472 ANTHROPOLOGY 



may be observed in the history of the other sciences. The unity 

 of civilization and of primitive culture that had been divined by 

 Herder now shone forth as a certainty. The multiplicity and di- 

 versity of curious customs and beliefs appeared as early steps in 

 the evolution of civilization from simple forms of culture. The 

 striking similarity between the customs of remote districts was 

 the proof of the uniform manner in which civilization had devel- 

 oped the world over. The laws according to which this uniform 

 development of culture took place became the new problem which 

 engrossed the attention of anthropologists. 



This is the source from which sprang the ambitious system of 

 Herbert Spencer and the ingenious theories of Edward Burnett 

 Tylor. The underlying thought of the numerous attempts to 

 systematize the whole range of social phenomena, or one or the 

 other of its features, such as religious belief, social organization, 

 forms of marriage, has been the belief that one definite system 

 can be found according to which all culture has developed; that 

 there is one type of evolution from a primitive form to the highest 

 civilization, which is applicable to the whole of mankind; that, not- 

 withstanding many variations caused by local and historical con- 

 ditions, the general type of evolution is the same everywhere. 



This theory has been discussed most clearly by Tylor, who finds 

 proof for it in the sameness of customs and beliefs the world over. 

 The typical similarity and the occurrence of certain customs in 

 definite combinations are explained by him as due to their belong- 

 ing to a certain stage in the development of civilization. They 

 do not disappear suddenly, but persist for a time in the form of 

 survivals. These are, therefore, wherever they occur, a proof that' 

 a lower stage of culture, of which these customs are characteristic, 

 has been passed through. 



Anthropology owes its very existence to the stimulus given by 

 these scholars and to the conclusions reached by them. What had 

 been a chaos of facts appeared now marshaled in orderly array, 

 and the great steps in the slow advance from savagery to civiliza- 

 tion were drawn for the first time with a firm hand. We cannot 

 overestimate the influence of the bold generalizations made by 

 these pioneers of modern anthropology. They applied with vigor 

 and unswerving courage the new principles of historical evolution 

 to all the phenomena of civilized life, and in doing so sowed the 

 seeds of the anthropological spirit in the minds of historians and 

 philosophers. Anthropology, which was hardly beginning to be a 

 science, ceased at the same time to lose its character of being a sin- 

 gle science, but became a method applicable to all the mental sci- 

 ences, and indispensable to all of them. We are still in the midst 

 of this development. The sciences first to feel the influence of an- 



