112 HOEATIO HALE ON LANGUAGE AS A TEST, Etc. 



possess great interest for biologists ; but it would not be accepted by them as a treatise on 

 biology. That science begins when life appears. A work showing the chemical consti- 

 tuents of every species of plant would certainly be a valuable work ; but it would be a 

 work of chemistry, and not of botany. In like manner, a work displaying the anatomy 

 of man in comparison with that of other animals cannot but be of great value ; and a 

 treatise showing how the human frame was probably developed from that of a lower 

 animal must be of extreme interest ; but these would be works, not of anthropology, but 

 of physiology or biology. Authropalogy begins where mere brute life gives way to some- 

 thing widely different and indefinitely higher. It begins with that endowment which 

 characterizes man, and distinguishes him from all other creatures- The real basis of the 

 science is found in articulate speech, with all that this indicates and embodies. Solely 

 by their languages can the tribes of men be scientifically classified, their affiliations dis- 

 covered, and their mental qualities discerned. These premises compel us to the logical 

 conclusion that linguistic anthropology is the only true "science of man." 



