178 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 



The treatment of the problems should be based on continued obser- 

 vations upon the same individuals from early childhood until maturity 

 and old age. The characteristic physical and mental development 

 of various races and types of men can be determined by this means. 

 The collection and discussion of this material will throw light upon 

 the laws of heredity, upon the development of types, and upon the 

 conditions which favor and retard physical and mental development. 

 The last named subject is one which previous results have shown to 

 be of great practical importance. 



(2) Researches in Archcsology. — In America the anthropologist 

 has to deal with various classes of aboriginal remains which illus- 

 trate the pre-Columbian history of the native peoples. Two some- 

 what distinct divi.sions of research are included. The first relates 

 to the better known remains of cities, towns, dwelling sites, fixed 

 works, and artifacts of many classes; the second to such of the 

 earlier remains of man and his handiwork as bear definite relations 

 to geological and artificially stratified formations, thus affording a 

 basis for chronologic differentiations. Within the area of the 

 United States the former division has received much attention, and 

 numerous agencies are now^ engaged in its study, so that no addi- 

 tional work is recommended. In middle and South America much 

 is still to be done, but ycur committee has only been able to find, 

 and that at the last moment, one person properly qualified for this 

 branch of research. 



The second division of this subject may well receive attention from 

 the Carnegie Institution. The phenomena are scattered and obscure, 

 and agencies now in existence have not been able to enter systemat- 

 ically upon their study. The geological formations of both conti- 

 nents, ranging 'from Eocene to Recent, abound in varied records, 

 but investigation has been, in the main, desultory and unscientific, 

 and the isolated observations are today without adequate correlation. 



If researches in this field be undertaken, the first step should be 

 a compilation of all available data and a correlation of the results of 

 previous investigations. The field work should begin preferably 

 near home, extending later to favorable localities in various parts of 

 the world. Examinations should extend to deposits in rock shelters, 

 caves, and caverns, where men have lived and where horizons are 

 so marked as to aiford a basis for chronology. They should include 

 various other ancient occupied sites, such as kitchenmiddens, shell- 

 heaps, and earthworks, whose strata serve to indicate successive 

 occupations. Researches in glacial formations where traces of man 



