ANTHROPOLOGY. 397 



V. — Ethnology. 



The term etlinology is retained for all those descriptive and philosophic 

 publications which relate to the groups of men called tribes, races, peo- 

 ples, the individuals of which recognize in one another a common bond 

 of union and an entire absence of prejudice. Ethnography is a narrower 

 word, applying only to monographs of different peoples. 



The descriptive portion of ethnology is certainly the most important 

 part of anthropology. When we reflect that a very large part of the 

 immense collections of " materiaux j)our I'liistoire primitive et naturelle 

 de'l'homme " contained in such works as Spencer's Descriptive Sociology 

 are falsehoods or mistakes, we tremble for the deductions that are to be 

 erected upon such a crumbling base. This is not meant to disparage the 

 great work of such men, but to enjoin the utmost caution upon future 

 obser-^ers. It has frequently occurred to the present writer that we 

 should have an account of the " personal equation " of each narrator 

 before admitting his facts into the general fund of anthropologic truth. 



It is very difficult to single out special works in ethnology, since there 

 is scarcely a portion of the habitable globe that has not been visited 

 during the past year. No labor undertaken, however, will compare with 

 the elaborate investigations which have been i^rosecuted among the 

 Indians of the United States, under the patronage of General Walker, 

 of the Census Department. The task of making the inquiries and 

 working up the material has been intrusted to Maj. J. W. Powell, of 

 the Bureau of Ethnology, and it is safe to say that there is not a little 

 band of Indians in our territory that has not been approached by an 

 intelligent ethnologist. The war in Afghanistan, in Zululand, and the 

 encroachments of the Russians upon the southern portions of their domin- 

 ions have all been fruitful of valuable ethnologic results. Among the 

 enlightened nations of Europe there is the greatest activity in searching 

 out the racial affinities of the present populations. Works of perma- 

 nent interest have also appeared upon China, Japan, and the races of 

 Oceanica. 



A very valuable paper upon French and Indian half-breeds, from the 

 pen of Dr. Havard, will be found in the Smithsonian Eeport for 1879. 



VI.— Glossology. 



The mere acquisition of a language, or even the accurate study of 

 its phonology, its etymology, and its syntax, is not a part of anthro- 

 pology. Linguistic anthropology has reference, first to the origin and 

 life history of language as a whole, and, second, to the comparative 

 study of the languages of the globe as a means of grouping its peoples. 

 From the point of view taken by the student of the natural history of 

 man, all tongues are alike useful, all are part and i^arcel of a complex 

 oiganism or links in the glottic chain. Inasmuch as the languages of 



