SOME UNSOLVED SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS 



lateral implications, that as yet its specific field and 

 functions are not as clearly defined or as generally rec- 

 ognized as they are probably destined to be in the near 

 future. The province of this new science is to correlate 

 the discoveries of a wide range of collateral sciences 

 paleontology, biology, medicine, and so on from the 

 point of view of human history and human welfare. 

 To this end all observable races of men are studied as 

 to their physical characteristics, their mental and moral 

 traits^ their manners, customs, languages, and religions. 

 A mass of data is already at hand, and in process of 

 sorting and correlating. Out of this effort will probably 

 come all manner of useful generalizations, perhaps in 

 time bringing sociolog}^ or the study of human social 

 relations, to the rank of a veritable science. But great 

 as is the promise of anthropology, it can hardly be de- 

 nied that the broader questions with which it has to 

 deal questions of race, of government, of social evolu- 

 tion are still this side the fixed plane of assured gener- 

 alization. No small part of its interest and importance 

 depends upon the fact that the great problems that 

 engage it are as yet unsolved problems. In a word, 

 anthropology is perhaps the most important science in 

 the hierarchy to-day exactly because it is an immature 

 science. Its position to-day is perhaps not unlike that 

 of paleontology at the close of the eighteenth century. 

 May its promise find as full fruition ! 



