CLASSIFICATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE EXHIBITS OF 

 AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL MUSEUM/ 



By William IIicnky Holmes, 

 Head Curator, Department of Anthropology. 



SCOPE OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL FIELD. 



The history of man, including all that he is and does and all that he 

 has been and has done, is a wide and important subject, and is fortu- 

 nately susceptible, in large part, of lucid and effective treatment in the 

 museum. The available materials are of two principal classes. The 

 first relates to man himself as a biological unit, and the second to the 

 works of his hands, the creations of his developing mind. These two 

 divisions of the subject are readily separated and require independent 

 treatment in the museum. The first division is known as physical 

 anthropology, often called somatology; the second may in contradis- 

 tinction be called culture anthropology, since it embodies the vast 

 range of the essentially human activities. 



SOMATOLOGICAL DIVISION. 



If we discuss man independently of his arts his artificial activi- 

 ties — we treat him from the standpoint of the naturalist or biologist. 

 Physical anthropology includes the study of man as a species of animal. 

 of his races and varieties, his external characters, his anatomy, physi- 

 ology, and pathology. It includes his ontogeny— the development of 

 the individual — his inception and embryonic evolution, his advance to 

 maturity, his descent to the grave and return to the elements whence 

 he arose. Lt includes his phylogeny the development of the species 

 from lower forms of life— the evolution of every part of his frame, 

 theski.n, bones, muscles, circulatory system, nervous system, and other 

 special organs, and the relation of these parts, one and all. to corre- 

 sponding parts of the lower animals. This is a magnificent field for 

 illustration, and, in capable hands, may readily till a museum with 



«The scheme elaborated in this paper is new being carried out in the United 

 States National Museum as rapidly as conditions will permit. 



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