With the reduction of synæsthesia to a scientific basis, which Flournoy has brought about, and the demonstration of its wide-spread occurrence, comes the demand for a more thorough examination of its bearing upon other departments of psychology. The physiological interpretation of synopsia is still unsettled, and is commended to physiological psychologists as a fruitful theme for investigation.-H. C. WARREN.

ANTHROPOLOGY.'

Exploration by the University of Pennsylvania in West Florida.-Little more than a year ago my friend Lieutenant Colonel C. D. Durnford formerly of the English Army, returning northward from a journey in the West Indies and Florida brought with him the specimens of aboriginal rope and netting found in a mud bed near Marco, Florida described by him in the AMERICAN NATURALIST for November, 1895.

That he realized the importance of the digging done in the mud in April, 1895 by himself and Mr. Charles Wilkins of Rochester, New York, was shown by the fact that on reaching Philadelphia he made the effort at once to present the details of the discovery to archæologists. As an original observer, a gatherer of inspiration from nature, coming generously to present us with unprecedented specimens and archæological data of much value, discribing to myself and others the details of the discovery and stating his belief that the lagoon fringing islands near Marco were net-worked with artificial canals, and would disclose other and similar relic preserving mud deposits, to him belongs the honor of opening a new door for archæology in the southeast.

The prompt recognition of the originality and value of this intelligence by Dr. William Pepper and his energetic action in cooperation with Mr. Stewart Culin, Director of the Department of Archæology have resulted in the recent expedition of the University of Pennsylvania sent by Dr. Pepper to Florida in the late months, under the direction of Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing, whose fortunate presence in Philadelphia at the time of Colonel Durnford's visit ended in his employment by Dr. Pepper as Conductor of the Exploration. This led to the association of the Bureau of Ethnology of Washington of which 1 This department is edited by H. C. Mercer, University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Cushing is a member, with the work whose results have delighted the friends of the University.

Summarized by Mr. Cushing in two newspapers (Philadelphia Times and New York Journal Sunday, June 21st, 1896) these results are represented by the array of specimens now in the Pepper Labora tory at Philadelphia. They witness the good fortune of Dr. Pepper and the University and the successful excavation of Mr. Cushing. The muck-filled artificial shell basin at or near where Coloned Durnford had worked, dammed, baled and cleaned out, and a large mound excavated 200 miles to the northward procured a superabundance of beautiful and unique remains.

The work shows that a storehouse of aboriginal manufactures escaping the notice of a good deal of reconnaissance, had lain unobserved within easy reach of scientific institutions in the east, testifying further to the fact that mud or permanent damp has here done for the Archæologist what permanent dryness has done at the Cliff Dwellings of Arizona and in Egypt. As at the Swiss Lake Dwellings here again, a whole category of remains that have perished elsewhere in the eastern United States have survived hermetically sealed in the ooze.

A few of the salient features of the collection concern:

(1) Facts relating to burial; crania from the mound and muck with funeral paraphrenalia.

(2) The relation of pottery, found in great abundance, to burial, and the allegoric and religious significance of fictile designs.

(3) The use of totemic ornaments, of masks representing the human face in ceremonials, and the allegorical significance of carvings representing the heads of animals, and paintings on wood.

(4) The economic facts of daily life illustrated by means of well prepreserved utensils and vessels of wood and by the haftings of wood and shell implements.

(6) Interesting data referring to the arrangement of canals, shell walls, basins, the height of shell mounds and what appear to be vestiges of pile-built houses sunken in mud and sufficiently indicated for study.

It will not be easy for the archeologist suddenly confronted by this display of aboriginal handiwork outshining the long toiled for gatherings of other searchers in the East, to hold fast to the caution that the occasion demands, to realize how much and how little such preservation of perishable remains signifies in a given case, to remember in the infer. red estimate of cultural status that multitudes of similar objects, betokening the life history of other tribes in the eastern United States have perished, in short to weigh considerations that must temper the use of

colored words signifying degree of ethnic importance, advanced methods of construction, superiority in the arts, and kinship to other peoples. Meanwhile the excavation and production of the strange carvings in wood, the human masks, the unique paintings, the hafts of wood and tools of shell, the relics of rope and fabric, remain in evidence to speak in manifold praise of the enthusiastic searcher who while telling his glowing story has shown that he has known where to dig and dug with effect.

