SCIENCE. 
205 
“With a modesty that contrasts strongly with the severe 
language used by Prof. Tait, he continues : 
‘To claim priority by insisting on former labors and suc- 
cesses seems to me inadmissible ; but nobody will be able 
to disclaim an essay, printed with its date in a scientific 
periodical, since even unpublished papers, if they have their 
date reliably fixed, are deemed admissible for the pur- 
pose. 9 
“And refraining with considerate carefulness from making 
a direct or even implied charge of plagiarism, such as 
Duhring made against Helmholtz and Tait makes against 
Mayer, he concludes : 
‘ If a scientist has deposited with an Academy or left with 
the publisher of some periodical an article with its date in 
a sealed envelope, he can at any time afterwards prove his 
claim of priority by opening it ; the second discoverer is, 
however, then justified in declaring that he had not and 
could not have had any knowledge of the contents of that 
letter ; this he cannot say of a periodical regularly published 
and accessible to everybody. 10 
Prof. Tait commits an error in supposing that the 
original paper by Mohr was published in Liebig’s Annalen 
der Chemie. This is probably due to the fact that in the 
Annalen der Pharmacie, of which Mohr was an associate 
editor, a short synopsis of his paper appeared under the 
general heading of a “ Revue fiir das Jahr 1837.” (24, 141), 
bearing the same title, “ Ueber die Natur der Warme.” The 
charge of plagiarism which Tait distinctly and deliberately 
makes on the supposed fact that Mayer’s essay ap- 
peared in the same Annalen where Mohr’s original paper 
was printed, can no longer be sustained ; and one may 
reasonably hope henceforth to hear of it no more. It should 
never have been uttered. 
In conclusion, it maybe stated that, in thus presenting 
for the first time in the columns of “ Science ” the complete 
documentary evidence of Prof. Mohr’s priority in regard 
to the discovery of the great principle of the correlation 
of forces and the conservation of energy, we have been 
actuated by no other motive than that which underlies all 
science, viz.: to seek and proclaim the truth and nothing 
but the truth, and at the same time to do justice to whom 
justice is due. And no man deserves more to be accorded 
an honor which he is entitled to than Friedrich Mohr, 
whose rare genius and masterly mind never betrayed him 
into committing such errors of judgment as may be laid 
at the door of almost every other writer on the subject. 
WYANDOTTE GOVERNMENT, 
A Short Study of Tribal Society, Delivered at the 
Boston Meeting of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, August i, 1880. 
By Major J. W. Powell, Director, Bureau of Ethnology, 
Washington. ' 
In the social organization of the Wyandottes four groups 
are recognized, the family, the gens, the phratry, and the 
tribe. 
the centre, and was usually built for two families, one oc- 
cupying the place on each side of the fire. 
The head of the family is a woman. 
GENS. 
The gens is an organized body of consanguineal kindred 
in the female line. “ The woman carries the gens,” is the 
formulated statement by which a Wyandotte expresses 
the idea that descent is in the female line. Each gens has 
the name of some animal, the ancient of such animal being 
its tutelar god. Up to the time when the tribe left Ohio, 
eleven gentes were recognized, as follows : 
Deer, Bear, Highland Turtle (striped), Highland Turtle 
(black), Mud Turtle, Smooth Large Turtle, Hawk, Beaver, 
Wolf, Sea Snake, and Porcupine. 
In speaking of an individual he is said to be a Wolf, a 
Bear, or Deer, as the case may be, meaning thereby that he 
belongs to that gens ; but in speaking of the body of 
people comprising a gens they are said to be relatives of the 
Wolf, the Bear, or the Deer, as the case may be. 
There is a body of names belonging to each gens, so that 
each person’s name indicates the gens to which he belongs. 
These names are derived from the characteristics, habits, 
attitudes, or mythologic stories connected with the tutelar 
god. 
