view to lending its co-operation in the publication of a monograph upon the subject of monuments erected to Indians.

In this connection it is of interest to Americanists to make a brief record of the Cornplanter Medal for Iroquois Research, founded by Professor Starr in 1904. The medal was founded with a view to affording the means for recognizing the diligence of some of the profound students and workers in Iroquois research who have died unknown outside of the communities in which they lived, and of others who, recognized as authorities in the world of investigators, have been little appreciated in their own homes.

Professor Starr, having been unsuccessful in finding a man of wealth to endow the medal, decided to avail himself of the talent of a twelve-year old Seneca Indian boy of pure blood, Jesse Cornplanter by name, who delighted in making pen and ink drawings of Indian life. Jesse was employed to draw a series of fifteen pictures representing Iroquois games and dances, as follows: (1) Game of Peach Stones and Bowl, (2) Women's Football Game, (3) Game of Javelin, (4) Game of Snowsnakes, (5) Great Feather Dance, (6) Hands-Joined Dance, (7) Seneca Indian War Dance, (8) Fish Dance, (9) Green Corn Dance, (10) False-Face Dancers (two are doorkeepers), (11) Husk-Face Dancers, (12) False-Face Dancers Crawling into the Council House, (13) False-Face Dancers Arriving at the Council House, (14) False-Face Dancers Sitting in the Council House, (15) The Doorkeepers' Dance.

The money needed for the engraving of these pictures was contributed by Messrs. Milward Adams, of Chicago; Joseph G. Butler, Jr., of Youngstown, Ohio; Charles A. Ficke, of Davenport, Iowa; Frank G. Logan, of Chicago; Harold F. McCormick, of Chicago; William II. Moffitt, of New York; W. Clement Putnam, of Davenport, Iowa; Frank W. Richardson, of Auburn, New York; and Professor Starr, with the understanding that the pictures were to be sold to aid in establishing the medal. After the

cost of the founding of the medal has been fully met, further sales of the pictures will be devoted to the conduct of researches among the Iroquois.

The medal is to be given every two years, and its administration has been accepted by the Cayuga County Historical Society at Auburn, N. Y., in the very heart of the old Iroquois country. The President of the Society is the Rev. Willis J. Beecher, D. D., of Auburn. Four classes of workers are eligible to receive the

medal:

a. Ethnologists making worthy field studies or other investigations upon the Iroquois.

b. Historians making actual contribution to our knowledge of the Iroquois.

c. Artists worthily representing Iroquois life or types by brush or chisel.

d. Philanthropists whose efforts are based upon advanced scientific study and appreciation of Iroquois conditions or needs.

The medal has thus far been awarded to: Gen. John S. Clark, of Auburn, N. Y., on June 8, 1904, the Rev. William M. Beauchamp, S. T. D., of Syracuse, N. Y., in 1906, and Hon. David Boyle, Ph. B., of Toronto, in 1908.

The greatest achievement of the Iroquois was their governmental system based upon the idea of kinship, and worked out through the clan, the tribe and the confederacy. These ideas are commemorated in the design of the medal, the suggestion for which is Professor Starr's, while the composition is that of Mr. Fred. W. Gookin, of Chicago. The dies were cut by Tiffany & Co., of New York. The medal itself measures fifty-four mm. in diameter, and is of silver. On the obverse it bears a profile portrait of the famous chief, Cornplanter, who figured prominently in the history of the Senecas at the end of the eighteenth century and in the early part of the nineteenth. To the left is the inscription,

"The Cornplanter Medal for Iroquois Research." Around the margin is a beading of wampum, and below the legend is the totem of the Turtle, one of the most notable of the Iroquois clans. On the reverse are the names of the Iroquois tribes, the "Six Nations " Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora. Within this circle of tribal names is a string of shell placques bearing the totems Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Deer, Snipe, Heron, Hawk. Within this, occupying the upper third of the available space, is a picture of the Iroquois long-house typifying the confederacy, and the inscription, "Awarded by the Cayuga County Historical Society to

date.)

(with space for name and

PLAINS OF ABRAHAM RESERVED. The work of scenic and historic preservation during the past year among foreign nations, some of which have preceded the United States in this field, has been characterized by several events of interest. One of these, of especial interest on account of its propinquity, is the creation of a national reservation to embrace the Plains of Abraham at Quebec. The London Globe says:

"The Plains of Abraham, on which Wolfe and Montcalm fought that battle of twelve minutes which gave Canada to the British and settled the fate of the French empire in America. is a tableland above the heights on the north bank of the St. Lawrence. The plains, on which the final struggle between the two leading nations of the European continent took place for the mastery of the Western continent, are to be acquired as a National possession by the Dominion, and the present unsightly buildings which disfigure the neighborhood will, it is hoped, be demolished."

RHINE FALLS RESCUED FROM COMMERCIALISM. In July, 1907, the romantic Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen were rescued by the Local Council from the industrial exploiters by whom they were endangered. The majority of the Councillors refused to permit the erection of new water-power works for the

supply of electricity to the surrounding district. Their reply to the application of the exploitation company was decisive: "The Council is of the opinion that, not only should the falls not be further enchained, but an effort should be made to prevent an extension of the concession already granted at its expiry, in 1928."

LANDSCAPE PROTECTION IN GERMANY.

During the past year we have been in correspondence with the distinguished Prof. II. Conwentz, Director of the West Prussian Provincial Museum of Danzig, Germany, who is one of the leaders of the movement for the preservation of natural scenes and objects in Europe. Professor Conwentz sought from us information about the movement in this country which he regarded with admiration, and we placed at his disposal such data as would be of assistance to him. In return we have received a copy of his valuable book entitled "Die Gefährdung der Naturdenkmäler under Vorschläge zu ihrer Erhaltung." This work on the danger of the destruction of nature monuments and suggestions for their preservation is inscribed to the Minister of Spiritual, Educational and Medical Affairs and is the result of the growing demand for information resulting from lectures delivered by the author in Prussia, Bavaria, Schaumburg-Lippe, Hamburg and Denmark. It deals with the subjects of what constitutes a nature monument, why they are destroyed, the means for their preservation, and the law on the subject, and is a valuable contribution to the literature of nature preservation.

In a lecture delivered not long ago in Munich, Professor Conwentz gave many interesting facts concerning what had been done in Germany, and more especially in Bavaria, for the preservation of the forests, bird and plant life, and the beauty of the landscape in general. Even so early as 1803 a private property near the town of Bamberg, in Bavaria, was bought up by the State, and