administrative work of the Society. Mr. Beasley, who from the period of organization until 1915 was Treasurer, was succeeded by Dr. J. P. Bibb; R. B. Burnham succeeded P. A. Brannon as Secretary.

In 1910 the Society issued its first Handbook, which listed the known collectors and collections of Alabama material at that date. Further, there was shown by counties a list of mounds and earthworks so far located. Since then there have been issued a few circulars and papers, and the list of mounds and collectors has been added to materially. In 1920 another Handbook was issued, bringing the list of collectors down to that date, showing by local landmarks, and with a brief description, the location of all known aboriginal sites in Alabama, nearly two hundred in number, and containing much material of a bibliographical nature. It gives a brief résumé of the meetings held from May, 1909, through December, 1920. On July 1, 1920, the Society began the publication of Arrow Points, a little mimeographed bulletin, issued monthly to give to the members information and inspiration in their work. The bulletin carries about 20 pages in each issue, consisting of drawings, photographs, and brief biographical sketches, as well as reports on current explorations, the program of the succeeding meeting, and illustrations of recent finds.

The May number, a souvenir issue to commemorate the twelfth anniversary of the Society, carries as a supplement a map of twelve counties, showing the location of the mound and town sites therein, as well as topographical data necessary for the location of them. Another feature is the initial article of a survey of Montgomery County, to show the mound and town sites in that county. Each of the 44 located mounds and some ten or more unnamed town sites will be individually written up and illustrated with photographs. It is proposed to run this as a feature and gradually cover every county in the State. Montgomery, in the center of the State, is known to have been the site of Upper Creek, Alibamo, and Shawnee villages and towns, and the Society has located all of these known historically, as well as having made a complete survey of the entire county.. Additional features are the monthly county placename story and numerous photographs, drawings, and reports. Each month one county of the State is treated by a member of the Society, showing present-day place-names, which have been influenced in some. way by aboriginal connection, either by name, association, or suggestion. The nomenclature of the State is rich in aboriginal suggestions and this feature in itself is a rich contribution to the local history of the State.

The Society, so far as the writer is aware, is the only one of its kind in the country. It is not intended to have the work strictly scientific; the historical implications of all our research work are equally held in mind. Popular discussions of local conditions, folk-lore, and traditions are encouraged. It is planned to make a survey of the State in a historical way and in an ethnological way and to cover the ground thoroughly. The Society works actively in coöperation with the Alabama State Department of Archives and History and makes reports to it, and this department has issued its two handbooks, but the monthly bulletin has no connection with the Department. The writer, who conceived the idea of the bulletin, is, however, directly indebted to the Department of Archives and History for much of the material which is used. The individual members are encouraged to do current work in the locating, mapping, sketching, photographing, and surveying of aboriginal points, thereby adding new material to the files of the historical department, as well as posting themselves on local conditions as they exist at the present time.

Since the organization of the Society its members have brought together as a Society collection a very representative group of archaeological objects, now on display in the State Museum, and some six of the members have large individual collections which will eventually be placed therewith. There are in these six collections more than 75,000 objects, and there have been added to the collections of the Alabama State Department of Archives and History more than 50,000 through the Society's work.

MONTGOMERY, ALA.

PETER A. BRANNON

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF

WASHINGTON

Meeting of October 26, 1920

THE 548th meeting of the Society was held at the United States National Museum on October 26, 1920, at 4.45 p.m. Dr. Aleš Hrdlička, Curator of Physical Anthropology in the U. S. National Museum, addressed the Society on "The Anthropological Problems of the Far East and the Pacific." 1 The lecture was carefully prepared and dealt with a subject with which Dr. Hrdlička was most familiar, both because of long study and recent field work.

He emphasized first of all the great importance and central position of the study of the anthropology of Asia. There are, indeed, in that field greater problems than any which the American field offers, problems which are connected with the origin of man and of the peoples of Europe. The lecturer divided the problems into two large classes: (1) the more particular problems, and (2) the more comprehensive questions.

The particular problems were arrayed according to ethnic areas. Beginning in the extreme northeast, the speaker described the Chukchee and neighboring peoples, considerable study of which has been made by Russian scientists. The resemblance and relationship of these peoples to the American Eskimos and Indians was clearly discussed. Next in order came the Ainus, Gilyaks, and related peoples of Sakhalin and the Amur region. The Ainus undoubtedly held the whole of Japan at one period; there are some indications that they may have spread into Japan from the north. The relations between the Ainu and other elements which have gone to make up the Japanese people are still far from clear. The anthropology of Japan is one of the most important problems. The Chukchee, Ainus, etc., are now on their decline and there is the greatest need of a thorough and immediate investigation of them from every anthropological standpoint.

