THE AIMS OF ANTHROPOLOGY. 69 



nic organs, that even with equal cerebral capacity they never 

 could rival its results by equal efforts. 



Again, there is in some stocks and some smaller ethnic groups 

 a peculiar mental temperament, which has become hereditary and 

 general, of a nature to disqualify them for the atmosphere of 

 modern enlightenment. Dr. Von Buschan has recently pointed 

 out this as distinctly and racially pathologic ; an inborn morbid 

 tendency, constitutionally recreant to the codes of civilization, 

 and therefore technically criminal. 



Once more, one can not but acknowledge that the relations of 

 the emotional to the intellectual nature vary considerably and 

 permanently in different ethnic groups. Nothing is more incor- 

 rect than the statement so often repeated by physicians that the 

 modern civilized inan has a more sensitive emotional system than 

 the savage. The reverse is the case. Since the dark ages, Europe 

 has not witnessed epidemic neuroses so violent as those still 

 prevalent among rude tribes. 



These and a number of similar traits separate races and peo- 

 ples from each other by well-marked idiosyncrasies, extending to 

 the vast majority of their members and pregnant with power for 

 weal or woe on their present fortunes and ultimate destinies. 

 The patient and thorough investigations of these peculiarities is 

 therefore one of the most apposite aims of modern ethnology. 



In this sense we can speak of the Volksgeist and Volkergedan- 

 ken, a racial mind, or the temperament of a people, with as much 

 propriety and accuracy as we can of any of the physical traits 

 which distinguish it from other peoples or races. 



For the branch of anthropology which has for its field the in- 

 vestigation of these general mental traits the Germans have pro- 

 posed the name " Characterology " {Karakterologie). Its aim is 

 to examine the collective mental conditions and expressions of 

 ethnic groups, and to point out where they differ from other 

 groups and from humanity at large ; also to find through what 

 causes these peculiarities came about, the genetic laws of their ap- 

 pearance, and the consequences to which they have given rise. 



This branch of anthropology is that which offers a positive 

 basis for legislation, politics, and education as applied to a given 

 ethnic group ; and it is only through its careful study and appli- 

 cation that the best results of these can be attained, and not by 

 the indiscriminate enforcement of general prescriptions, as has 

 hitherto been the custom of governments. 



The development of humanity as a whole has arisen from the 

 differences of its component social parts, its races, nations, tribes. 

 Their specific peculiarities have brought about the struggles 

 which in the main have resulted in an advance. These peculiari- 

 ties, as ascertained by objective investigation, supply the only 



