AD\aSORY COMMITTEE ON ANTHROPOLOGY 1 75 



The study of these phenomena is carried on with two principal ends 

 in view, viz., (a) to write the history of the race, {d) to discover the 

 principles and laws of human development with the view of utilizing 

 them to regulate the present and to mould the future of the race. 

 As yet, these researches are hardly begun, because of the vastness 

 of the subject, the inadequacy of financial support, and the limited 

 number of students engaged in the v/ork. 



It is to be observed that a number of branches of the general sub- 

 ject have been highly specialized, and that some are, on this account, 

 regarded as independent fields of research. Such are social science, 

 political economy, and psychology. These branches your commit- 

 tee have considered only so far as every research that has to do with 

 peoples and cultures must deal with all phases of the science of man. 

 The special requirements of these branches have not been weighed, 

 and no recommendations are made with respect to them. Essential 

 coordination of the several branches can be considered when the re- 

 ports of the various committees are compared. 



Although, as above indicated, researches have been initiated in 

 many parts of the anthropological domain, of none of the fields is 

 the occupation complete, and in no part is it so vigorous as to satisfy 

 the requirements of science. In this connection it may be further 

 mentioned that the urgency of the demand for research is due not a 

 little to the fact that primitive culture, in which are hidden the keys 

 of history, is being rapidly destroyed by the spread of civilization, 

 and that the peoples of the earth are fast losing their original race 

 characteristics. 



III. Present Researches in Anthropology. 



American students have naturally and properly turned their atten- 

 tion mainly toward researches among the aborigines, and it seems 

 advisable to continue for the present along the old lines. 



The more important agencies at present actively engaged in an- 

 thropological researches may be briefly noted : 



I. The Bureau of American Ethnology, established in 1879 for 

 the investigation of the North American Indians, has latterly ex- 

 tended Its field to cover the American continents and islands, so far 

 as the law and its means permit. Its investigations refer particu- 

 larly to the languages, social customs, beliefs, arts, and industries 

 of the aborigines, especial attention being given to the tribes of the 

 United States. 



