THE SCIENCE OF MAN — PEARSON. 



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plans for the future, that studies most accurately the factors which 

 will improve the racial qualities of future generations either physi- 

 cally or mentally. Is anthropology to lie outside this essential 

 function of the science of man? If I understand the recent manifesto 

 of the German anthropologists, they are determined it shall not be 

 so. The war is at an end, but the critical time will be with us again, 

 I sadly fear, in 20 to 30 years. How will the States of Europe stand 

 then? It depends to no little extent on how each of them may have 

 cultivated the science of man and applied its teaching to the improve- 

 ment of national physique and mentality. Let us take care that our 

 Nation is not the last in this legitimate rivalry. The organization 

 of existing human society with a view to its future welfare is the 

 crowning task of the science of man; it needs the keenest-minded 

 investigators, the most stringent technique, and the utmost sympathy 

 from all classes of society itself. Have we, as anthropologists, the 

 courage to face this greatest of all tasks in the light of our knowledge 

 of the past and with our understanding of the folk of to-day ? Or 

 shall we assert that anthropology is after all only a small part of the 

 science of man, and retreat to our study of bones and potsherds on 

 the ground that science is to be studied for its own sake and not for 

 the sake of mankind ? I do not know what answer you will give to 

 that question, yet I am convinced what the judgment of the future 

 on your answer is certain to be. It will be similar to Wang Yang 

 Ming's reproof of the complacency of the Chinese cultured classes 

 of his day : " Thought and learning are of little value, if they be not 

 translated into action." 



