Editorial.

"THE MISSING LINK."

According to Dr. D. G. Brinton, in his "Notes on Anthropology" in Science, January 11, a fossil has been found which may prove to be "the missing link." This creature has been unearthed by Dr. Eugene Dubois, a surgeon in the Dutch army, stationed in Java, and he describes his find in a quarto of forty pages just issued from the local press of Batavia under the title "Pithecanthropus Erectus. A Man-like Transition-form from Java."

"This noteworthy essay contains the detailed description of three fragments of three skeletons which have been found in the early pleistocene strata of Java, and which introduce to us a new species, which is also a new genus and a new family, of the order of primates, placed between the Simiida and Hominidæ,--in other words, apparently supplying the 'missing link' between man and the higher apes which has so long and so anxiously been awaited.

"The material is sufficient for a close osteological comparison. The cubical capacity of the skull is about two-thirds that of the human average. It is distinctly dolichocephalic, about 70°-and its norma vérticalis astonishingly like that of the famous Neanderthal skull. The dental apparatus is still of the simian type, but less markedly so than in other apes. The femora are singularly human. They prove beyond doubt that this creature walked constantly on two legs, and when erect was quite equal in height to the average human male. Of the various differences which separate it from the highest apes and the lowest men, it may be said that they bring it closer to the latter than to the former."

This discovery has an interesting bearing upon the original birthplace of the human race. The author believes that the steps in the immediate genealogy of our species, as shown by the find, indicate the southern aspects of the great Himalayan chain as the region in which our race first came into being. This accords with the traditional view that Asia is the cradle of man kind, and by no means contradicts the Biblical story. Still it is placing a good deal of independence on a few bones, when it is stated that "the missing link" has been discovered.

THE RELIGION OF THE INDIANS.

Mr. J. O. Dorsey, in the concluding chapter of his report, uses the following sub-title: "Peet on Indian Religions," and devotes the chapter partly to a reply and partly to the restatement of his own conclusions This is an honor which is fully appreciated by the editor, for it is the only chapter in this or any other report devoted to any individual's opinion. The occasion of the use of the sub-title and the "concluding remarks" was that the writer had prepared in 1886, at the request of the Victoria Institute, or Philosophical Society of Great Britain, a brief review of an article already in print which had been furnished by Rev. M. Eells, of Washington, and which purported to give the Bible ideas in the aboriginal religions of America. The paper was designed as a mere review and not as a statement of the writer's own opinion, though it was esteemed worthy of separate publication as a pamphlet, and has been somewhat generally circulated. The following are the remarks which were quoted from this review and made the basis of comment. Referring to Mr. Eells and Mr. Williams, who have been laboring among the Tinnehs, t

In reference to the form of religion definition is given which was never inter represented by the writer as the worship supreme rule of the Shaman. The term suitable, for the exorcising of spirits an posed by the northern tribes to be altoget Animism is another term which might b by no means confined to the northern trib out of the way. The following are points will soon be reached and which will be re ciples of the aboriginal religions. (1) T embodied in the tree of life was very sim fact in all parts of the world. (2) The rec who was equivalent to the "master of life, spirit," the "Kitchi Manido" of the Ojibwa among the different tribes. (3) The etern malignant beings symbolized by the "grea kins, Dzhemanido and the malignant go among other tribes and races by varied's trine of the soul which was embodied in more complete development in the nagu nection of these various doctrines and the elements, the colors and the creation there was an esoteric system which was t which had very similar symbols and son All of these are proofs that the subject c impo tant, but the comparison should no one period, nor should there e a discour wherever they are or whatever their o decidedly important. This is the best worker has been recognized and kindly v

"There are four or five points on whi agreed: Four doctrines-the existence o sinfulness of man, and the necessity of sa various modified forms by all the trib remark which is quoted was merely des others and can hardly be taken as exp belief of the writer, and should not ha certainly should not have been subjecte never intended. The writer will say been making a great advance in their! and are really bringing out many new fa

ARCHEOLOGICAL NOTES.

BY MARSHALL H. SAVILle.

DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT CITY IN HONDURAS.-The following notice appeared in Le Nouveau Monde, Paris, Dec. 1, 1894: "Word has been received from Honduras of the discovery of an ancient 'Toltec' city in the depths of a forest near the Rio Grande. The remains of this city are very well preserved and reveal an advanced civilization. The city was well constructed; possessed three great temples, more than 150 feet in length and 35 feet in width; the streets are large and well paved." The Rio Grande mentioned is probably that which flows not far from Tegucigalpha, the capital of Honduras. Squier is the only person who has given us any information regarding the ruins in Honduras, and with the exception of the ruins of Copan, which being but five miles from the boundary of Guatemala, more properly belong to the Guatemala group of ruins. No archæological work has ever been carried on in the Republic.

PEABODY MUSEUM HONDURAS EXPEDITION.-In connection with the reported discovery of an ancient city in Honduras it would be well to notice the expedition which is now in the field at the ruins of C pan, sent out under the decree given several years ago to the Peabody Museum of Harvar University. This decree gave to that institution the care of the ancient remains of Honduras, and the exclusive right of excavating for ten years. Two expeditions have already been sent out directly by the Peabody Museum. This year, however, the work will be carried on jointly by the Peabody Museum and the American Museum of Natural History, New York. This, the third, expedition, has been placed under the charge of Mr. G. B. Gordon, who was associated with the late Mr. Owens as civil engineer on the second expedition. The wealth of inscriptions, and numerous tombs in Copan, make it as important a field for research as any to be found in Central America.

