WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 13 



touch with his data, but the basis of his thought was a system of an- 

 thropology, into which he tried to fit his observations. 



Although, therefore, the value of his monographic studies stands 

 and falls with the acceptance of his fundamental theories, his work 

 itself, carried through under the impulse of a strong desire to contri- 

 bute to the solution of great problems, gains its permanent value 

 through the bearing of his detailed studies upon fundamental ques- 

 tions. In this sense McGee belonged to an older school of investi- 

 gators. During the last twenty years anthropologists have come to 

 be more and more worshippers of the accumulation of facts; and the 

 more facts an investigator brings together, the higher we are inclined 

 to value him. McGee did not belong to this class. For him the fact 

 had a value only as related to a wider concept. While we are not 

 likely to return to Powell's and McGee's points of view, I think we 

 may observe a certain tendency to turn back from the over-enthusi- 

 astic, often unmethodical collection of data, and that theory and ob- 

 servation begin to find their proper relation. 



The idea that stands out most clearly in McGee's work, even more 

 so than in that of Major Powell, is that of the continuity of mental 

 processes in all stages of civilization, an idea the value of which, I 

 believe, will become the more apparent the farther our inquiries pro- 

 gress. This idea was not entirely new. It had found expression in 

 Bastian's analysis of modern philosophic systems by means of com- 

 parison with the philosophic views of primitive man, and it was the 

 fundamental note underlying Spencerian sociology. The beginnings 

 of civilization had a meaning for him, on the one hand as steps neces- 

 sary for an intelligent understanding of the history of mankind, on 

 the other hand as illustrating the stepping-stones to future progress. 

 He wanted to discover the conditions favoring creative activity, the 

 only form of work that seemed to him worth while, and he hoped to 

 find them through his study of the stages that led man from primitive 

 to modern social conditions. 



While other investigators were engaged in similar lines of research, 

 McGee made these ideas the foundation of a new kind of constructive 

 work; and it was his ardent desire to see the Bureau, that was at least 

 in part in his charge, contribute to the welfare of the nation by ad- 

 vancing our knowledge of the conditions that make man creative. 



