LXXVI BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
played for amusement among civilized peoples; and they . 
show the origin and successive stages of development of 
many of these games with remarkable clearness. In scientific 
research each well-established conclusion gives a new point 
of view from which the student is able to see farther than 
before into the unknown, and from which also he is able to 
see relations among the known more clearly than before. 
This is strictly true of Mr Cushing’s researches concerning 
the arrow. His preliminary conclusions have afforded insight 
into various primitive customs and ideas. 
PSYCHOLOGY 
Throughout the fiscal year the attention of the Director has 
been given chiefly to the development of a classification of 
the races of mankind with special reference to the American 
tribes. To this end the physical and mental attributes of the 
tribes were considered in detail; and at the same time the art 
products were studied as the tangible expression of mental 
attributes. Pursuing the investigation, it became evident that 
the distinctive characteristics of indiv aaa tribes, and peo- 
ples are substantially intellectual. In this way the Director 
was led to an an: ilysis of the psychic characteristics of man- 
kind. At first the subject was obscure and apparently so 
complex as to discourage investigation; but as the work pro- 
eressed, and as arts, organization, beliefs, and ceremonials 
were interpreted as expressions of psychic organization, the 
causes of apparently unrelated facts fell into order, and sub- 
stantial progress was made in the researches. During recent 
months it has been found that the researches concerning men- 
tal attributes of the American Indians afford a clue to the 
differentiation of individuals and families, and the coalescence 
of groups, and the development of individual and collective 
attributes. Thus the researches in psychology have already 
yielded a basis for the classification of the native tribes, and 
have illumined the aboriginal arts, institutions, and beliefs. 
Considerable progress has been made in the preparation of 
an extended report on the classification of the native races and 
their attributes on a comprehensive psychic basis; but the 
memoir remained unfinished at the end of the year. 
