ANTHEOPOLOGY. 399 



work is to explain the principles of the sign language in such manner as 

 to properly direct research, and to furnish for observers forms of descrip- 

 tion and graphic illustration, so as to secure accuracy and uniformity in 

 collecting material for a larger work. Eeviews of this volume will be 

 found in The American Journal of PhUoJocjij^ i,Xo.2 ; American XafuraJist, 

 May; Penn Monthly^ October; Academy ^ May 22; Nature, June 3; 

 Theosophist, Bombay, August; China Daily News, Shanghai, May 17, 

 1880; Behni's Geographische Jahrhuch ; Globus, S7,l^o. 11 ; The Pioneer, 

 Allahabad, January 15, 1881 ; Swansea meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion, report, pp. 030, 635. 



A subsequ(mt work, i^rinted for collaborators only, issued in Wash- 

 ington, is entitled "A Collection of Gesture Signs and Signals of the 

 Xorth American Indians, with some comparisons." 



VII. — Comparative technology. 



It is difficult to find a term accurately definitive of what is intended 

 to be included in this class. Perhaps Mr. Spencer's "operative" cate- 

 gory comes nearest. At any rate tlie term technical anthropology 

 embraces the description of the materials, implements, processes, 

 methods, agents aud agencies, observances and results which enter 

 into the activities of man, in i)eace and in war, at every step of his 

 social progress. These activities are of many kitids, as diversified, 

 indeed, as human needs and desires multiplied by the varieties of 

 material and environment. 



The discussion of this portion of anthropology is quite apart from 

 the consideration of race. Stone, shell, wood, textile, skins, clay, and 

 metal work have each i^assed through an elaboration which has kei)t 

 pace with the evolution of culture. The works upon this subject during 

 1880 have included meteoric iron in its relation to technique and the 

 history of civilization, aboriginal use of copper, the origin of metallurgy, 

 composition of ancient pottery, savage and civilized warfare, agricult- 

 ural fertilizers used by the Indians, jade workers, ancient commerce, 

 and the origin of the plow aud the wheel-carriage. 



Two works by our own countrymen deserve especial mention in this 

 connection. The Smithsonian Institution has published as a brochure 

 an article by Dr. Edward H. Knight upon the savage weapons at the 

 Centennial Exhibition, taken from the report of 1879. The work is 

 profusely illustrated, and is very suggestive of many of the "missing 

 links" in the growth of the implements of militancy. The other work 

 referred to is by the Hon. Lewis H. IMorgan, entitled "A Stud^^ of the 

 Houses of the American Aborigines, with suggestions for an exploration 

 of the ruins of New Mexico, Arizona, the valley of the San Juan, and 

 in Yucatan and Central America, under the auspices of the Archieolog- 

 ical Institute of America." Mr. Morgan's belief with reference to all 

 the remains of our country whether fossal, aggeral, or mural, are well 

 known. The gentile system being given, the house, be it teepee, bark 



