VII. 



ON THE METHODS AND RESULTS OF 

 ETHNOLOGY. 



ETHNOLOGY is the science which determines the dis 

 tinctive characters of the persistent modifications of 

 mankind ; which ascertains the distribution of those 

 modifications in present and past times, and seeks to 

 discover the causes, or conditions of existence, both 

 of the modifications and of their distribution. I say 

 &quot; persistent &quot; modifications, because, unless incidentally, 

 ethnology has nothing to do with chance and transitory 

 peculiarities of human structure. And I speak of 

 &quot; persistent modifications &quot; or &quot; stocks &quot; rather than 

 of &quot;varieties,&quot; or &quot;races,&quot; or &quot;species/ 3 because each of 

 these last well-known terms implies, on the part of its 

 employer, a preconceived opinion touching one of those 

 problems, the solution of which is the ultimate object 

 of the science ; and in regard to which, therefore, 

 ethnologists are especially bound to keep their minds 

 open and their judgments freely balanced. 



Ethnology, as thus defined, is a branch of ANTHRO 

 POLOGY, the great science which unravels the complexities 

 of human structure ; traces out the relations of man to 

 other animals ; studies all that is especially human in the 

 mode in which man s complex functions are performed; 



