they be in certain frequently repeated figures which he takes to be word-endings.

THE TARASCAS AND THEIR LANGUAGE.-The Tarascas inhabited the state of Michoacan and submitted voluntarily to Cortes. They were quite as civilized as the Aztecs, and spoke a language remarkable for its vocalic harmony and synthetic construction. We know, however, singularly little about them, and even in the National Museum of Mexico there is not a single specimen of their technical products. The language is still spoken with considerable purity, especially in some mountain villages. There is now some prospect that this neglect of them will cease. A native of Michoacan, an educated physician, has announced the publication of a series of works on their language and antiquities, several of them from ancient unpublished MSS. It is to be hoped that this worthy investigator, so well equipped for the work, Dr. Nicolas Leon, will receive from the Mexican Government the moderate assistance which he needs to enable him to carry out his meritorious undertaking.

THE KOLOSCH VERB.-A corrected scheme of the Kolosch verb has been reprinted from the proceedings of the Vienna Academy by Prof. Friedrich Müller. It is in part theoretical, but may be accepted as a correct exhibition of this difficult grammatical subject. Although the Kolosch verb has two forms, one by prefixes and one by suffixes, both are strictly American in character, that is, they are not verbs at all in the sense of Aryan grammar, but possessive and instrumental expressions.

THE MICMAC DICTIONARY.-There is some prospect that the Micmac Dictionary, which has been the result of forty years of labor by the Rev. Silas T. Rand, of Nova Scotia, will be published by the Dominion Government. The work is much the most complete representation of Eastern Algonkin lexicography which has ever been composed, and it is to be hoped that its appearance will not be delayed.

VON TSCHUDI, J. J.; Organismus der Khetshua-Sprache. Leipzig, F. A. Brockhaus. 1884, pp. 16 and 534. Contains a thorough and most interesting sketch of the evolution of the Peruvian language, and a full exhibit of Peruvian ethnography.

TEN KATE, DR. HENRY-Les Indians Apaches. In Science et Nature, Paris, No. of Dec. 27, 1884, pp. 54-58; illustr.

THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICANISTS.-The Sixth Biennial Congress of Americanists, which was proposed to have been held in Turin, Italy, in the month of September of this year, has been postponed on account of the cholera, which has not only been ravaging Spain to such a degree as would probaly prevent the attendance of several esteemed members of the Spanish delegation, but has appeared in Italy, and a few cases in Turin itself. The sixth session, therefore, will be held in Turin, in September,

1886; and that this may not interfere with the projected scheme of the sessions, the seventh session will take place the year following, and probably in Berlin.

By order of the Committee of Organization:

D. G. BRINTON, Vice President.

NOTES ON EUROPEAN ARCHÆOLOGY.

BY HENRY PHILLIPS, JR.

IN Nature, vol. xxx, p. 248, is a valuable illustrated paper by Prof. Jacobsthal, on the evolution of forms of ornament.

Vincenzo Dorsa has just published at Cosenza a second edition. of his popular beliefs of Calabria,* in which he traces their Greek and Latin origins. This work contains curious details on sun and fire worship.

M. Pitrè has lately published in the Acta Comparationis litterarum universarum (Kolozsvar, Hongrie,) a valuable paper on the evil eye, entitled La Fettatura ed il mal occhio in Sicilia. The magazine is one of the best conducted in Europe under the scholarly Dr. Hugo Von Meltzel.

PROF. CARL MEYER (Bâle) has just published a work, “Der Aberglaube des Mittelalters und der naechste Folgenden Jahrhunderte in which he ably handles a neglected field.

M. GENEROSOv has just published (at Saratov) a work on the popular notion of life after death, based on folk songs, lamentations, traditions, etc. A curious and valuable idea.

PROF. KOULIKOVSKY (of Odessa) has published (in Russian) a work"Researches on the Bacchic cults in Indo-European antiquity”—in which he studies the role that ecstacy has played.

PARIS.-On April 15, 1884, a Congress of learned societies was held at the Sorbonne, and a number of papers on archological subjects was read, the most important of which was by Mr. Nicaise, on some objects found in a tumulus at Septsaulx, (Marne) France, none of which possessed any religious significance; by P. de la Croix, on the ancient burial grounds of Poitiers, of the 4th and 5th centuries, in which he had found 21 distinct methods of sepulture, from the plain interment of the poorest classes, up to the cremation of the rich; by Mr. Ed. Forestie, on some special customs of baptism, marriages, funerals, and ceremonials after interment which were prevalent at Montauban.

PARIS.-M. de Charency read before the Academie des Inscriptions, on March 14, a note on the name Kukulkan, as found in the Codex Troano, which he considers should read Kukulkane.

*La Tradizione greco-latina negli usi e nelle credenze popolari della Calabria cit

eriore.

Under this title

LA TAENSA, a-t'il etè, forge. M. Lucien Adam, the eminent Americanist, publishes a reply to Dr. Brinton's strictures on the Taensa grammar and dictionary. M. Adam freely admits all the suspicions that can arise from the non production of the original MS., said to have been once in the possession of M. Parisot, and adds some letters from the latter gentleman, which he himself considers unsatisfactory. But he falls back in his own defense on the ground that the Taensa grammar does not differ enough from other well-known American languages to be suspicious in itself. The pamphlet is caustic in style, and severe. M. Adam speaks of "putting one's feet on the table," which he says is not the custom in France; he says that France is not the classic land of imposture and humbug. All these things, even if they were true, would not be to the point in controversy, which is the genuineness of the work in question. A candid review of the situation must lead to great doubts, which only the production of the genuine MS. can dispel.