GUATEMALA ANTIQUITIES.-The extremely interesting and valuable collection of antiquities formerly owned by Sr. D. Manuel G. Elgueta, of Guatemala, has become the property of the California Academy of Science, San Francisco, and has been installed in their rooms. This collection was exhibited in the Guatemala Building at the World's Columbian Exposition, and was taken to San Francisco and exhibited at the Mid-winter Exposition. It was made by Sr. Elgueta, among the ruined cities of the Quiches, in Northern Guatemala, the material largely being found in tombs, which were subterranean chambers, with either mounds of cemented debris or buildings erected over them. It comprises a small collection of vases of great value, as they bear hieroglyphic inscriptions and pictures painted in colors. In view of the small number of such vases to be found in our museums, these vases should be carefully studied and reproduced in color, in the same manner as Hr. E. P. Dieseldorff has reproduced a vase from Copan, Gautemala, in Zeitschz. f. Etnol. (Verh. der Berliner Anthrop. Gesellsch). Bd. XXVI, 1894. Such vases properly reproduced are miniature Maya or Quiche codices. In addition to the vases in the Elgueta collection are a

number of jadeite heads, ear ornaments, and other ornaments, obsidian implements, household utensils and a few stone carvings.

ARMOUR EXPEDITION TO YUCATAN.-An expedition under the auspices of Mr. Allison V. Armour, of Chicago, started for Yucatan the middle of December. Mr. Armour has, for several years, taken a deep interest in the ruins of Yucatan, and has made a number of visits to the country. This year, accompanied by Prof. W. H. Holmes, curator of anthropology at the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, and Prof. Allan Marquand, of Princeton University, he has sailed in his yacht Ituna for Progreso. They will visit the ruins of Labna, Kabah, Uxmal and Chichen Itza, in company with Mr. E. H. Thompson, ex-U. S. consul who has been many years a resident of the state, and has recently purchased the haciendi upon which the ruins of Chichen Itza stand. The party will visit Palenque, in Chiapas, and will try to make a landing at Tuloom, on the eastern coast of the peninsula of Yucatan. Mr. Thompson s intimate knowledge of the Maya people and language will facilitate work among the hostile Indians who live near the ruins, and if the landing is successful the protographs and observations regarding this almost unknown city will be a chapter added to our knowledge of the ancient cities of Yucatan..

DR. PHILLIP J. J. VALENTINI, after a long absence from the field of Central American archæology, presented before the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, at its last meeting, a paper entitled "Analysis of the Pictorial Text Inscribed on the Palenque Tablet (Temple of the Sacred Tree)." This tablet, miscalled Tablet of the Cross, has been studied for many years by Dr. Valentini, and his valuable paper will be published in the Antiquarian Society proceedings in April.

BOOK REVIEWS.

A Primer of the Mayan Hieroglyphics. By Daniel G. Brinton. Boston, U. S. A. 1895.

The study of symbolism as contained in the various charts, pictographs and ceremonies of the wild tribes, also contained in the sand paintings of the Navajoes and the dramatization of the Moquis and Zunis, and especially those contained in the codices and the hieroglyphics of the Mayas, has been followed by various gentlemen in this country and in Europe. Great progress has been made in interpreting the symbols and in identifying and naming the gods. The best work, at least the most interesting and the most satisfactory, is the one by Dr. Daniel G. Brinton. He brings out briefly the different opinions which have been advanced by Dr. Seler, Schelhaus, Fostemann, in Germany, Dr. Thomas, Dr. J. W. Fewkes, M. H. Saville and others in this country, about the Maya codices and hieroglyphics. There is no attempt at drawing a comparison, and yet the statements which are made have already proved suggestive to the writer in reference to the analogies.

In a previous paper I showed that the Hidery had two phratries or brotherhoods, and that the representative crests of these two were the raven and the eagle. I also showed that these two were divided into twenty-five clans, who were each of them distinguished by certain coats-of-arms or crests, and these crests were represented by certain animals, fishes and birds, also by the rain-bow, the sun, moon and the thunderbird. While speaking of phratries I may say that the neighboring tribes of the Hidery are somewhat different, to this extent: the Tsimsheans have, I believe, four-the raven, eagle, wolf and bear; the Klingat of Southern Alaska, like the Hidery, only two, the raven and wolf-Yehl and Kanuk-phratries. Each of these has almost all the same coat-of-arms. Connected with nearly all of them is a story. These two phratries, to a certain extent, represent good and evil, positive and nega. tive. Every phratry and clan had an instrument with which they could imitate the call of their respective crests. The ravens were not allowed to use those of the eagle, nor the eagle those of the raven. They also had certain dances. The movements in the dances corresponded more or less to those of the animal, bird, or whatever was the subject of the crest. There were certain degrees belonging to these crests, into which a person had to be initiated. These degrees entitle them to a Tuden Skeel of two or more degrees, as the case may be. The Tuden Skeel is shown on the houses and totem posts by a head with a hat. From the center of it rises a sort of cone, with a lot of pieces all of one size, joined together. Each piece represents one degree. They also had masks, or false-faces, cut out of a block of wood. Also a mortuary column with a number of black and white stripes on it. These are all of the same width and encircle the shaft of the column. I saw one at