552 ETHNOLOGY 



applicable. The presentation, however, of historical facts should 

 be in that lucid manner which is the essence of style, adorned, it may 

 be, but not obscured, by those graces which may be termed literary; 

 but, after all, these remarks apply equally to the physical or bio- 

 logical sciences. 



Probably there is not much real difference of opinion concerning 

 the critical treatment of historical data and their arrangement and 

 elucidation. Much of this lies beyond the sphere of the ethnologist, 

 but it is otherwise with political science, which, according to some 

 authorities, is the central science around which historical facts and 

 problems should be grouped, and which coordinates them. Professor 

 Seeley asserted l that political science began with the classification 

 of states, then proceeded to study the functioning and development 

 of a state, and later to the mutual relations of states. It is therefore 

 evident that the student of political science must turn to the ethno- 

 logist for data to assist him in his investigations. 2 



The science of history certainly does not cover the whole field of 

 history; by its side, as Mr. Trevelyan has pointed out, three prin- 

 cipal objects of history may be recognized: "to teach political 

 wisdom; to restore our heritage in the ideals of the past and the 

 lives of the noble dead; and to make us feel the Poetry of Time." 

 Political science should teach political wisdom, and history through 

 literature has for one of its tasks the education of the emotions. 



It has been stated by Professors Langlois and Seignobos that: 

 "The historian works with documents. . . . Every thought and 

 every action that has left no visible traces, or none but what have 

 since disappeared, is lost for history; is as though it had never been. 

 For want of documents the history of immense periods in the past 

 of humanity is destined to remain forever unknown. For there is no 

 substitute for documents: no documents, no history." s 



The philosophical historian understands by history something 

 broader and deeper than documentary history; he does not confine 

 his conception of history to the social and political interrelations 

 of certain European countries, or " periods," 4 but regards in his 



1 J. R. Seeley, Introduction to Political Science, 1896, pp. 18, 361. 



2 As Oscar Browning states, " It appeals at once to the statesman and to the 

 antiquarian; it is equally interesting to the politician, to the student of the most 

 ancient races, and to the explorer of existing rudimentary societies. It is a great 

 thing to have discovered that this is the best clue to the maze of annalistic facts. 

 The merit of this discovery belongs justly to Professor Seeley and to Professor 

 Freeman." The Cambridge Review, 1885, vi, p. 178, and pamphlet on The Pro- 

 posed New Historical Tripos, 1897, p. 15. 



8 C. V. Langlois and C. Seignobos, Introduction to the Study of History, 1898, p. 1 7. 



4 As J. R. Tanner points out: "What is philosophically desirable is not al- 

 ways practically possible, and though the historian can sometimes afford to be 

 a philosopher, the teacher of history must be a man of business. Experience 

 shows that as a matter of business subdivision is essential." "The teaching of 

 Constitutional History," in Essays on the Teaching of History, 1901, p. 51. My 

 remarks do not apply to those who for educational reasons or for purposes of 

 research are obliged to restrict themselves to limited periods, but to those who 