The Mongolians were next discussed. Many individuals look almost exactly like American Indians, while others, in the western part of the territory especially, show indications of mixture with white people, ex1 The paper has been published in fuller form in Science, issue of December

17, 1920.

hibiting occasionally even blue eyes and white skin. They speak five different dialects, and their songs are strikingly like those of the American Indians. Dr. Hrdlička also pointed out interesting connections between the religious practices of the Mongolians and the Indians, for although the Mongolians have long been converted to a form of Buddhism, they still evidently retain a number of native religious observances. The problems of China were discussed at some length. Considerable physical and other differences exist between the northern and southern Chinese. These remain to be investigated. The anthropology of Tibet is also still imperfectly known.

When we pass south of China one important group is the Malays. Here we also find one of the most enigmatic of all the existing groups of humanity, namely the Negrito. The Negrito must originally have occupied a much larger area than at present; there are traces of them even in southern China, Burma, and Indo-China. It is probable that before the influx of stronger peoples from the northwest they played an important part in the peopling of Asia. The relationship of the Asiatic. Negrito to the African Pigmy is also uncertain, for if there is a relationship it is difficult to explain because of geographical remoteness.

Our knowledge of the Polynesians, Australians, and Melanesians. was next briefly reviewed, and the anthropology of India and the adjacent region to the west was then discussed. We see in India a number of diverse elements.

Coming to the comprehensive problems, Dr. Hrdlička first touched upon the peopling of Asia. There is no line of demarcation between the whites and the yellow-browns as there is between the browns and the blacks, while, on the other hand, as the speaker had already pointed out, the Asiatic and American peoples shade into each other. Here is surely a great field for scientific determination.

Perhaps the most comprehensive problem of all is that of the origin of man. In the island of Java have been discovered the remains of a creature that is the closest to man of all non-human forms thus far known. Whether this being was directly ancestral to man or not does not matter; many things indicate that region as a possible site of man's earliest differentiation or his origin. Explorations in that field have thus far barely touched the surface. There are vast promising deposits, and an almost endless number of caves that demand exploration. Of all the fields of anthropological research, here is the most pregnant. And it lies fallow.

Connected with the preceding is the problem of why early man did not populate the mainland of eastern Asia. In all this part of Asia, extending to the Turkestans, there has not been found thus far a single object which would unquestionably point to man's geological antiquity. The objects thus far discovered over these vast regions are of the Neolithic period, and apparently not even the oldest parts of the Neolithic. A large portion of China is covered by a peculiar Quaternary geological formation, the so-called loess. The loess is generally poor in fossils, and geologists incline to the opinion that during the deposit of these accumulations the great region thereby covered was probably not as habitable as it is today; that it did not offer sufficient resources for man or many animals; and that the loess formation may represent conditions such as now exist in the Turkestans or southern Mongolia. But the actual facts are still to be established. All this shows the great need of investigation.

One of the interesting sidelights brought out in the lecture was the curious fact that although China has been densely populated in more recent times, the population did not spill over into the less thickly populated islands to the southeast.

The paper was discussed by Mr. Holmes, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, Dr. Michelson, and Dr. Swanton.

Meeting of November 16, 1920

Ar the 549th meeting of the Society, held at the National Museum, at 4.45 p.m., on November 16, 1920, Mr. Sylvanus G. Morley, Associate of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, addressed the Society on "The Hieroglyphic Writing of the Ancient Mayas." Mr. Morley illustrated his presentation with charcoal drawings of the glyphs. After telling of the Maya habitat, travel divisions, and history, and outlining the ethnology of the people, the speaker pointed out that it must be admitted that little progress has been made in deciphering the Maya hieroglyphics, with the exception of those relating to the calendar; but as these comprise nearly half of all the glyphs, we may nevertheless be encouraged by what has been accomplished. Furthermore, very slow progress is being made in the determination of some of the non-calendric glyphs, and the speaker referred especially to an increase in our knowledge of glyphs indicating colors, which have been worked out by Mr. W. E. Gates during the past few months.