Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-04-13
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS X. HENRY,

The earliest inhabitants of the Middle
West were the BLACK Sand men," be-
longing to mysterious, long-head race
with Eskimo characteristics.
Traces of their occupancy, long before
the mound builders. have just been re-
ported by Psychologists of the University
OF Illinois, who have carried out, says the
announcement, "the most comprehensive
survey Of Indian cultures yet made in
that area"
While displaying similarities to the
Eskimo, it is reported by Dr. Fay Cooper
Cole, who directed the survey, the Black
Sand men were undoubtedly early Indians
and closely related to older types of man
found in the Southwestern United States
They went their way without leaving any
trace of their fate and were succeeded
by five successive cultures before the COM
ing Of the whites.
After them came the equally mysteri-
GUS Red Paint" people, whose remains
are found throughout the Northeast
The bones Of their dead were painted
red. They were followed in turn by four
other cultures, including the Hopewel-
liam, which is generally regarded as the
acme OF the mound builder complex.
Some of these cultures are known by
only one or two sites OF restricted char
acter, but others are represented by ex-
tensive village and camp sites and
burial grounds.
The Black Sand men had coarse stone
implements and some rudimentary pot
terry. The Red Paint people had beauti-
full stone work and used copper, but
their pottery was crude. Long lance or
proiectile points indicate that they were
hunting people, but no arrow heads
indicating the use of bow have been
found
OF the later cultures considerable evil
dence was unearthed. Then the Indians
lived in villages building rectangular
houses set in bowl-shaped depressions.
They possessed the bow and arrow, used
stone knives and AIDES as cutting tools,
shells as hoes, and bone fishhooks, avis
and pins. A hint of cannibalism was
given by the repeated discovery of hu-
man bones in the refuse heaps in aSso-
citation with animal bones. Shellfish and
fish formed an important part OF the
diet but the later Indians also ate deer,
rabbit, squirrel, turkey, elk and bison.
Finding of pottery pipes reveals the use
Of tobacco.
That epidemics often swept these pre-
historic tribes is shown by numerous
burials of entire family groups. At least
ten per cent Of the bodies in one mound
showed the high incidence Of Paget's
disease, reformation OF the bones. One
case of the rare bone disease, osteistis
fibrosa, was found.
Two fairy shells, among the most ex-
quisite life forms on earth and hitherto
unknown to science, have just been de-
scrtbed by Dr. Paul Bartsch, Smithsonian
Institution curator of mollusks.
These fragile, translucent shells are
colored as delicately as the loveliest OF
orchids. The two obscure little snails
are the elfs Of the mollusk world in the
unconscious artistry with which they
have constructed their moving dwellings.
Especially during the past generation,
the collection Of shells for the delicacy
OF their coloring was popular pastime.
Such shells were common decorations
on the "what-not" or the parlor mantel.
Exceptional examples brought high
prices and the world was cocnbed tor