practices. 



Science (vol. iii. No. 57) records on p. 298 the dis- 

 covery of human bones suggesting cannibalism in a 

 cave near the village of Holzon Brunswick, reported 

 to the Berlin anthropological society by Professor 

 Nehring. "It is the first evidence discovered," 

 says the author, " that a race of anthropophagi ever 

 existed in Germany. The bones were not fully 

 calcined, and had evidently been chopped to obtain 

 the marrow. As a still greater proof of cannibalism, 

 it was shown that the bones were thrown in a heap, 

 as if cleared after a meal. ... In the subsequent 

 discussion Professor Virchow raised some objections 

 to the cannibal theory.'' 



A case like the one in question might sometimes, 

 probably, be referable to exceptional cannibalism ; 

 that is, to an act of cannibalism committed under 

 extraordinary conditions, by a race not commonly 

 addicted to the vice, and even in general, perhaps, 

 abhorring it. In solving problems of this sort, it 

 becomes a pertinent inquiry, how savage man of the 

 historic period actually ' takes his meals,' if such 

 they may be called, and whether or not he practises 

 disposing of the residuum of his food in the orderly 

 manner indicated above. 



An instance of man-eating, with its attendant cir- 

 cumstances, occurring among the wild Ojibwas of 

 Lake Pokegema, Minnesota, is cited below. It is 

 put on record in this place for the purpose of illus- 

 trating exceptional cannibalism in non-cannibal 

 tribes, and of showing how, half a century ago, 

 Algonkins and Dakotas still inhabiting the north- 

 west were accustomed to hew in pieces, distribute, 

 and leave to be gnawed by animals, the slaughtered 

 bodies of their enemies. "The given facts, further- 

 more, emphasize the possible co-existence, in the 

 same aboriginal community, of two widely differing 

 grades of civilization, particularly in the case of 

 savages just emerging from barbarism in virtue ot 

 their association with enlightened races. 



It should be stated that this paper has been pre- 

 pared from verbal and written material kindly 



