ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND RACE.BIOLOGICAL 

 RESEARCHES IN SWEDEN 



BY 



MARTIN RAMSTROM, M. D. 



PROFESSOR. UPPSALA 



ANTHROPOLOGY, THE SCIENCE OF MAN, IN ITS WIDEST SENSE 

 includes in its scope the whole essence of man. In the following descrip* • 

 tion, however, it is only intendedlcTconsider the sqmatical anthropology, 

 the science telling of the bodily qualities of the human being with the history of 

 his origin and development, together with that of the human species. 



Several other branches of science that are nearly connected with this must 

 also be considered here, first^ of all race»biology, ethnography, and archaeology. 

 Race=biology treats of the life of families, peoples and races. It employs itself 

 with all the factors — favourable or unfavourable — that are able to influence and 

 alter the primitive species or race conditions in given groups of human beings. 

 Thus it is not interested in the first place in the generations living now, but has 

 the task of inquiring into the connection between the different generations. On 

 account of this it is clear that hereditary investigation must play a very dominant 

 part in its work. 



Ethnology (Ethnography) treats of the human being__as a member of society. 

 It employs itself with the structure o f society, with the occupations, language and 

 conception of religion among different peoples at different periods of time, with 

 their tools, dwelling»places, clothes and such things. 



Archeeology, the science of antiquarian research, employs itself in investigating 

 the remains of tools, ornaments, graves, dwelling«places etc. belonging to people 

 in pre«historical times. 



Already in Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galenus together with many other 

 naturalists from ancient times, we find a great deal of anthropological information 

 which is both interesting and of a certain amount of value, and by means of the 

 great geographical discoveries in the 15th century the area of anthropological 

 knowledge was expanded to a large degree. Bu t it was fi rst through the great 

 naturalists of the 18th century that anthropology began to take a more scientific form. 



The general scientific foundation was laid by the Swede, Carl von Linne 

 (Linnaeus) (1707—1778), who in Tiis work »Systema Naturae» (1735) partly placed 

 mankind in its position among Primates, and undertook a classification of the 

 races of humanity on the ground of their physical, mental, physiological and moral 

 characteristics, their geographical distribution etc. He distinguished Homo Americ* 

 anus, Europaeus, Asiaticus, Africanus, and Homo monstrosus, a group of less 

 known human types, described in a more or less fantastic manner. 



At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century Gall and Spurtz* 

 helm appeared, as is well»known, with their cranioscopy and phrenology, and 

 thereby directed the anthropological interest towards the human cranium. It seems 



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