anthropoloc;y in western hemisphere and pacific islands. 59 



CONCLUSION. 



The large anthropological problems of the Western Hemisphere and the 

 Pacific islands have been presented and visualized in a broad way, largely 

 with absence of detail. Each of these problems is available for research now, 

 in some one of its integral parts. 



For instance, in the Pacific islands work could be begun among any of 

 the five ethnic groups or on the problem of the prehistoric stone remains. 

 In the Western Hemisphere research could be prosecuted among the Maya 

 culture ruins, as suggested by Mr. Morley's report. Shell-heap explorations 

 could be started which might be expected to contribute toward the solution 

 of the two problems of the origin of the American aborigines, and of their 

 antiquity; or various culture or ethnic studies could be carried on; or, again, 

 important research work could be undertaken on any aspect of the modern 

 problems in anthropology. Individual and ethnic studies relating to the 

 immigrant peoples in the Americas might be a good starting-point. 



No matter in how small a way any of the researches suggested in this 

 report might be begun, the cultivation of the entire domain of the larger prob- 

 lem could constantly be held in mind and could be forwarded in proper time, 

 so far as practicable and necessary. 



Students are fortunate that many restricted smaller problems are 

 comprised in the larger ones, so that valuable results may be obtained and 

 published, marking mile-stones on the longer road of research. 



Institutions now engaged in the field of anthropology can not undertake 

 any of these large problems as a whole, for they are all limited by such 

 practical conditions as money, or by historical relations, such as lease of life, 

 patronage of a particular government, or limiting conditions of organization. 

 They have done and are still doing the highest grade work on many aspects 

 of some of these problems, but because of their natural limitations a great part 

 of the research necessary on the larger problems can not be undertaken by them. 

 Such large, prolonged, and geographically extensive researches must be under- 

 taken by an institution bent primarily on the solution of large problems. 



From the work of these other institutions vast accumulations of museum 

 specimens and of printed, illustrative, and manuscript data are available. 

 The time to undertake the larger work seems ripe. 



It is believed that the entrance of a properly equipped new institution 

 into the field of anthropological research would hearten the anthropologists 

 already at work, would attract capable young men to the science, and would 

 enable the subject to receive greater consideration in the curricula of Ameri- 

 can colleges and universities. Moreover, it seems reasonable to expect that 

 the extensive field of anthropological data might, by corporate research in 

 all four divisions of the field presented, be more quickly united into a 

 strong, unified science whose findings would be valued by scholars everywhere, 

 and whose practical results would hasten the development of mankind. 



