WHAT IS ANTllRurOLor.Y? 



Lecture dclivcreil in the National Museum, Washington, I). C, March i8, 1882. 

 I)V Prof. Otis T. Mason. 



I.AhiKs .vNi) Ukntlkmkn : 



Tlie course of lectuR'.s now piomv.s^in^ in tliis hall \\ni< 

 for its design the bringing about of a l^etter understanding 

 between scientific .<j)ecialists and intelligent readers and 

 thinkers. With this oiiject clearly before ine I shall en- 

 deavor, as well as my limited time will allow, to give such 

 an explanation of Anthropology that my hearers will com- 

 prehend the extent and boundaries of its territory and the 

 various operations which constitute its daily life. 



The word anthropology, from antkropos, man; and logon, 

 science, has run through a great variety of meanings, as 

 those who have pursued it have shifted their ground or 

 extended their researches. From 1501 to 1700 the word 

 was used to signify "the study of the laws whicli govern 

 the union between the body and the mind." In .some theo- 

 logical seminaries it signifies " that manner of expres.-jiun 

 by wliich the inspired writers attribute human parts and 

 passions to the Divine Being." In Dr. Hodge's "Theol()u:y." 

 all that relates toman is called Anthropology. In 177"J. 

 Diderot and D'Alembert defined it as '' a treati.^e upon man."' 

 In 17S8, Kant wrote a work entitled '' .Vn iCssay U[)on .\n- 

 thropology." Latham in his "Natural X'arieties of Man." 

 (Loud. 1830, p. ooO,) .says, "Anthropology determines the 

 relations of man to the other mammalia; ethnology, the 

 relations of the different varieties of man to cacli other." 

 In the .'schools of Germany up to a very few years, the term 

 covered only what is included in the third sub-division of 

 the subject given on page 5 of this lecture. Not .*!0 now. 

 Paul Broca tells us "Anthropology has for its object the 

 study of humanity in its entirety, in its details, and in its 

 relation with the rest of nature. " 



Anthropology, therefore, while it excludes murh that is 

 human, includes whole territories of knowledge that are not 



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