CARLOS VON KOSERITZ has just published a series of Anthropological essays relating to Brazil. Among his collections were stone implements found with the remains of the Megatherium, Rhinoceros, Cave Bear, etc., confirming the discoveries of Dr. Lund at Lagoa Santa, and assuming as great antiquity for the early American races as for the River Drift men of the old world. A remarkable skull found by him near Cidreira leads him to the opinion that the earliest inhabitants of South Brazil were distinct from and of a lower type than the tribes dwelling there in the historic period.-Nature. Vol. xxx, p. 395.

NOTES ON ARCHEOLOGICAL RELICS.

BY E. A. BARBER, PHILADELPHIA.

RELICS.-A letter received in 1882 from Dr. Harvey Reed, Mansfield, says: My uncle, Thos. Reed, of Dalton, Ohio, has at very large and rare collection of prehistoric relics. He has been collecting for over 40 years. Dr. J. W. Craig, of this city, has lately secured the largest and finest mester. It weighs over a ton, is over two feet high and about two feet wide, with a concavity near a foot wide at the top. It is of "nigger lead." It was found in Ashland county, Ohio.

Mr. J. W. Laidlow, of Toronto, Canada, has a large collection of relics, such as are found in Canada, and illustrative of the habits of the Canada Indians. Mr. Hodges, of Clayton, Iowa, has been surveying emblematic mounds in Iowa. He has a collection of M. B. relics.

Mr. T. H. Lewis is diligently at work exploring mounds and searching for relics. He has found effigies in Iowa.

THE DESCRIPTION OF RELICS.

In our last number we described a number of relics which had been found in Siberia, in the extreme north of Europe and Asia. In our present number we shall speak of relics which have come from the extreme south of the same continent, namely, from Tasmania and Australia. Our description is taken from the bulletin of the Essex Institute, Vol. XV. 1883, and the cuts are those which were used, but which have been kindly furnished us by Prof. F. W. Putnam. The relics themselves are in the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, Mass. It will be noticed that these implements which come from the extreme south are much ruder in their character than those from the north. They indicate a very rude state of culture among the people who made them. The two series of relics exhibit a great contrast. The Siberian specimens are all of them polished stone, and in their forms follow quite an advanced type. Some of them have broad flanges, a feature which is quite rare in stone implements. The southern specimens are, however, neither polished or even chipped, but are mere fragments of stone which have been subject to very little change from artificial causes. The two series illustrate the contrast which exists at times between stone implements, and show the extremes of the stone age. We might place between these a series of implements which would embrace specimens from the paleolithic and the neolithic age, and yet would not pass the bounds which are marked by these relics.

There is a point, however, which these illustrate, and that is the manner in which rude people were accustomed to use their implements, or at least some of them. We would have no doubt that the polished stone relics had been used as cutting tools, probably as axes, but the rude specimens would puzzle us. Here, however, we have the relics hafted, the handles still left upon them. Prof. Putnam says: "Figure 1 is an illustration of a rude stone implement provided with a handle, from Tasmania. The handle is simply a tough twig which has been cut or scraped flat on one side and then bent over the stone, the flat surfaces coming together below the stone are secured in place by a string and form a rounded handle.

Another primitive form of cutting implement is shown in Fig. 2. This is from Australia, and was made by fastening sharp fragments or flakes of stone to a stick by means of a tenacious gum. It is a good illustration of the manner in which flint and other flakes may have been mounted for use as saw-like knives by North American tribes."

The comparison between these relics and such as may be found

in the American Continent is to be given. Prof. Putnam has compared them to the argillite relics which have been taken out of the gravel beds at the Delaware river, at Trenton, N. J. The comparison is a good one, especially as it illustrates an important point. The great question has been whether these argillite specimens were implements. They seem to have been chipped, but were they chipped so as to have been useful. Chipping may sometimes come from natural causes; from either pressure or abrasion, but there would be, of course, no such chipping as would indicate that they were intended for use or for hafting. If it should occur it would be a mere accidental feature and would not be repeated. Prof. Putnam has selected a specimen which in its form would favor the idea that they were intended for hafting, and has furnished cuts for the same. See Figs. 3, 4 and 5. He does not state how many such specimens there are in the collection.

He says that implements such as these were readily made from any kind of stone which fractures with a sharp edge, and they were formed by striking off pieces with another stone which served as a hammer. In each locality the stones which have this essential character soon became known, and hence we find that chipped implements made of several varieties of slate, jasper and quartz, are abundant in this vicinity, while in other parts of America flint or chert, obsidian, chalcedony, and other kinds of stones were used.

A variety of argillite was the material in common use among the people inhabiting the valley of the Delaware at a time so remote that we are unable, as yet, to express it in years. While we cannot affirm that the rudely made implements found in the Trenton gravel were fastened to handles, it is probable that they were, as we know that similiar implements are furnished with handles by savages probably as low in the scale of humanity as were the ancient men of the glacial epoch. Figures 3, 4, and 5 represent two of the argillite implements from the Trenton gravel.

There is a test, however, which might be applied. If a speci

men could be found which showed the marks of abrasion or friction from being used with a handle, or even which had been dulled at its edge by pounding or cutting, the evidence would be conclusive. No such specimen has been found. The comparison which we should draw would be between the relic from Tasmania and the stone mauls which are found near the ancient mines of Lake Superior, though the Tasmanian implement is much smaller and lighter than these. The Australian relic may have its counterpart in North America, but we have not seen any. The difficulty in the case is that the wooden handle which may have been used for mounting saw-like knives have perished, and the fragments or flakes would be too rude in their form to show how they were hafted or used. The study of cutting tools or implements which were used like an ax, with a handle at the side has not been carried out very far in this country. We are thankful to Prof. Putnam for his suggestion and for furnishing cuts to illustrate it.