ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH OUTSIDE AMERICA. 13 



Another and closely allied problem is concerned with the relation between 

 physical anthropology (somatology) and other branches of ethnological 

 inquirJ^ Natives do not like being measured and they like it the less the 

 more complete and thorough the examination by which the measurements 

 are obtained. Such an apparently insignificant detail as snipping off a piece 

 of hair for the purpose of microscopical examination may not merely offend 

 the personal feelings, but may produce the utmost misery or even sickness 

 through the infringement of a rehgious injunction. One who begins his 

 acquaintance with a people by getting them to submit to physical examina- 

 tion can hardly expect to have obtained a satisfactory introduction to the 

 confidence and sympathy of the people, if he wishes to carry his investigations 

 beyond the superficial and the obvious. The case is exactly parallel with 

 that of the work whose primary aim is the collection of material objects. 

 If the physical measurement be postponed till a later stage of the inquiry, 

 all that is wished can be done, and done far more effectually and completely, 

 while other lines of inquiry will prevent misunderstanding and confusion 

 which may be the chief outcome of the measurements alone. Pedigrees may 

 show that many members of the population are the descendants of steady 

 streams of immigration which have perhaps for generations been coming from 

 other places, and an exact knowledge of relationship may convert a collection 

 of figures useful only for the study of a limited range of problems into material 

 of the utmost value for the study of heredity and racial intermixture. Here 

 again the measurements may be fewer and they may cover a narrower 

 geographical field, but they will form a far more valuable and a many-sided 

 source of exact and trustworthy knowledge. 



If the general principles and points of view which I have so far out- 

 lined be accepted, it will follow that the prime need of anthropology is for 

 the intensive investigation of those living examples of human culture which 

 are most likely to disappear or suffer serious decay. The primary and imme- 

 diate task of any undertaking designed to further anthropological science 

 should be the investigation of such examples of human culture by the most 

 exact and thorough methods which are available, in which the collection of 

 material objects and the examination of man's physical characters shall 

 occupy such a place in the inquiry that they do not interfere with the general 

 success of the undertaking, but are coordinated with other lines of work. 



It is evident, however, that such intensive work as I propose, even if 

 carried out on the most extensive scale, will succeed only in studying samples 

 of human culture taken from the vast mass of material now awaiting the 

 investigator. The question arises whether this intensive work should not 

 be supplemented by survey work, less thorough but covering a wider field. 

 There is at least one feature of the position which makes such survey work 

 essential if the intensive work is to have its full value. It will be necessary 

 to choose places to become the seat of the intensive work and for this purpose 

 a preliminary survey will be essential; without it we should have an example 



