significance; some as direction-marks, etc. Mr. Rau suggests that some of the smaller cup-stones may have been used for cracking nuts, and others as paint-cups. Another class of American relics coming under this category consists of stones of larger size, on which several cup-like cavities are worked out. They usually occur as flat fragments of sandstone without definite contours. The cups are either on one of the flat surfaces or on both, and their number on a surface varies, so far as has been observed, from two to ten. They are irregularly distributed, and generally measure an inch and a half in diameter, but sometimes less. According to Colonel Charles Whittlesey, these stones occur quite frequently in Northern Ohio, more particularly in the valley of the Cuyahoga River, while he is not aware of any having been found in the mounds. He believes the holes were sockets in which spindles were made to revolve, and calls the stones "spindle-socket stones," but Mr. Rau does not agree with him. A bowlder in the rooms of the Society of Natural History, of Cincinnati, which was found near Ironton, Ohio, weighing between one thousand and twelve hundred pounds, contains one hundred and sixteen of these cups. A bowlder found at Niantic, Connecticut, has six cups, with a number of lines, which may be natural. Stones, bearing figures resembling these, appear worked into the walls of churches, and the designs may be found even in holy-water fonts. Altogether, the cup-stones present a curious field of inquiry. Mr. Rau considers the forms more or less related, and as having a similar origin and meaning; as to what these are, he is inclined to agree with M. Rivett-Carnac, in attributing to them a significance like that indicated in the Siva figures of India.
The Lenapé and their Legends: with the Complete Text and Symbols of the Walam Olum. By Daniel G. Brinton. Philadelphia: D. G. Brinton. Pp. 262.
In the present volume, which is the fifth in his "Library of Aboriginal American Literature," Dr. Brinton has grouped a series of ethnological studies of the Indians of Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland, around what is asserted to be one of the most curious records of ancient American history—the "Walam Olum," or Red Score. The interest in the subject excited by his inquiries into the authenticity of this document prompted him to a general review of our knowledge of the Lenapé, or Delawares, of their history and traditions, and of their languages and customs. This study disclosed the existence of manuscripts not mentioned in the bibliographies. Whether the Walam Olum be genuine or not—concerning which Dr. Brinton does not express a decisive opinion, though his inquiries have resulted favorably to its being regarded as an oral reproduction of a genuine native work, repeated to some one indifferently conversant with the Delaware language, who wrote it down to the best of his ability—it is believed that there is sufficient in the volume to justify its appearance, apart from that document.
The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as set forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt. By Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. Philadelphia: McCalla & Stavely. Pp. 51.
The philosophy of language owes much to Wilhelm von Humboldt, who was its substantial founder. The American languages occupied his attention for many years, and he wrote to Alexander von Rennenkampff, in 1812, that he had selected them as the special subject of his investigations. He was often accustomed to draw illustrations of his principles from them, and in every way showed a high appreciation of their importance. In the present essay, Dr. Brinton has given a general exposition of Humboldt's views on these languages, and studies of them, and has added the translation of an unpublished memoir by him on the American verb, which was originally read before the Berlin Academy of Sciences, and of which only the manuscript is preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin.
The Protestant Faith; or Salvation by Belief. By Dwight Hinckley Olmstead. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 77. Price, 60 cents.
The author styles this work "An Essay on the Errors of the Protestant Church," those errors consisting, in his vision, principally in the imposition of an intellectual belief in certain doctrines as a fundamental condition of salvation.