Symbols inscribed upon the drawings of birds, totemic buttons. arrangements for burial with reference to the "four quarters of the world," the paraphrenalia of priests buried together in the mud here seek explanation at the hands of an interpreter, whose experience should have qualified him for the task. Luckily the elucidation of the allegorical meaning of the serpent and the raccoon, the gopher and the bat, the badger and the cormorant, tokens of gods of the dead and the liv ing of the morn and the dusk, has fallen to the lot of one whose knowledge of the mystic inner life of the Indian, gathered upon a painful path of Zuni initiation might best recognize in the manifold characters of these remains a symbolism hidden to other eyes.-HENRY C. MERCER.

SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

The International Geological Congress will hold its seventh session, in 1897, at St. Petersburg, Russia. The presidential chair on that occasion will be occupied by M. A. Karpinsky. A number of interesting excursions have been planned to take place both before and after the meeting. It is proposed to visit Finland and the Ural country, to examine the basins of the Don, the Volga and the Dneiper. While the grand tour at the close of the Session covers the ground from St. Petersburg to the Caucasus, giving opportunity for special examination of many interesting localities.

The circular of announcement gives the following information in the closing paragraph.

"The Committee on Organization takes pleasure in making known to you that His Majesty the Emperor, upon the report of his Excellency the Minister of Ways of Communication (Transportation) has deigned to grant to all the geologists (who give notice in time of their

intention to take part in the work of the Congress) tickets allowing them free first class transportation on all Russian railways before and after the Meeting of the Congress, including the excursions."

Lord Lilford, the President of the British Ornithologists' Union, died June 17, 1896. At the time of his death he was engaged in a work on the Birds of the British Islands which was nearly completed. He was a contributor to Ibis, The Zoologist and the Proceedings of the London Zoological Society. His interest in natural history led to his keeping an extensive collection of living animals at his country seat in Northhamptonshire.

Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell, Las Cruces, New Mexico, will be glad to furnish information concerning the biological station he proposes to establish in New Mexico. If a sufficient number of students are enrolled, a beginning will be made this summer. For the study of nsect life New Mexico presents an unusual combination of advantages.

The prizes awarded by the London Geological Society have been distributed as follows: The Wallaston Medal to Dr. Edward Suess, Ph. D. Prof. of Geology in the University of Vienna; Wollaston Donation Fund to Alfred Harker, M. A. of the Geological Survey of Scotland; The Murchison Medal to T. Mellard Reade, Esq.; Murchison Geological Fund to Philip Lake, Esq.; The Lyell Medal to Arthur Smith Woodward, Esq.; Lyell Geological Fund to Dr. Wm. Fraser Hume, Demonstrator of Geology in the Royal College of Science and Charles W. Andrews, Esq.; The Barlow-Jameson Fund to Joseph Wright, Esq. and Mr. John Storrie of Cardiff. (Quart. Journ. Geol.

Soc. London, 1896.

Messrs. Hatcher and Peterson have gone to Patagonia to collect fossil vertebrata in the Cenozoic beds of Patagonia for Princeton University.

Macmillann & Co. have made arrangements for the issue in New York and London of a "Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology" under the editorial supervision of Professor Baldwin of Princeton University.

The following assignments of topics with the names of the authorities who will contribute original matter may be already announced:

General Philosophy and Metaphysics.--Prof. Andrew Seth, Edinburgh University; Prof. John Dewey, Chicago University. History of Philosophy.--Prof. Josiah Royce, Harvard University. Logic.-Prof. R. Adamson, Glasgow University. Ethics.-Prof. W. R. Sorley, Aber

deen University. Psychology.-Prof. J. Mck. Cattell, Columbia University; G. F. Stout, W. E. Johnson, Cambridge University; Prof. E. B. Titchener, Cornell University; The Editor, Princeton University Mental Pathology and Anthropology.-Prof. Joseph Jastrow, Wisconsin University. Biology.-Prof. Lloyd Morgan, University College, Bristol. Bibliography.-Dr. Benjamin Rann, Harvard University.

With the publication of No. II, Vol. II, of its bulletins, the Chicago Academy of Sciences enters upon a new era of activity. Its publications will be issued at regular intervals. The Academy property is now housed in a fire proof building of the best architectural construction, and no further fears of fire are entertained.

Dr. Joseph F. James begs to inform his friends and correspondents that he has removed from Washington, D. C., and that after May 10, 1896, his address will be Hingham, Mass.

I desire to secure good sets, cleaned or uncleaned, numbering fifteen or more specimens each, of your local representatives of Campeloma (Melantho of Authors), Lioplax aud Vivipara. Where extra large sets can be sent they will be of especial value since the present object is monographic. Exchanges are offered in southern Unionide and Strepomatida. The rarer forms of the last named groups are also desired. Cincinnati, Very respectfully

1815 Fairfax Ave.

R. ELLSWORTH CALL.