t68 the popular SCIENCE MONTHLY 



ment of culture. Because they see how the environment sets limita- 

 tions to human culture, or inventions, they sometimes assert that in it 

 are to be found the causes producing cultures. A more acceptable view 

 seems to be that which recognizes the province of the environment in 

 deciding as to what may not become a part of human experience, but 

 that among the experiences it makes possible is a wide range, in fact 

 almost infinite range, of yet to be discovered relationships among which 

 are many that may enter into the culture of the future, if both the man 

 and the hour come. If in the discussion of this question we do not 

 lose sight of the inventive nature of the processes producing material 

 cultures and the curious psychic origin of the underlying relationship 

 of ideas, on the one hand, and the passive limiting character of the 

 geographical environment on the other, we shall not be led far astray. 

 It is natural that in the study of geography emphasis should be given 

 to the physical, faunistic and floral characters of the environment, but 

 this should not warrant the assumption that these characters will in 

 themselves be a sufficient explanation of the cultural differences ob- 

 served among the peoples of the earth. It is also to be expected that 

 anthropologists will overweight the value of the psychic factor in the 

 formation of cultures because they deal in the main with such phe- 

 nomena, but they in turn must not ignore the limiting character of the 

 environment. The value of such discussions as this can only consist in 

 holding each group of investigators to the proper recognition of the 

 relations between their respective fields. Environment vs. culture may 

 never cease to be the debatable ground over which the opposing parties 

 struggle with varying fortunes, but we believe that a little analysis of 

 the phenomena will reveal the chief factors, make evident their relative 

 values and so lead to saner views. 



