292 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
is a stout volume of 550 pages, with numerous plates and folding maps and 
plans. The most important portion of its contents consists of reports on the 
pollution of rivers and the disposal of sewage, questions which are already 
forcing themselves on the inhabitants of the older States almost as un- 
pleasantly as upon ourselves. These reports are very elaborate, and many 
comparisons are made with the state of things prevailing on this side of the 
water. Some sanitary hints, and especially a treatise on defects in house- 
drainage by Mr. E. S. Philbrick, are also of interest. 
We have still to notice the publications of the Smithsonian Institution, 
which, as usual, are of great value. The Report for 1875,* the last that has 
reached us, contains as usual an elaborate statement of the doings of this 
most admirable body, with an appendix in which, besides several transla- 
tions and reprints, we find some original memoirs of considerable importance, 
chiefly on anthropological subjects. Mr. H. Gillman has a curious paper 
on u Certain Characteristics pertaining to Ancient Man in Michigan,” in 
which he records the very frequent occurrence of perforated humeri in the 
mounds on the Detroit and Rouge rivers, this peculiar formation being met 
with in about 50 per cent, of the number found. It is remarkable as being 
associated with platycnemism. Mr. Gillman also describes and figures 
several examples of artificially perforated skulls from the mounds of the 
same region. A very long and elaborate paper, by Dr. C . C. Abbott, treats 
of the remains of the stone age in New Jersey, and is illustrated by upwards 
of 200 figures of stone implements, advancing from rudely-chipped forms 
to those of more careful construction, ground and even engraved. The 
objects include some tobacco-pipes of stone, and pottery of various 
patterns. 
Two parts of the Smithsonian Contributions, t published in 1876, also go 
back over this antiquarian ground, which, although as compared with the 
archaeology of the old world, it may be in part comparatively modern, is 
certainly to a considerable extent prehistoric so far as America is con- 
cerned. Dr. Joseph Jones gives a most interesting account of his ex- 
plorations of the aboriginal remains of Tennessee, the burial caves, stone- 
graves, mounds and earthworks, and the numerous objects obtained from 
them. Many of the latter are very curious and interesting. Dr. Jones 
finds that the crania of the stone-grave and mound-building race of Tennessee 
belong to the Toltecan division of American nations, agreeing markedly 
with those of the Inca Peruvians and the Toltecs of Mexico. They have 
usually been altered by pressure. Many of these crania also bear a striking 
resemblance to those of the Natchez, and hence Dr. Jones infers that the 
aborigines of Tennessee were probably descended from the Toltecs, and 
related to the Natchez, and endeavours from an examination of historical 
documents relating to the early knowledge of this part of America, to 
ascertain what may have been the history of these extinct people. He 
notes that the mode of burial in stone coffins or cists adopted by them 
* u Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, for the year 1875.” 8vo. Washington. 1876. 
f “ Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.” Nos. 259 and 267. 4to. 
Washington. 1876. 
