XXVIII BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



inimical toward contemporaries; and tlie striking differ- 

 ences led to further research concerning the interrela- 

 tions between human groups and their physical sur- 

 roundings — interrelations which may conveniently be 

 styled ada}>tions. Now, when the study was extended to 

 other tril>es, it l)ecame manifest that such adaptions may 

 be arranged in serial order, and that when they are so 

 arranged the Seri stand at the end.i>f,,the series marking 

 the most intimate ■ interaction between mind and exter- 

 nals, while the Papago stand in the front rank of aborig- 

 inal tribes as graded by power of nature -conquest; and 

 from this point it is easy to extend the scale into civiliza- 

 tion and enlightenment, in which men control rather 

 than submit to conti'ol by their physical surroundings. 

 The serial arrangement of peoples in terms of relative 

 capacity in nature -conquest can hardly be deemed new, 

 tliough the special examples (particularly the notably 

 pi-imitive Seri) ai^e peculiarly instructive; but the succes- 

 sive adaptions thus defined wei'e found unexpectedly sig- 

 nificant in measuring various degrees of interdependence 

 between environment and thought, for it became evident 

 in the light of specific examples that the habitual thought, 

 like the habitual action, of an isolated and |)rimitive folk 

 is a continuous and continuously integrated reflection of 

 environment. On pursuing the relations it was found 

 that the Seri, habitually submitting to a hai'sh environ- 

 ment as they do, merely reflect its harshness in their 

 conduct, and that the Papago, seeking habitually to con- 

 trol environment in the interests of their kind as they do, 

 are raised l)y their eft'orts to higher planes of humanity. 

 The general relation between thought and surroundings 

 was found to be of exceedingly broad application, extend- 

 ing far beyond the local tribes. Indeed, it finds most 

 definite expression in the current scientific teaching that 

 knowledge arises in experience; and it seemed desirable to 

 formulate the relation as a principle of knowledge which 

 may appropriately be styled the Responsivity of Mind. 

 The principle promises to be especially useful to ethnolo- 

 gists confronted with those suggestive similarities in arti- 



