Miscellaneous Papers. 203 



versity of origin of the white and black races and of the physi- 

 cal inferiority of the latter and consequent right of the white 

 to- enslave the black man. These ideas were embodied in the 

 formal letter of protest to our ambassador to the court of St. 

 James, with the result that the English prime minister com- 

 plained of dragging ethnology into diplomatic correspondence, 

 but accepted the protest against England's interference with 

 our pet institution and refrained from it ever afterwards." 



M. Broca observes "that with an excellent beginning, the 

 sceptre of anthropology might easily have passed to the Ameri- 

 can school, if the political events which followed had not very 

 shortly clogged its career. The tempest which had long been 

 gathering soon burst with violence; a nation rushed to arms 

 and the question of slavery was solved — washed out in the 

 blood of patriots !" Science was lost sight of amid the clash 

 of arms, and anthropology in America suffered an eclipse from 

 which it did not recover for ten years. 



But the savants of Europe were, in the meantime, pushing 

 their researches, with steps slow by sure. "But their isolated 

 labors received little attention, and that only when discredit 

 was thrown upon their work, for their discoveries and opin- 

 ions ran counter to popularly received opinions. It was then 

 that the Anthropological Society of Paris formed a tribunal 

 before which opposing sciences might appear and obtain a 

 hearing, where anthropology in its broadest sense might claim 

 the aid of all the sciences." This event marked the beginning 

 of the present era in anthropology^ "It began its career co- 

 incident with two important and significant events: (1) M. 

 Boucher de Perthe's discoveries of the evidences of paleon- 

 tological man, and the publication of Darwin's Origin of Spe- 

 cies. These two great events gave the impetus to the study of 

 anthropology which has marked the progress of recent years. 

 Other cities followed the example of Paris and organized an- 

 thropological societies, viz.: London in 1863; St. Petersburg, 

 Moscow and New York in 1865; Berlin in 1869; Vienna in 

 1870; Stockholm in 1874; and others have followed, both in 

 America and Europe." 



Anthropology to-day is defined as the study of the natural 

 history of man. As Prof. E. B. Tylor says : "In the general 

 classification of knowledge anthropology stands for the science 

 of man, the highest section of zoology, which is the science of 

 animals. Zoology in its turn stands as the highest section of 



