174 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



how savage methods of reasoning were transformed into barbaric 

 methods of reasoning. 



The most noteworthy attempt hitherto made to distinguish and de- 

 fine culture-stages is that of Lewis H. Morgan, in his great work enti- 

 tled "Ancient Society." In it these three grand periods appear — 

 Savagery, Barbarism, and Civilization — each with sub-divisions. 

 Morgan recognized the importance of arts as the foundation of cult- 

 ure, and his "ethnic periods," as he calls them, are based on art 

 development. With him. Savagery embraces all that stage of human 

 progress extending from the beginning of the history of man, as dis- 

 tinguished from the lower animals, to the invention of pottery. 

 Barbarism then succeeds and extends to the invention of the alpha- 

 bet. He adds that among some peoples hieroglyphic writing takes 

 the place of phonetic writing, and civilization begins at this time. 

 He then divides each of these periods into epochs which need not 

 here be considered. In some of Morgan's works he connects the 

 evolution of institutions with the development of arts, but to an 

 imperfect degree, and without explaining their interdependence. 

 He also, at different times, hints at the relation of linguistic devel- 

 opment to arts; but he considers mythology to be too vague to 

 afford valuable data for this purpose. 



The scheme here presented differs from Morgan's in placing the 

 epoch of demarcation between Savagery and Barbarism later on in 

 the course of human culture ; and it is proposed to characterize the 

 stages, not by arts alone, but by all the fundamental activities of 

 man . 



The next most noteworthy attempt to define culture-periods is 

 that by Lester F. Ward, one of the Vice-Presidents of this Society. 

 In his scheme there are four stages of social progress, or social aggre- 

 gation, viz: 



" ist. The solitary, or autarchic stage; 



2d. The constrained aggregate, or anarchic stage ; 

 3d. The national, or politarchic stage; and, 

 4th. The cosmopolitan, or pantarchic stage," 



Ward seeks to establish these as veritable stages on the basis of 

 institutions alone. They are treated as stages of social aggregation, 

 and not as culture-stages. The first, second, and fourth are purely 

 hypothetic. I have elsewhere stated my reasons for not accepting 

 the first and second stages; but, whether real or imaginary, they 

 antedate all possible objective knowledge of the condition of man- 



