ANTHROPOLOGY IN WESTERN HEMISPHERE AND PACIFIC ISLANDS. 35 



traced from their original areas of differentiation. The linguistic stocks of 

 Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific islands are commonly agreed upon, 

 together with their present geographic distribution. For South America 

 the i^roblem has not yet been conclusively settled; but there is agreement 

 that about four-score linguistic stocks exist there, though the geographic 

 distribution and component tribes of several stocks are still matters of 

 conjecture. There has just been published in the United States a map 

 presenting the present status of our knowledge concerning the distribution 

 of linguistic stocks in that continent. 



Extensive ethno-cultural areas have been outlined, covering in substan- 

 tial detail all of the tribes of America north of Mexico and also the Philippine 

 Archipelago, and with less complete detail covering much of the remainder 

 of the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific Ocean. In some parts of South 

 America and the Pacific islands almost nothing is known of such areas. 



A great final work in ethnic anthropology in America is the "Handbook 

 of American Indians," published by the Bureau of American Ethnology. 

 It is a compilation or encyclopedia of data covering descriptively the entire 

 life, as far as known, of the native peoples of America north of Mexico. It 

 is authoritative and will endure. 



Vast stores of museum specimens have been gathered from the native 

 peoples of the Western Hemisphere and Pacific islands. These specimens 

 are scattered well over the earth, though there is a tendency for the large 

 museums to possess the most important collections from the peoples in their 

 own areas. For instance, Honolulu has the best Polynesian collection in 

 existence. The store-rooms of the large museums of the Western Hemi- 

 sphere are literally packed with native materials illustrating practically all 

 phases of aboriginal American life. As is true of the printed, illustrative, and 

 manuscript data, so it is of all museum materials: they are saved, are inval- 

 uable, and are ready to contribute to the solution of the larger anthropological 

 problems as well as the smaller local ones. 



CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Only a few anthropologists in America have interested themselves in 

 attempts to solve cultural beginnings, or marked transitions from simpler 

 culture grades to more complex ones. A large part of the work thus far has 

 been ethnic, and descriptive of cultural expressions. However, certain con- 

 structive studies of cultural beginnings have been completed which are of 

 more than local import and show that the cultural anthropologist already 

 has asserted himself seriously in the Western Hemisphere. 



Tools and weapons of stone were a wonderful invention of the savage; 

 they improved upon hands and teeth for tearing, piercing, and cutting, and 

 upon fists for striking heavy or crushing blows. It has been shown in Amer- 

 ica how the shaping of such fracturable stones was accomplished by the 

 savage. There were serious handicaps in the uses of fracturable stone (or 



