Notices of Books. 
1878.J 
99 
times, should persistently deny all evolution in the two 
kingdoms.” 
In a valuable paper on “ Certain Characteristics pertaining to 
Ancient Man in Michigan,” by Mr. Henry Gillman, we meet 
with the record of a very singular fad : — “ About 50 per cent of 
the humeri are perforated.” This is a Simian characteristic 
which, singularly enough, is found to pertain in the largest 
degree to the lower races of man, while it is rare or almost 
absent in the Caucasian (Aryan). “ The predominance of the 
perforation (along with other degraded traits) in the chimpanzee 
and gorilla, as well as in the lower races of mankind, would 
suggest, if not a common ancestry in the remote past, at least 
some predisposing cause common to both the ape and the savage, 
and this connected with the use of the arm.” 
Of the long and elaborate paper on the “ Stone Age in New 
Jersey,” by Dr. C. C. Abbott, we can notice merely some of the 
author’s conclusions as to the primaeval tribes who made and 
used such instruments : — “ What though the Mongol does re- 
semble the American, does this in itself prove relationship ? ” 
And, also, it may be asked, which of the American aborigines, as 
they now are, does the Asiatic Mongol most resemble ; or has 
each American tribe a representative in the other continent ? 
Dr. Wilson asserts that “ the theory of an aboriginal unity per- 
vading our indigenous American race from the ArCtic circle to 
Tierra del Fuego has been shown to be baseless ;” but how can 
it be proved that the Indians apparently most nearly allied to 
Asiatic races are the oldest or original aborigines ? We doubt 
that all American races are related, and if so different as Dr. 
Wilson assumes, who can demonstrate which type or pattern 
was the central, from which came the others that climate, food, 
and surroundings generally finally produced ? “ The Indian was 
once a palaeolithic man, and, from whatever source he came, here 
advanced, without supernatural revelation or the missionary 
efforts of a superior people, to a condition which is best known 
as Neolithic.” The memoir is profusely illustrated with figures 
of the stone weapons and tools described, and affords admirable 
evidence of the rapid progress lately made by American men of 
Science in investigating the condition of the pre-historic occu- 
piers of the western continent. 
Annual Record of Science and Industry, for 1S76. Edited by 
Spencer F. Baird. New York ; Harper Bros. London : 
Triibner and Co. 
This Annual Record appears to maintain its superiority over all 
publications of a similar nature. Alike in the selection and the 
arrangement of its materials, it has the advantage. 
