XX BLTBEAU OK AMKRICAN ETHNOLOGY 



possil)le utility of the product in enlightened agriculture. 

 The world is indebted to the natives of the Western Hem- 

 isphere for several important commodities. Among these 

 corn (that is, maize) occupies the first place; others are 

 the turkey, two or three varieties of beans, certain 

 squashes, besides the remarkable ])aratriptic tobacco, 

 whose use has spread throughout the world since the 

 time of Raleigh, and there are indications that the wild 

 rice (Zisama) of the region of glacial lakes may cousti- 

 'tute a notable addition to the list. Led to the subject by 

 the work of the Bureau, the Department of Agriculture 

 has instituted inquiries concerning >the extent of the wild 

 rice area and concerning the possibilities of utilization of 

 the resource. Dr Jenks' memoir is incorporated in the 

 Nineteenth Annual Report. 



Work in SocioLorn' 



Except when occupied in field work, the Director con- 

 tinued the synthetic study of demotic activities, and 

 during the year he completed the preliminary outline of 

 the activities expressed in institutions. The science 

 of institutions is commonly designated sociology, after 

 Auguste Gomte, Herbert Si)encer, and other Eiiropean 

 writers, and though the term is sometimes loosely used it 

 fairly meets the requirements of scientific exposition. 

 The branch of knowledge which it is used to designate is 

 one of the five coordinate sciences (esthetology, tech- 

 nology, sociology, philology, and sophiology) constituting 

 demonomy, or the system of knowledge pertaining to the 

 human activities. Viewed in its activital aspect, soci- 

 ology combines several subordinate branches. The first 

 of these is statistics (sometimes called demography) , 

 which deals with the units of social organization; the 

 second is economics, which deals especially with the 

 forces and values involved in or controlled by human 

 organization. The third branch of sociology is civics, 

 which may be defined as the science of methods in gov- 

 ernmental action, or in the regulation of the conduct of 