The following schedule presents the name of a man and 
woman in each gens as illustrating this statement : 
Man of Deer gens 
Woman “ 
Man of Bear “ 
Woman of Bear “ 
Man of Striped 
Turtle gens 
Woman of Striped 
Turtle gens 
Man of Mud Turtle 
gens 
Woman of Mud 
Turtle gens 
Man of Smooth 
Large Turtle gens 
Woman of Smooth 
Large Turtle gens 
Man of Wolf gens 
Woman “ “ 
Man of Snake gens 
Woman “ “ 
Man of Porcupine 
gens 
Woman of Porcu- 
pine gens 
Indian. 
De-wa-ti-re 
A-ya-jin-ta 
A-tu-e-tes 
Tsa'-man'-da-ka-e' 
Ta- ha'- so" - ta- ra- 
ta-se 
T so-we-y u/ 7 -kyn 
Sha-yan-tsu-wat' 
Ya"-dash-shu-ras 
Hu n '-du-cu-tfi 
Tsu-ca-e n ' 
Ha-ro'-u"-yu 
Ya n -di-no 
Hu-ta-hu'-sa 
Di-je-rons 
Ha n -du'-tu" 
Ke'-ya-runs-kwa 
English. 
Lean Deer 
Spotted Fawn 
Long Claws 
Grunting for her 
Young 
Going Around 
the Lake 
Gone from the 
Water 
Hard Skull 
Finding Sand 
Beach 
Throwing Sand 
Slow Walker 
One Who goes 
About in the 
Dark' a Prowler 
Always Hungry 
Sitting in Curled 
Position 
One Who Ripples 
the Water 
yhe One Who 
Puts Up Quills 
Good-Sighted 
the phratry. 
THE FAMILY. 
The family, as the term is here used, is nearly synonym- 
ous with the household. It is composed of the per- 
sons who occupy one lodge, or in their permanent wig- 
wams, one section of a communal dwelling. These perma- 
nent dwellings are constructed in an oblong form of poles 
interwoven with bark. The fire was placed in line along 
. Erne Prioritat durch Bebauptung fruherer Arbeiten and Erfolge 
beanspruchen zu wol(en, halte ich fiir unzueiissig. allein eioen in einer 
wisstnschaftlichen Zeitschrift cedruckten und mit dem Datum versehenen 
Aufsatz geltend zu machen wird Niemand zuriickweisen konnen da srgar 
ungedruckte Aufsatze, wenn sie ein sicheres Datum haben zu diesem 
Zwecke zugelassen *erden. (s. 84.) 
10 . Hat ein Naturforscher iiei einer Akademie oder bei dem Herausge- 
ber einer Zeitschrift durch einen verschlossenen Brief Datum genommen, 
so kann er nachher durch Offnung des Briefes seine PrioritStsanspruche 
beweisen ; der zweite Eotdecker kann aber dann mit Recht sagen, dass er 
von dem Inhalte des Briefes keine Kentniss hatte und niebt haben 
Konnte, das kann er aber bei einer regelmds sig erscheincnden und 
Jedetn zugdnglichen Zeitschrift nicht sagen. (s. 84.) 
There are four phratries in the tribe, the three gentes 
Bear, Deer, and Striped Turtle constituting the first ; the 
Highland Turtle, Black Turtle, and Smooth Large Turtle 
the second ; the Hawk, Beaver, and Wolf the third ; and 
the Sea Snake and Porcupine the fourth. 
This unit in their organization has a mythologic basis, 
and is chiefly used for religious purposes, in the prepar- 
ation of medicines, and in festivals and games. 
The eleven gentes as four phratries constitute the tribe. 
Such is the social organization of the Wj'andottes. 
Each gens is a body of consanguineal kindred in the 
female line, and each gens is allied to other gentes by con- 
sanguineal kinship through the male line, and by affinity 
through marriage. 
To be a member of the tribe it is necessary to be a mem- 
ber of a gens ; to be a member of a gens it is necessary to 
belong to some family ; and to belong to a family a person 
must have been born in the family so that his kinship is re- 
cognized ; or he must be adopted into a family and become 
