EDITOR'S TABLE. 



499 



full and final definition. It embraces 

 men's physical, mental, and moral 

 characteristics ; their religious concep- 

 tions, mythology, and traditions; their 

 mental traits and development; their 

 civil and political organizations and in- 

 stitutions ; their language, literature, 

 arts, and monuments ; their customs 

 and modes of life. This statement 

 may seem sufficiently comprehensive, 

 yet it is really incomplete, and, in fact, 

 hardly touches a whole tract of in- 

 quiry, which Prof. Huxley regards as 

 the principal thing. According to his 

 definition, ' anthropology is the great 

 science which unravels the complexi- 

 ties of human structure ; traces out 

 the relations of man to other animals ; 

 studies all that is human in the mode in 

 which man's complex functions are 

 performed ; and searches after the con- 

 ditions which have determined his 

 presence in the world. And anthro- 

 pology is a section of Zoology, which 

 again is the animal half of Biology 

 the science of life and living things." 



Ethnology is a branch of anthro- 

 pology, and is defined as the science of 

 races. The family of mankind is di- 

 vided up into great groups, which are 

 characterized by numerous and impor- 

 tant differences ; it is the business of 

 ethnology to trace these differential 

 characters, to estimate their value, 

 and, if possible, to ascertain their 

 source. The ethnologists are divided 

 into two schools : one school holds to 

 the theory of monogenesis, or that the 

 human race has had a single origin, or 

 sprung from a single ancestral pair ; 

 and the other school holds to the the- 

 ory of polygenesis, or plurality of 

 origins. These schools, of course, take 

 different views of the nature and char- 

 acter of the differences among races. 

 Those who maintain that racial differ- 

 ences have been brought about by nat- 

 ural causes, speak of races as " modi- 

 fied men," and it is with reference to 

 this idea that Prof. Huxley defines the 

 science. He says: " Ethnology is the 



science which determines the distinc- 

 tive characters of the persistent modi- 

 fications of mankind, which ascertains 

 the distribution of those modifications 

 in present and past times, and seeks to 

 discover the causes or conditions of ex- 

 istence, both of the modifications and 

 of their distribution. I say ' persist- 

 ent ' modifications, because, unless in- 

 cidentally, ethnology has nothing to do 

 with chance and transitory peculiar- 

 ities of human structure. And I 

 speak of ' persistent modifications,' or 

 'stocks,' rather than of 'varieties,' 

 or ' races,' or ' species,' because each 

 of these last well-known terms implies, 

 on the part of its employer, a precon- 

 ceived opinion touching one of these 

 problems, the solution of which is the 

 ultimate object of the science ; and, in 

 regard to which, therefore, ethnolo- 

 gists are especially bound to keep their 

 minds open, and their judgments freely 

 balanced." 



It is obvious that ethnology covers 

 a large field in the domain of anthro- 

 pology, and it in fact involves so much 

 of the larger subject that there has 

 been found great practical difficulty in 

 pursuing them separately. The larger 

 subject is the later in the order of cul- 

 tivation. Ethnological societies were 

 the first to be formed in Paris, London, 

 and New York, but they have disap- 

 peared in their distinctive forms, and 

 are now merged in organizations for 

 the promotion of anthropological 

 knowledge. This, however, is but a 

 matter of practical convenience, for 

 the spirit and methods of investigation 

 in both are essentially the same. It is 

 the aim of this science, to study man 

 as all other parts of Nature are stud- 

 ied, with the simple aim of ascertain- 

 ing and classifying the facts. Putting 

 aside all preconceived views that might 

 vitiate the strict scientific character of 

 the inquiry, the anthropologist asks 

 simply: What are the phenomena pre- 

 sented by the different groups of men? 

 What are their aspects, modes of life, 



